TRT Mile 81.5 to 89.5

The drive from the San Francisco Bay Area to the Kingsbury Grade South trailhead will be about 3.5 hours. Daniel runs to Jim’s Cafe for takeout biscuits and gravy, and a side of potato wedges with ranch dressing. We eat, pack up, and get on the road before 7:30 am. The forecast is for significant thundershowers, and we hope to start before they start.

We stop in South Lake Tahoe for a pre-hike lunch involving two burgers, a burrito and a salad. For some strange reason the restaurant has bongo drums in the bathroom. We all take advantage of our last flushing toilet, but manage to pass on the drums.

We move the car to the Kingsbury South trailhead, snap a selfie, and head up switchbacks to the actual trail. We turn left onto the TRT, and begin our 12 day clockwise loop. Today’s goal is Star Lake, nine miles ahead.

The trail seems well marked and well used. We pass a variety of day hikers with dogs, and are passed by a variety of faster mountain bikers with GoPro helmets. The views of Nevada require our imagination, given the smoke from the Yosemite fire, and the clouds from the pending thunderstorms. The thunder does eventually come and it drags behind the rain. The storm is persistent but not horrible. After a couple of minor snack breaks, we arrive at the lake and begin scouting out level ground. There are several groups of weekend backpackers, but none doing the TRT.

We pitch our tents in the rain, toss in our gear, and dive in for cover. Brian makes miso soup in his tent vestibule, while we wait out the storm. It eventually eases enough that we can

Star Lake

Star Lake Camp

crawl back out and make dinners. Daniel and Brian are still full from lunch.

Tomorrow our goal jumps from 9 miles to 18, ending at Round Lake. The forecast is for even more rain, but we hope having double the time will make this planned double doable.