20 August 11-20, 2011 Tahoe Rim Backpack by Michael Budig <strong>The</strong> Tahoe Rim Trail (TRT) is a 165-mile multi-use trail along the rim of mountains surrounding and shadowing over Lake Tahoe. Larry Hall and I started hiking at Kingsbury Grade, not far from the glitter and lights of the South Tahoe Casinos. Unfortunately, we managed to hike nearly a whole mile before taking our first wrong turn and adding about a mile to what would have been a 13-mile day. Otherwise, the first day was quite scenic and uneventful, except for the mature rattlesnake that I nearly stepped on. We camped that night at the Spooner Summit Picnic Area, where John Veranth met us the next morning. John and Larry then hiked with me for four days, as had been planned before they had to head home. Both were in better shape than me and John set a great comfortable and consistent pace. During the next few days, we encountered more mountain bikers than hikers, which was fine, though a bit disconcerting when we encountered one in a designated wilderness area, plus many others on an odd-numbered day in a section closed to bikers on odd-numbered days. If bikers want hikers to cooperate and yield the trail as the rules require, they need to follow the rules too. On day two, we encountered a group of three hikers who were impressed and overenthusiastic in offers to help when they heard I was planning to hike the whole trail. <strong>The</strong>y acknowledged that they probably had more food than they needed and offered to share. We said, “No thanks, we are fine.” <strong>The</strong>y persisted and wanted to know how they could help out as surely, there was something we needed and they wanted to help however they could. I finally replied, “Well, I could use a wallet with a big wad of cash.” <strong>The</strong>y laughed nervously and answered, “Oh, we don’t have that. We just came from the casinos!” <strong>The</strong> TRT offered beautiful views and a very well graded and maintained trail, much less strenuous than the John Muir Trail. Also, it is close enough to the civilization of Lake Tahoe communities to offer cell phone signals much of the time. In fact, in one phone conversation with my best friend, I was asked, “How does hiking there compared to hiking in Yellowstone?” I answered that “Phone reception is better and it has more casinos. In contrast, the Yellowstone backcountry is really wild.” Halfway through day five, we reached my vehicle and drove into Incline Village for a quick lunch. Any lingering notions of cannibalism were extinguished as our burgers quickly appeared. After lunch, Larry and John dropped me off back at the trailhead to resume the trek, while they spotted my car at the end of the trail and departed for Utah and home. After camping near Watson Lake that night, I hiked into Tahoe City the next day where I secured a hotel room and refreshed myself with a shower and some pizza before resuming the trail the next morning. I hiked about 23 miles that day, accelerating my pace to try to keep my distance from the hoards of mosquitoes. <strong>The</strong> next day the mosquitoes persisted for several miles, so I kept up my pace for another 20-mile day and reached Aloha Lake, a true gem in the Desolation Wilderness. I followed that with yet another 20-mile day, and then determined that I could conclude the hike with a 30-mile plus day on day 10. I decided to go for it! This involved about 90 minutes of hiking in the dark, which I had anticipated - and I ended up scraping up my left knee a bit. However, I reached the trailhead at about 10:30 PM and found my car about an hour later. I had successfully completed another decent trek and look forward to new challenges in the future (maybe the Colorado Trail in 2012?).
Larry Hall on Tahoe Rim Trail John Veranth, Larry Hall and Michael Budig on TRT Lake Tahoe Flowery meadow above Lake Tahoe 21
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