Monday, July 12, 2010

Visiting With Old Friends

Day 90-July 12th
Destination: Five Lakes Creek
Miles: 21
Cumulative Miles: 1223

Today was a day of seeing old friends and enjoying an amazing ridge walk.

We were dropped off at the trail early this morning and started the hike with a decent climb. We climbed past Donner Summit and Donner Pass, location of the ill-fated Donner Party. Down in the city of Truckee, there was a statue dedicated to the lives lost in that party. What was interesting, was that the statue stood as tall as the snowfall from that fateful winter. They could tell how deep the snow was, by the cut lines on the trees for firewood. The statue towered upwards of 30 feet.

Our climb out of Donner Pass took us up a rugged rocky granite trail. It was difficult moving, but nothing compared to what it might have been with a wagon, and stock...during winter.

Once up, we started running into familiar faces, those we had hiked with in the past. First we ran into Buckeye and Swift (Melissa+Justin). They told us they never got us a "congratulations on the engagement" present, so they gave each of us a Snickers bar as a present. Apricots replied "I think saving my life at Wright creek was a suitable present," remembering how Swift lifted her out of the creek she fell in to.

While chatting with them, The Mayor, Genius, and Daredevil walked up. We were excited to see them, and while our chatting lasted a while, we all knew that it couldn't last as long as we would like. We said our goodbyes and hiked in our separate directions. Skirting the north side of Anderson Peak, we climbed across large snow fields before making a final ascent to the ridge which delivered far reaching views in nearly all directions.

These views were not enough for us, so we stopped long enough to go summit Tinker Knob, a five minute rocky scramble to the top of the peak. At the top we could see everything for miles around. We could see Lake Tahoe, the trail behind and the trail ahead. Climbing down we tried to convince some others to go up, but they were in the thru-hiker trap of "must-make-miles-can-not-stop-to-enjoy." We all get guilty of that from time to time, but this time it was sad to see, because the climb was so short, and so stunning.

We carried on, descending from Tinker Knob and the ridge line. Along the way, we bumped into Motor Giggle Bootie Butt as well as Shroomer and Duff. Spaced apart several miles, we stopped and chatted with each of the three, sharing our stories before moving along.

Running into old friends is nice, but it makes the mileage drag through the day. Tomorrow we expect to run into our old crew Axilla, Train, Wizard, General Lee, and Uncle Tom. We are planning on eating lunch when we see them, so as to make the most of our time.
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1 comment:

  1. Wow - 30 feet of snow at Donner. The ridge walk sounds very gorgeous. Love the names of places...Tinker Knob is a great one.

    Seeing old friends, news of the trail...journey on with blessings of safety...

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