The first order of the day was to drop down to a dry riverbed then scale the hills on the other side. It was only a couple of miles but for some reason I was huffing and puffing on the climb. The reward was a beautiful bit of water called Squaw Creek.
I soon passed the working bits from Squaw Valley Ski Resort which made for nice visuals.
This was about 8,441' and I had quite the view, with Lake Tahoe in the far distance to the right.
The living and the dead.
Once I got to the top of the climb the trail dropped down to the entry to the Granite Chief Wilderness.
Small trails went here and there but the one interesting to me was the Tevis Trail. I have a friend who rode this 100 mile race with her horse and wrote a book about the adventure. So of course I had to take a picture.
Next up was the small creek that is actually the headwaters of the Middle Fork of American River. Good water!
Another two miles of walking downhill through wildflower filled meadows, and an occasional deer fly (#*¥+#!) until I turned up canyon where the water drops out of the Five Lake basin. At this point I had a decision to make. Once I cross Five Lake Creek I was in for a climb of about 1,000' in a two mile chunk. After that was another four miles of exposed ridge walking before any cover was available. And this is what was happening in at area.
Call me chicken but I don't like the idea of being up there when afternoon rain is certain. So, I pulled into this area about 1pm and decided to call it for the day. And I'm glad I did because as I am laying here dry and safe, the rain is coming and going. Some rain, some sun. Of course this makes tomorrow a longer day but at least I'll be around to hike it.
Speaking of tomorrow and what I'm planning to do, I've made a change of plans for the next few days. Originally I was to complete this section and come out on Saturday. It was very unlikely I would get to town in time to get to the hostel, pick up my boxes there and get to the post office to mail stuff home. The dang PO again. Plus being in Tahoe on the big weekend doesn't appeal to me. So, since I've already hiked the part south of the PCT junction with the Tahoe Rim Trail I've decided to cut off there on the TRT and get to town this Thursday. Giving me plenty of time to do the mailing and anything else I need to do before I take back off on Friday or Saturday. Of course there is no public transportation from Tahoe City to South Lake Tahoe so I'll have to figure that out. I thought I could make a sign saying "Nice Old Lady 2 So. Lake Tahoe." Would you pick me up?
Failing that I could sign up for Uber.
I'd pick you up! Such a nice old lady you are!
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