As
usual when we are heading into town, we were motivated by food and showers to
start early and haul into breakfast. So we were moving early, and with 10 miles
all downhill, made it to Highway 50 in good time.
Unfortunately,
no one seemed in the mood to pick up 4 smelly hikers for at least an hour.
Eventually, a Danish veterinarian in Tahoe on business picked us up. He was
extremely enthusiastic about everything and we were lucky to be picked up by
such an interesting person. He took us right into town, where we got a hotel
room and then headed straight for breakfast….sans showers!
*Another
side note that I forgot to mention earlier….When we were back in Mammoth, we
heard for the first time about the fires in South Lake Tahoe. Everyone on the
trail was monitoring the progress of the fires, but there were never any trail
closures. It did get as close as 5 miles to the trail through, and for the 3-4
days into South Lake, it was extremely smoky. As I got closer, there were times
when the visibility was very low and it definitely affected my breathing. We
all felt very lucky to avoid the fire.
Our
time spent in SLT was relaxing. We checked out the casinos very quickly, ate
some delicious Indian food, saw Lake Tahoe for the first time, resupplied and
rested up. It was a productive ‘zero plus’ in an enjoyable town.
