8/14-
Total Trip Miles: 892
My bus that is going from Medford, OR to Trukee, CA, where I plan on hopping on the Tahoe Rim Trail for 70 miles or so before rejoining the PCT, is scheduled to leave at the witching hour of 1:10 am. I kill time in Medford waiting for my bus by grabbing a beer at a nearby bar and walking a mile to In-N-Out. I’m back at the bus station by 1 am where I wait patiently for the bus to arrive.
But it doesn’t come. An hour passes, pushing the time to 2 am, and the 3 am rolls around. Still nothing. And then finally, at 3:30 am, I wake up out of a hazy half sleep on the bench to see the Greyhound bus making it’s way slowly down the street.
Me and maybe 5 other passengers board the bus and the driver doesn’t say much to us. The bus is full and I grab one of the only empty seats I see, an aisle seat in the front. I drift off to an uncomfortable sleep and am woken somewhere about 20 miles north of Redding, CA. It’s now light outside and the bus driver is talking on her phone. She’s calling her friend for directions on how to get to the Greyhound transfer station in Redding. A passenger keeps interrupting the conversation, telling the driver to look up the directions on her smartphone. The driver says it’s easier to just have her friend give directions. I’m somewhat numb to the whole thing in my sleep deprived state, and I just try to go back to sleep.
Apparently the friend gives the right directions because we do make it to Redding, where we stop for a transfer of bus drivers. This new driver is absolutely all-business and says if she sees anyone with their mask not on, or not covering their nose, she will kick them off the bus considering it not complying with the mask mandate. “If you’re eating, put the food in your mouth and your mask immediately back on. You don’t need your mask off for 10 minutes to sip your coffee.” You get the feeling this driver won’t be calling anyone to ask for directions.
Eventually, finally, we make it to the Sacramento bus station a little before noon. The very late bus has had me, along with what seems like every other passenger, miss the transfer here at Sacramento. I wait in line to get information for when I catch the next bus from here to Truckee and am told it won’t be until 11pm tonight. It’s 102 degrees outside in Sacramento right now and the Greyhound transfer station does not have air conditioning. Waiting another 12 hours here at this transfer station feels like a personal hell.
So, as has been the case for my whole trip, I’m helped out by a good friend. I have a friend named Steve who lives in Woodfords, CA which is 7 miles away from the border of CA and Nevada. I give him a call and after explaining the situation, he says he will drive the two hours to Sacramento to grab me and I can stay at his place tonight, and he will drop me off on the trail tomorrow.
A few hours later, Steve rolls into the Greyhound station just as the temperature in the room is becoming unbearable. We drive back to Steve’s house in his cool air-conditioned car, and I can only stay awake for the first 10 minutes before the sleep deprivation gets me and I’m crashing into a deep and dreamless sleep.
When we get to Steve’s house, I take yet another nap and set my alarm for 7 pm. It’s a good thing I do or I probably would have been completely out until the middle of the night. I wake up and Steve and I head out to a Chinese buffet in Gardnerville, NV. As I eat chow mein and converse with Steve, I think of how lucky I am to have such good friends.
8/15-
Tahoe Rim Trail (TRT) Miles Today: 8
Total trip miles: 892
I wake up to a big pot of strong, black coffee that Steve put on this morning. It tastes quite fantastic and I hang out in the early hours morning, doing a little reading and a little writing.
As 9 am rolls around, I cook us up a big breakfast. Eggs, sausage, bacon, potatoes, and bell pepper. As Steve and I eat, we go over a plan for today. I ask Steve if we can stop at the Target in Carson City, as I forever seem to be losing my headphones. After, we plan on hanging out at a beach on the east side of Tahoe, and then Steve will drop me off on the Tahoe Rim Trail and away I’ll go.
Before we head out, I get a text from Spood who I ran into at the hostel Ashland. He’s a SOBO hiker, also known as Matt, who I hadn’t seen since I split an epic cinnamon bun with him all the way back Stehekin, WA. He tells me him and some other hikers, T2, Happy Dance, and one other hiker, are also planning on doing the Tahoe Rim Trail. Whoo-oo! Could be friends to hike with. But they, as well as myself, are concerned about smoke levels which have sadly followed all the way from Ashland. I tell Spood that the air quality is not very good at Steve’s house, about 20 miles from the closest section of the Tahoe Rim Trail.
After breakfast, Steve and I execute our plan of hitting up Target, hanging out on a beach on the East side of Lake Tahoe, grabbing a bite to eat, and then dropping me off on the Tahoe Rim Trail. The trail is a big loop around Lake Tahoe and you can really start the trail anywhere, and I ask Steve to take me to the East side of the lake off a highway called Kingsbury Grade. I’m going to be going counter-clockwise on the trail and should should find myself back on the PCT trail in about 4 days or so if all goes according to plan.
I hike from 5 pm- 8 pm, covering 8 miles or so. I only see one other person on the trail that evening, an older gentleman who is out for an evening hike. I ask him about trail conditions and he tells me the TRT is awesome but it’s extremely dry this year. That’s what my maps are showing me also, but I console myself that I have experience with this in Oregon. Ha, 20, even 25 miles stretches, between water sources is not something new to me. I know I can hike fast and without as much water in the mornings, and finding a water source in the evening is essential. I guess the past 50+ days on the PCT taught me at least a little something after all.
