July 6th, 2016
Miles Hiked: 11
Start Location: Mile 1087
End Location: Mile 1098
End Location GPS: 37.86392, -120.12826
Town day in South Lake Tahoe. We walked a quick 3 miles to the highway and snagged a ride within 5 minutes of thumbing.
It turned out our friends Beardoh and Sweatpea were in town. They both hiked the AT the same year I did and are really good friends with my good friend Qball and are also hiking the PCT this year. They started a little later than us so it was fun to finally run into them. We went to lunch together at a Thai place which was pretty good.
We got back to trail around 2 by a nice German couple visiting the States. It was a quick 2 miles to Echo Lake, a resort type place with a deli and store. We got some veggie sandwiches with cheese and avacados and a couple beers and sat outside people watching. There is a lot of activity there with backpackers and hikers and boaters, so we sat there longer than we probably should have hanging out.
We started hiking after a long break and passed an older gentleman named Tony Domiani. He chatted me up for a good rambling 15 minutes about how he plays the mandalin, how his son used to be the bass player for the band Cake, how he was a puppeteer and an elementary school teacher, how his car didn’t start a couple of weeks ago, and on and on. We said our goodbyes and he continued to talk to us until we were out of earshot.
We are camped near Aloha lake. There are a lot of backpackers here out for the night but no other thru hikers we can see. It was a fun filled day and I’m ready for some sleep. The town of Truckee is next up the road- we will be there in 2.5 days.
