The Killdeer Chronicles: Tahoe Tribulations
Tahoe Tribulations
Prologue
In Mid June, my boss said I could take 2 weeks vacation to go hiking. Originally, I was going to go back to the Porcupine Mountains Wilderness State Park in the Upper Peninsula. Then I started skimming through the Wilderness Guide to the Pacific Crest Trail, Volume 2: Northern California. The guide says that the Pacific Crest Trail overlaps the Tahoe Rim Trail for 50 miles or so. Even better, the Tahoe Rim Trail ( TRT ) is a 175 mile loop ! Cool ! That means you can start and finish at the same place. Nice ! Another nice thing about the TRT, is that there are several towns or cities with nearby trailheads that you can start from. Very Nice.
The only "fly in the ointment" is the Desolation Wilderness ( DW ). The DW, is said to be the most beautiful part of the Tahoe Rim Trail. Because of this, the Desolation Wilderness tends to get overcrowded. With all the day and weekend hikers from South Lake Tahoe and Tahoe City, and the Through Hikers on the Pacific Crest Trail, there can be a lot of hikers in a small area. There is one lake that is so popular, the Forest Service Rangers refer to it as " Downtown Lake Aloha ". In order to keep the Desolation Wilderness from getting totally trashed and overrun, Tahoe Rim Trail Through Hikers must have a permit to enter the Desolation Wilderness. The trick is, they only allow so many permits per day, and they go FAST. Your permit works as follows: You pick a date, a point at which you will enter the DW and the point at which you will exit the DW. There are only two entry / exit points: Echo Lake and Richardson Lake. Where you enter and exit determines the direction in which you are hiking. If you plan on entering from Echo Lake, you are hiking the trail Clockwise. You MUST enter the DW on the date of your permit. Not a day sooner or later. Also, you can only spend 2 nights in the DW. My vacation started on July 11th and my permit date ( hiking Counterclockwise ) was July 23rd.
Day 1: Slow Start to a Long Hike ( July 11 )
Miles Hiked: 4.0 Total Ascent: 856' Total Descent: 571'
My plan was to fly to Reno, get a prearranged ride to the trail and to start hiking as soon as possible. I had no difficulty catching my flight, and made into Reno at 1:30 PM, Ceci (a Trail Angel) picked me up at the airport, took me to REI so I could get a fuel can for my stove and then drove me to Echo Chalet, my starting point. It is here where I made my first mistake. Other than a quick meal mid morning in Dallas, I hadn't had much to eat.
Bad move when you are starting with a steep climb. I started hiking at 3:45. After a steep 0.5 mile ( 1 Km ) climb, the trail did a steep descent to US - 50, after which it did another climb. Anyone see a pattern here ?
I only saw 2 or 3 hikers after the first mile. After 4 miles of steep ups and downs I was exhausted, so I called it a day at about 6 PM. I was so exhausted (a combination of elevation change, little sleep ((I never sleep well the night before a flight), and skipped meals) that it took me more than an hour to get everything set up.
Day 2: Big Day and a Broken Strap ( July 12 )
Miles Hiked:14.3 Total Ascent: 2,411' Total Descent: 2,831' Total Time: 12 Hours
I woke up at 4:30 and started getting ready. I had a good breakfast and mixed up a breakfast drink (Breakfast Essentials, Instant Coffee, and Powdered Milk) that I could chug on the go. It was sprinkling when I left camp a little after 6AM. The first 4.5 miles to Schneider Camp Trail Junction were slow going as it was mostly uphill ( 1,734' Ascent, 479' Descent ). After 5 hours of slogging uphill, it was a quick 1.7 miles, mostly downhill to the outlet of Showers Lake, where I had hoped to camp last night.
NOTE TO SELF: THE MAP IS NOT THE TERRAIN. REMEMBER HDLE ! (Everything on trail is Harder, more Difficult, takes Longer than I think it will, and is more Expensive than I think it is) . From Showers Lake it was a gently rolling 2.3 miles to where the Pacific Crest Trail and the TRT split.
The day started cloudy and cool and remained cloudy for most of the day. Unlike yesterday, I met a lot of hikers. Most of them were NoBo ( Northbound) PCT Throughhikers, to include a lot of women hiking solo.
