I was up in South Lake Tahoe with a few friends last weekend, and the highlight of the trip was definitely a 20 mile point to point run through Desolation wilderness. Thank you to Ethan for planning the route! Meredith, Ethan, Levi, and I started at Echo Lake, then ran up through Dick's Pass to the Eagle Falls trailhead for a technical 20 miler. It was a blast!
Obligatory "before" shot:
It's hard not to notice the altitude. We started at about 7000 feet, enough to bring our heart rates up even at what should have been an easy pace. But that was fine, since we weren't moving that fast anyway. With plenty of rocks on the trail, at times it felt like more of a scramble or a hike than a run! Trevor and Brian, much respect for tackling the TRT 100.
On the bright side, we had plenty of time to admire the views.
The early morning weather was quite pleasant. A bit of a breeze, but not too hot. We kept a pretty steady pace to Aloha Lake, and then stopped to filter some water and toss back some shotbloks. The water was a gorgeous deep blue from afar and crystal clear up close. (But we still filtered it because hey, giardia sucks and this wasn't Alaskan snowmelt)
As we turned onto the PCT, we started to see more and more backpackers with a few ultrarunners mixed in. Everyone was super nice and very respectful of the trail.
And the trail went up...
...and up...
...and up...
until we hit about 9200 ft. The last climb was a doozy and we were all sucking wind, but we made it!
We grabbed some snow up top for hot heads and blasted down the trail. We were missing the oxygen, and even getting down to 7000 ft made a huge, huge difference. The trip back was just more of the same: breathtaking vistas and gorgeous views. The quality of folks we ran into started changing, too. We chatted with some folks training for a 200 mile race (is that even a thing???) and our Hokas ignited a debate as we passed some saner folks only training for 100 milers. "See you in 25 years!" they called after us as we shot down the trail.
Eventually the trails became less technical, and we knew we were close when we ran into day hikers. I saw a guy with a straw hat and a tropicana bottle of water and then a girl in flip flops and a bikini, and I knew we were just about done.
And we're still smiling! It was a tough 20 miler that took 6:30 (including breaks to pump water) but we all felt fantastically accomplished and not too beat up. Spiffy.
Gear retrospective:
Ultraspire Omega pack: Once I got used to how relatively low this pack sat, I loved the monstrous amount of gear I could carry. 2 liters, nutrition, an extra layer, and a water filter? No problem! Definitely my choice for backcountry runs.
Pearl Izumi sun sleeves: I call these "arm coolers" to Howland's consternation, but they were great at keeping the sun off my arms. When I could spare the water, they felt like they supercooled my arms.
Hoka One One Stinson ATR: Still loving these. I did a run in the Marin Headlands which felt like I was flying. Less flying today because of how technical the trails were, but they did a great job of cushioning my feet at the cost of an increased risk of rolled ankles. They're definitely on my list of race gear moving forward.
Bonus: Margarita shotbloks soaked in patron are AMAZING after a day in the sun. My friends assure me that they are less amazing if one hasn't been on the trail for hours, but I still respectfully disagree.
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