July 10, 2008 Pacific Crest Trail

Destination: South Lake Tahoe
Miles: 19

Adrian:
We hiked 19 miles by 1:30 p.m. today, making it to the post office at Echo Lake in time to pick-up a care package there before the 2 p.m. closing time. Moonpie and Cuddles also made it in time. Moonpie received a few hundred Moonpies from the manufacturer who sponsors her. She shared with all the hikers gathered around the resort, which numbered around 20.

Echo Lake Resort is a fishing store/post office located up a hill from South Lake Tahoe. We had some milkshakes and a deli sandwich while organizing a ride to South Lake Tahoe. Really good shakes! David, a long time veteran of the trail, his wife and daughter gave us a ride to the Traveler's Inn, where Stephen had made reservations for us for Saturday. We added a couple nights to that reservation and checked in.

There are a few reasons South Lake Tahoe (SLT) is important to through-hikers and I'll try to outline them here in no particular order. SLT is a major town with many services that we won't see again for some 600 miles in Ashland, Oregon. We won't see the variety of restaurants, outfitters, physicians, hotels, and grocery stores to name a few. We also have completed the high Sierra stretch so we can send home a warm clothing article, ice axe, bear canister, fishing pole, and even rain pants (though we'll keep ours until we reach our bounce bucket in Sierra City). That is a total weight of around 4 pounds! A monumental amount of weight for a hiker. Then there are the all-you-eat buffets that are legendary in PCT circles. We ate at one tonight with about 12 other hikers at the Horizon Casino. It cost $11 per person, a good deal, but since I lost $60 at the craps table after diner, the casino's business plan worked like a charm on me...oh well. Lastly, because we won't be going!
Through many towns for most of the rest of the hike, this is the last place we can really splurge a bit. We'll be spending less money in the coming months; so a little blowout is called for :)