After the TRT split off from the PCT, it was fairly easy going, mostly downhill to Round Lake. Whoever named it Round Lake was either mostly blind or saw the lake during a blizzard, because Round it is not. Vaguely oval ? Maybe.
Yes. I stopped for " R & R " ( Rest and Refill Water ) at Round Lake. As I was leaving Round Lake, the Sternum strap on my pack detached from the shoulder strap, so I hiked the last three miles into the Big Meadow Trailhead with shoulder straps that were digging uncomfortably into my shoulder blades. Good News: It's an easy fix. Bad News: It's not a fix I can do on trail.
I met my first Mountain bikers. As I was going downhill, they were going uphill. I almost asked some of them if they would like a push. I asked the Tahoe Rim Trail Angels group on Facebook (yes Facebook can be useful sometimes), if someone could give me a ride to town. I "Trucker Camped" under a covered walkway near the "facilities".
Day 3: Zero in South Lake Tahoe ( July 13 )
Miles Hiked: 0
Lisa Twomey picked me up at 7:30 and drove me into town. Along the way we had a good conversation. Last winter ('25 - '26) was really light.
She said she only needed to use her snowblower 3 times. She dropped me off at Bert's Cafe just before the morning rush. It was originally called Ernie's Cafe, but Ernie quit and opened a coffee shop across the street.
I did ask if Big Bird had a restaurant in town, but didn't get an answer. After ordering my food, I made a reservation at the Apex Inn, which Lisa said was hiker friendly. After breakfast, I went to check in. I know, really early. They let me leave my pack in their office, where they would keep an eye on it while I shopped. They also promised to call me so I could check in as soon as my room was ready.
After dropping my pack, I went shopping. I was looking for a few things, namely Gorilla Glue to fix my pack, a replacement sternum strap in case it failed again, and somewhere to print out my through hike permit. Remember what I said about the date ? Well it turns out, you can't print out your permit more than 10 days before your permit date. I was able to find some Gorilla Glue and get my permit printed, but struck out on the sternum strap. I checked 4 different stores that carry hiking / camping gear, and not a single one had a sternum strap. Weird. Oh well, hopefully the Gorilla Glue will do the trick. By 1:30, I was in my room, taking a nap. In the evening, I went and did laundry, only to be caught in a heavy downpour walking back to the motel.
Day 4: A Good Day ( July 14 )
Miles Hiked: 12.5 Total Ascent: 3,606' Total Descent: 1,161 Total Time: 10:32
I woke up, got dressed, packed, and had breakfast at Bert's (you know it's good when all the reviews say "Get there before 7:30 or you will have to wait until the locals are done eating").
Lisa picked me up and dropped me off at the Big Meadow Trailhead. I started hiking a bit after 9. I met several hikers today, including a couple who have the best strategy I've seen so far. They are "Slackpacking" (just carrying some food, water and raingear) 10 - 20 miles sections in the direction that has the easiest climb.
Smart ! I also encountered several Mountain Bikers today. I guess I should point out that most of the TRT is open to Mountain Bikers. I personally don't mind sharing the trail with them. Most of them are polite and willing to share the trail with hikers. Plus, there is an added benefit to sharing the trail, the bikers make sure the blowdowns ( trees that fell across the trail ) are quickly taken care of.
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| Why I like Mountain Bikers. On the PCT I would have either had to climb over or go around. |
Today was a good day. I made decent time and managed to maintain a decent pace that allowed me to cover the distance without wearing me out. I ended to day with a .7 mile, 700' climb to the junction with the Freel Peak trail. My campsite has some awesome sunset views ( especially the last light on Freel Peak ) plus my first view of Lake Tahoe in a while.
| Alpine Glow on Freel Peak |
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| Sunset on Lake Tahoe from Freel Peak Trail Junction |
Day 5: Who Said Going Downhill Was Easy ? ( July 15 )
Miles Hiked: 14.5 Total Ascent: 1,076' Total Descent: 3,625' Total Time 12 Hours
I woke at 5 AM, got dressed quickly, took some photos of the sunrise (last nights sunset was better), packed up and was on the trail by 6. I made the rookie mistake of pushing too hard from the start. I figured "Hey, it's all downhill, so I should crank out the extra miles". Bad move.
