Watson Lake to Tahoe City

Mileage: 13.5 miles, total 81.4 miles

Elevation: 6,255 ft

I was the first person awake at the campsite this morning so made breakfast as quietly as possible. I might have made a little more noise when passing the bongo guy’s tent but that is only a rumour. This was our last day on the trail before reaching our halfway point at Tahoe City where we will take a day off.

There were only four small climbs during the day followed by a downhill all the way to Tahoe City. I’ve been feeling a bit sleep deprived the last few days with it being so late when it finally gets dark and so early when it gets light. So I was feeling in need of a sleep in this morning rather than the 5.30 AM alarm call.

Physically I have been doing pretty well although I think the lack of cardio fitness has shown up at altitude but no worse than last time when I was running a lot more. There are no blisters which is amazing so my Altra trail runners have really helped in that regard.

The trail had limited views today mostly moving in and out of the pine forest. However, it was pleasant enough and we enjoyed the fact that we had a relatively short distance to cover.

When we did get a view, we tried to take the opportunity for a break. We have been quite methodical with our break intervals to ensure we are fueled and hydrated enough to maintain the physicality of the hike.

We met a few interesting people along the trail including a couple from Israel and Spain who now lived in Sacramento. They were hiking the trail in sections over weekends and were nice to chat to. She was encouraging me to keep up my Spanish which I’d learnt at school pero he olvidado mucho de las palabras!

Finally, we reached the trail head and we were able to grab an Uber into Tahoe City. I have been keeping incognito after my previous comments about the driving skills of Uber drivers around here so slunk down into my seat with my sunnies on and let Ben do the talking.

We eventually arrived at the Pepper Tree Inn and, after permeating their reception area with our hiker aroma, were handed our room key whilst the receptionist held her nose. Fortunately, there was a laundry so this was the first place we headed. It felt a little strange to be wearing my rain suit whilst doing the laundry but, because it’s California, people think ‘Hey, it’s the new fashion, what a trend setter..’.

Rather than take time to hydrate, we then headed straight to the Tahoe Mountain Brewery to sample the local beers. They weren’t bad actually so we had a few pints of their stronger beers together with some chicken wings and hot sauce.

We then tipsily staggered over the road to the lake foreshore. There was a music event going on and a nice atmosphere whilst families relaxed to a jazz band against the backdrop of the lake and snow covered mountains. Tahoe really is a beautiful place.

We decided to get pizza for dinner so headed to Mountain Slice. The owner was great to talk to and regaled us with stories about the differences between New Jersey and Tahoe whilst flamboyantly throwing slices of pepperoni onto his meatlovers pizza. It was great pizza so I forgave him the fact he accidentally made me a pizza margarita.

Then it was back to the room to watch some TV which proved difficult to find something interesting even with 60 channels on offer. In the end, we settled on Step Brothers with Will Ferrell which was mildly more entertaining than staring at a blank wall for a few hours.

Tomorrow, we will organise our resupply for the second half of this hike through to Kingsbury South and are looking forward to seeing a bit more of Tahoe City.