Day 76: South Lake Tahoe

Date: Mon 7/2

PCT Start Mile: NA

PCT End Mile: NA

PCT Mileage for Day: 0

Total PCT Mileage: 1090.0

The Highlights: scooters, the Heavenly Gondola, breweries, and ice cream sandwiches.

This morning we slept until we started hearing feet on the main floor above us, 7am or so – sleeping in compared to our trail routine.

Eventually we rose, packed up our stuff, and made our way to the kitchen where Pilgrim and Bang were also getting ready to depart. They were planning to attempt to hitch to Reno today. In South Lake Tahoe we sit right on the California-Nevada line, part of Lake Tahoe in each state, and Reno is only 45 minutes down the road.

After saying our goodbyes and thanking Paparazzi once again for his hospitality, we hit the road, making the 3/4 mile walk to the post office. On our way, Pilgrim and Bang whizzed by on scooters from a scooter share program (same concept as bike share, which SLT also has). Damn. We were going to have to pick up some of those.

At the post office, we picked up a package from home, mailed a resupply box forward, and chatted with several hikers doing all the same things. Totally the place to be first thing on a Monday morning.

We even ran into Deborah from New Zealand. She had started the trail on the same day as us, which was also the last time we had seen her. You just never know when you’ll see someone again.

Hungry after taking care of our post, we hit up the nearby Denny’s for breakfast. This typically wouldn’t be our first choice for breakfast, but it was convenient and we sat in the booth for awhile after eating figuring out the remaining food we needed for the next section to Sierra City.

Leaving Denny’s, we used our newly downloaded Lime apps to track down the nearest scooters. Yes, this was happening.

I’m pretty uncoordinated, but managed to stay upright for our ride into the downtown area where we would be staying the next few days, just under 3 miles from the Denny’s.

I didn’t go nearly as fast as Shawn, but man were the scooters fun. I don’t think it will be the last time we use them here. Shawn already wants one for commuting once we are settled someday.

Downtown, we were too early to check in, but left our bags at the hotel and went to the Heavenly Village area – the winter hub for the Heavenly Ski Resort runs and the summer hub for a myriad of other activities. We were there for the gondola.

When my brother and his family had visited us in Mammoth Lakes, taking a day away from their vacation time in South Lake Tahoe, he had gifted us the money to ride the gondola when we got to SLT.

He knew that we wouldn’t spend the money ourselves to ride it, but having really enjoyed it with his own family, he wanted to share the experience with us. So, here we were at the gondola. Beyond the gondola, our ticket also included a ride up another chairlift further up the mountain.

Heading up in gondola. Finally, a mountain we don’t have to hike. 😂

The views of Lake Tahoe and the surrounding mountains were awesome, and we really appreciated the gift. Thank you Justin!!

After the gondola, we did what we do best and Shawn sniffed out the nearest brewery – Stateline. Also the name of the Nevada town that borders South Lake Tahoe.

The rest of the afternoon, we took care of a few more errands – our remaining grocery shopping and fuel canister purchases – and then spent some time in our hotel room, cleaning gear, organizing our food resupply, and relaxing.

Later in the evening, we went back out to … another brewery. This one was called Outpost Brewing Company, and set up as the interior courtyard of a hotel, with a great outdoor area and live music.

We also got “dinner” here, which turned out to be a bit of a mistake. We both got their goat mac n’ cheese with bratwurst, which seemed as though it should have been an entree – and had an entree price tag – but came in a very small bowl that was more like snack size (even for a normal person, not just a ravenous hiker), slightly bigger than a soup cup. They called it a “deep bowl”. We called it a joke. It was good, but the size didn’t reflect the price. All this to say, we were still hungry when we left.

*Ummm, this is not a dinner. This is a soup cup. Please bring refills.*

Not much further and we stumbled upon this glorious sign:

Which had options like this:

And soon we were eating giant cookie ice cream sandwiches that looked like this:

And all was right in the world.

And that, in a nutshell, was our day. Scooters, gondola, breweries, and ice cream sandwiches. Along with some productive stuff. Pretty productive zero. Trail life is tough.

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