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| " Early Bird " and " Cobbler " are almost to the top. |
They were so happy to hear that after another 0.8 miles going uphill, they would be going downhill for about 15 miles. At 10 AM, I crossed into Nevada, the 6th state I have hiked in. By Noon, I was exhausted and took a 15 minute lunch break by a stream. As I was collecting about 5L of water for the next segment of the trail, I was buzzed by a Hummingbird. By the way, "Buzz, Buzz, Chitter, Chitter, Squeek, Squeek, Buzz !" is Hummingbird for "Dude ! Stop hogging all the water, I'm thirsty !"
I pressed on through the afternoon, until at 5:30, I was ready to call it a day. Where to camp ? How about where the TRT crosses a old, unused ( ?) dirt road ? Sure, why not ? I was too tired to go any further and I didn't see any better places to camp, so I camped right in the middle of the road. As I started to cook dinner, I realized that I have a problem. The next town on the trail is Tahoe City, six days away. Problem is, I only have 4 days of food. Crud ! I really can't afford to take a day off of trail to resupply. I'm cutting it close as is. Fortunately, nobody drove down the road during the night.
Miles Hiked: 14.8 Total Ascent: 2,280' Total Descent: 2,316' Total Time: 11:20
I woke up at 5 and was hiking by 6. I am definitely trading in my sleeping bag. I bought it at the end of '24 from a reputable store along the PCT (mail order), at a good price (They were doing a "Year End Clearance" sale of gear they didn't sell during the summer). Don't get me wrong, the sleeping bag is in good shape, there are just a few things I don't like about it.
1. It's really warm. I know, what a problem to have right ? Trust me, It's not fun when you start sweating in your sleep. Could be a potential safety issue under certain conditions.
2. The zipper is only quarter length, which means you have to do an inchworm maneuver getting in an out of the bag. It also means you can't unzip it all the way and use it like a blanket on warmer nights.
At any rate, I decided to do things a little different today. First, I am going to keep a slow, steady pace so I don't wear myself out. Second, I am going to start with a bottle of electrolytes already mixed. The "Slow and Steady" seemed to work fairly well, as I was able to hike at a decent (for me) pace without tiring.
As I hiked along, I got to thinking. I think there are some aspects of the Tahoe Rim Trail that are harder than the first 175 miles, hiking north from Mexico on the PCT. For starters, there's the elevation. The start of the PCT is at an elevation of 2,913'. Not difficult to adjust to, even if you live at sea level. The lowest point on the Tahoe Rim Trail is Tahoe City which sits at 6,240' which will take some getting used to for folks ( like me ) who live at lower elevations. The climbs also are a little steeper.
Other things that make the TRT challenging are water, resupply, and camping restrictions. For the first 175 miles of the PCT, water isn't a serious issue. Yes, you do have some stretches where you have to carry 3 to 4L of water, but usually you can plan ahead for how much water you need to carry. On the TRT there are two stretches of 20 miles where you either carry 5L to see you through, or you cache some water at a trailhead.
Resupply for the first 175 miles of the PCT is fairly straight forward. Simply put, on the PCT, you will be able to resupply every 2 to 3 days (even if you hike at my relatively slow speed). Even better, the only towns in the first 175 miles of the PCT that require a ride into town (Julian at mile 77, and Idyllwild at mile 151) are both relatively easy places to hitch a ride to, especially Julian. Resupply on the TRT is a little trickier, depending on the direction you are hiking. Your resupply points are Tahoe City and South Lake Tahoe. One problem is that the towns are either 50 or 125 miles apart, depending on your direction of travel. The Tahoe Rim Trail goes right into Tahoe City, so no problems there. Getting to South Lake Tahoe from the trail can be a little trickier. Depending on which way you are hiking, you will either need to hitch from US-50 near Echo Lake, or from Spooner Summit Trailhead. Getting a hitch on US-50 can take forever (I know. I did it in '22) unless you get lucky and get a ride from a local. The other challenge on the TRT, are the restricted camping areas in Nevada. There area several areas along the trail in Nevada, where you are only allowed to camp in designated campsites.
I stopped for an early lunchbreak at 11, and had a nice chat with four teachers from Reno who are slackpacking a section of the trail.
Around 1:30, I left the "Green Tunnel" and came out onto a ridge overlooking Lake Tahoe. As I was hiking along the ridge, I got a text from my friend and co-worker Michelle, that the Air Quality Index (AQI ) in Jackson was 481 ! YIKES !! FYI the AQI is measured on a scale from 1 (basically the purest air without a single dust particle) to 500 (Don't go outside unless your house has caught fire). Boy, am I glad I decided to go hiking in California instead of the Upper Peninsula ! Hiking in that would be horrible ! My friends and I exchanged photos of our daily weather, and they asked me to bring clear skies when I came home.
| A Panoramic view of Lake Tahoe |
At 3:30, I started to descend down towards the Spooner Summit Trailhead. I was expecting to stop short of the trailhead, even though it would mean stopping early in the day. Why, you ask ? Remember the "Restricted Camping Areas" I mentioned 2 paragraphs ago ? Yes ? Well, the first one is just across the road from the trailhead. for the next 16 miles, I can only camp in 3 campsites. The first campground is another 4.5 miles uphill from the trailhead and might be closed for some repair work. The other two are even further away. I don't feel like hiking 4.5 miles, uphill, late in the evening, to a campsite that might be closed anyway. So I will camp just south of the restricted area, and hike to the second campsite tomorrow.
As I was hiking towards the trailhead, I met a woman hiking the other way (uphill). She asked if she was close to the switchbacks that were 4 miles from the trailhead. She was pleased when I told her she was only about 0.3 miles from the switchbacks. We both went our separate ways. you can imagine my surprise when she caught up to me (she was hiking with a pack) less than 20 minutes later. Sheena explained that she is training to hike Mt Fuji in Japan with her daughter next month. This was her first training hike. I don't think she will have any problems. If Sheena seems like an unusual name, I should mention that she is from Denmark. Her family moved to the states when she was young. Before she went to school, Sheena's mother changed the spelling of her name. Sheena's name was originally spelled Sine, but her mother changed it so Sheena's mother changed the spelling so Sheena's teachers wouldn't think she was a mathematical function.
Fun Fact: The name Rasmussen is as common in Denmark as Smith is in the US. Sheena said the last time she looked in a Copenhagen phonebook, the listings for Rasmussen took up 21 pages.
Fun Fact #2: Phone books in Denmark used to list people by their name, phone number, and occupation.
Sheena and I reached reached the trailhead a bit after 5. Sheena was kind enough to give me a ride into South Lake Tahoe. Yeah !! I
can do resupply tonight, and get back on trail in the morning without
losing any time. Cool ! Thanks Sheena !! I did resupply. Good thing ! It turned out I had less food than I thought.
Day 7: Best Camp Ever ? ( July 17 )
Miles Hiked: 9.7 Total Ascent: 2,162' Total Descent: 1,027' Total Time: 7:15
I woke up early, dressed, grabbed a McDonalds takeout and even did my laundry. While I was doing laundry, I asked the Tahoe Trail Angels if anyone could give me a ride to the trail. Lisa was booked solid, but David Harrison said he would pick me up about 9:30.
David has done a lot of hiking around the world (he's originally from the UK ) and does some work for the PCTA ( Pacific Crest Trail Association ). We had an interesting discussion as he drove me back to the trail. Turns out the number of European and Canadians hiking the PCT are WAY down (Gee. I can't imagine why.....). The not so fun fact he told me was that the three greatest causes of death among PCT hikers (keep in mind these are still really low numbers, you still have far greater odds of being killed in an auto accident) are Falls, Drowning (usually hikers in a hurry crossing a stream when they shouldn't), and getting hit by a car while hitching a ride. With that it mind, David dropped me off on the North side of the highway instead of the south side where Sheena was parked yesterday.
I started hiking at 10:15 and as usual, the first few miles were uphill, but I still managed to make decent time. Along the way I met Brian, a hiker who was finishing his through hike at the trailhead I just came from.
By Noon I had hiked almost 2.5 miles. I was able to maintain a decent pace most of the afternoon, making it to the Marlette Campground at 5:30. As I was hiking, I noticed people setting up for a race that will happen on the trail tomorrow. Should be interesting with, hikers, mountain bikers, and runners all trying to use the same trail.
Marlette Campground is probably the best "Primitive" (in other words no hook ups for RVs) I have ever seen. Every tentsite is level, and has a Bear Locker to store food in, a picnic table, and a fire ring. There even is a supply of firewood ! The Pit Toilet is so clean, I swear someone must be cleaning it every day. The Cherry on the top of the Sunday is the water pump. No need to treat or filter your water ! Awesome! The waterpump has a control so you can either use the pump as a drinking fountain (the water is nice and cold. Perfect after a hot afternoon hike) or to fill your water bottle. Three pumps of the lever brings up 1L of water.
Day 8: Crash and Burn ( July 18 )
Miles Hiked: 14.3 Total Ascent: 2,218' Total Descent: 1,627' Total Time: 11 Hours
I had hoped to get an early start, but ended up sleeping in until 5:45. I was still on trail by 6:40. As usual, I started out hiking faster than I should have, and it would cost me later.
The first five miles were gently rolling, with gentle ups and downs. The next 6 miles were mostly uphill which wiped me out.
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| Early morning view of Lake Tahoe from the trail. |
It turns out there are 4 different races happening on the trail today. You have your "Standard" 5 and 10K races, and then there are the "You must be crazy" races, 100K and 100 Miles ! The first racer past me at 8:30, and I would continue to get past by runners for most of the day.
At 11:30 a Race volunteer gave me a bottle of Electrolytes which definitely helped. Unfortunately, I was so drained, that at 4 PM, I just plunked down off the trail to catch my breath. Several runners paused to ask if I was OK, thinking I might have a heat injury. Fortunately, 10 minutes of rest and plenty of ( my own ) water later, I was up and moving under my own power.
By 4:30, I had passed the high point for the day, and was cruising downhill. As I hiked through the forest, I passed a couple families hand feeding the Mountain Chickadees. I also saw my first Clark's Nutcrackers. Fun facts about the Clark's Nutcracker. Yes, it is named for William Clark of "Lewis and Clark" fame. The other interesting fact about it is, that until they did genetic sequencing in the early 2000's there was considerable debate in the Ornithology community as to which group of birds it belonged to. For a while, it was considered a Woodpecker, then a Nuthatch. It has finally found it's home with the Magpies and Gray Jay (Whiskey Jack for those of you who remember the really old field guides to birds). They tend to act like Crows in a lot of ways.
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| Clark's Nutcracker acting like a Woodpecker |
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| Hiking through Tahoe Meadows |
After hiking through Tahoe Meadows, I made it to the Rose Mountain Campground a bit before 6 PM. Jim and Debora Hugo are hosting 3 hikers (including me), and we were treated to Hot Dogs, Hamburgers, chips, candy and soda. Thanks Jim ! Thanks Debora !
Day 9 / 10: The Longest Day ( July 19 / 20 )
Miles Hiked: 22.4 Total Ascent: 3,077' Total Descent: 4,469 Total Time: 17 hours +/-
I got a very late start. One of the hikers that stayed with Jim and Debora last night needed to leave the trail to tend to an injury and I helped them get a ride to town. I finally started hiking at 9:45.
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| There were a lot of people walking there dogs near the Mt Rose Trailhead. |
I have two problems.
Problem #1 is water, or more precisely, the lack of water in this stretch of trail. 3 miles from Rose Mountain is a Galena Falls.
Five miles from Galena Falls is a spring. After that, nothing for 20 miles. Knowing that, I had made arrangements for Ceci to cache some water at the Brockway Summit Trailhead. Unfortunately, Brockway Summit Trailhead is 20 miles away, which means I am going to have to hike well into the night just to reach the water cache Ceci set up for me
Problem #2 is time, or the lack of it. To complete my hike on the 24th, I need to hike almost 100 miles in 6 days. I have been hiking about 14.5 miles a day. 14.5 times 6 is only 87 miles. So I decided to see if I could do a 24 hour challenge.
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Recognize these ladies ? It's Cobbler and Early Bird ! They hiked over 100 miles in 4 days. WOW !!
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| Relay Peak is aptly named. Note the signal relay. |
The sun set as I was hiking west of Relay Peak. Thankfully, the trail was mostly downhill, so I made relatively good time. The problem with night hiking, especially once you start getting tired, is you have no depth perception and you start tripping over rocks and roots that you easily avoid during the day. I finally made it to the water cache at 1 AM and took a rest break. I tried to press on, but I was too exhausted. In my exhaustion, I kept tripping over rocks and I nearly wrenched my knees several times. By the time I had gone another mile, my right knee was giving me the "Hey. Do you really want to deal with Tendonitis ?" message. Knowing there was no way I could hike the miles I needed to make in order to finish my hike on the 24th with my knees were acting up, I decided to end my hike when I reached Mt. Watson Road at about 2 AM.
| Looking south down Lake Tahoe from the trail. |
NOTE TO SELF: Do NOT attempt another 24 Hour challenge without doing a lot of preparation and planning first.
I found a relatively flat place to rest and contacted the Tahoe Trail Angels group for a ride. I dozed throughout the day, as I wasn't in a quick hurry to get into town. In hindsight, I probably ( ? ) could have slowly hiked the 20 miles into Tahoe City over 2 days, but I didn't feel like it. A Trail Angel told me, he would pick me up around 2 PM to take me into town. While I waited, I made a reservation at a motel and dozed on and off. Everyone says that getting a motel room in Tahoe City in the summer is nearly impossible, but the first motel I tried (The least expensive one I saw online. Yes, I did have a signal) had a vacancy. When Garret arrived to take me to town, I discovered that I had been sleeping on Pine Needles, so I had Pine Sap all over my clothes. YUCK !! Garrett said not to worry, so I brushed myself off as best I could, loaded my gear in his car and had a delightful conversation as he drove me into town,
When he dropped me off, I gave him a $20 donation for his time and trouble, checked in (the motel took pity on me and let me check in early), went to my room, took a shower and crashed for 3 hours, before going out to eat.
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| Lake Tahoe Sunset from my 6th floor window. |
July 21 - 24: Going Home
On the 21st, I did my laundry and some sightseeing. I find it interesting that the people who founded Tahoe City had the foresight to set aside an area for a public beach. They did have some disagreement over who got to control the output from the dam. Water rights can be complicated.
The Truckee River Dam. Over 100 years of lawsuits have been filed over who gets how much water. |
| The Original City Jail. It's possible it never had an inmate because it was cold and dank. |
On the 22nd, I took a roundabout route to South Lake Tahoe, by bus. I started with a free bus from Tahoe City to Truckee.
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| The Mid Train DPUs ( Distributed Power Units ) on a Union Pacific train loaded with shipping containers, passing the Truckee Depot. |
Then a paid bus from Truckee to Reno (downtown), and then a city bus to the airport. To make my next connection I had to go through the arrivals / baggage claim area of the Reno airport to catch another bus. I thought it was really strange that I was able to walk across the street, walk into baggage claim, and walk around baggage claim ( I needed to use the bathroom ) with a full backpack, without being scanned or questioned by anyone. I guess, they feel baggage claim doesn't need security. Weird... At any rate, I caught the bus I needed to South Lake Tahoe and was relaxing in my room by 6:30.
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| Seriously. Would you let this scruffy dude wander around in an airport without at least checking to see what is in his pack ? |
On the 23rd, I did a little sightseeing in South Lake Tahoe. I was going to ride a tour boat, but they were sold out and expensive ( $300 was the least expensive ticket I saw ). So I took the Gondola up the mountain for a nice view of the lake area.
On the 24th, I flew home. Nothing special. We did have a delayed departure because one of the secondary radios went bad. So they had to swap it out. Then they discovered that we might encounter storms over Iowa, so they had put extra fuel in the jet. All in all, we were more than an hour late arriving in Detroit.
Lessons Learned
1. Plan better. To be honest, I barely did any planning, and it shows.
2. Spend MONTHS preparing for any hike in the mountains or high hills where I have a time limit.
3. An Exercise Mask that simulates the reduced oxygen levels of higher elevations only helps a little, Be prepared to spend 2 -3 days adjusting to higher elevation.
4. Get a stair climber (or join a gym) to strengthen the upper leg muscles.
5. Energy chews ( used carefully ) are a must for long climbs at the end of the day.
6. Plan for an average speed of 1.2 MPH (this might improve on a long through hike).
7. For a 2 week through hike ( like the TRT ), consider flying out Friday night to
get more trail time on Day 1
8. Start with 500ml of Electrolytes. sip every so often through the morning.




































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