Tahoe Rim Trail (165 Mi) July 25, 2010

[Dirt4dinner]

Attention Hikers,
It is time to start searching the community. I am hell bent on doing the Tahoe Rim Trail next year, one year from NOW! If someone is interested in doing this, than let's talk. I am planning on 12-13 days on the trail. A couple days on either end for preparation/ acclimation and recovery, so probably 15-16 days total days gone from Phoenix. This is one of those threads that will die away, and then I will bring it back every once in awhile. I am looking for 1 or 2 people to do this with me.

For more info search Tahoe Rim Trail, there is an association website that can get you lots of info. I also have picked up the Tahoe Rim Trail Guide (BIG BOOK!) with tons of info and complete maps. But I will save that for the folks that want to talk seriously about this trip.

UPDATED INFORMATION:

Dates have been selected. I will be departing Phoenix on Thursday July 15th and driving to Sacramento (roughly 12 hours) and staying the night with family. The next morning July 16th, I will be picking up a friend at the Sacramento Airport and heading to Tahoe. The 16th and 17th will be spent placing our food caches along the trail, and acclimating. We hike on the 18th. We are planning 13 days, but it could be done in 12 or extend to 14. We could potentially be done in as few as 10 days....it's an adventure so no concrete timelines.

[fairweather8588]

Interested, summers are always off for me anyways

[rally_toad]

Im still totally interested.

[sarichter]

wow... that is some expedition.

[Dirt4dinner]

Im still totally interested.

Alex, I pretty much got you on the "IN" list...so you better still be down!

[Dirt4dinner]

I would encourage any interested party to ask them selves a couple questions:

1. Can I hike 10-15 miles a day for 12-13 consecutive days?
2. (most important) Can I vanish from the state of Arizona for over 2 weeks without losing my job/wife/girlfriend etc...?
3. How will I feel down the road if I miss out on an amazing opportunity like this?!?!?!

Now, if you answered the questions favorably, start doing some homework and keep asking yourself the above questions. I can't do it alone.

[Crocodile Ryan]

How do you plan on dealing with food for 15days? are you going to do caches - I would think it would be tricky otherwise

[Dirt4dinner]

We will have caches for sure!

There are two possibilities.

1. we go stash food accordingly. Thankfully this trail crosses roads on a regular basis.
2. my inlaws might at their cabin in the area during the time we hike. They could meet up with us occasionally for resupplies, or at least manage the food caches for us.

[rally_toad]

Which month of those 3 were you most leaning toward? Id be fine with either cache possibility.

[Dirt4dinner]

I am leaning more towards June, but honestly it totally doesn't matter at all. As long as the passes are free of snow we are golden.

[rally_toad]

Well I was just thinking that I definitely want to try and work at another park next summer, so I think in order for that to work out and to do this too that it'd have to be August or May/June, either at the very beginning or very end of summer if you get my drift.

[Dirt4dinner]

We will work it out. I have to figure out when snow is gone and when it comes back.

[Dirt4dinner]

From the Tahoe Rim Trail Association website.


Best Time to Hike

The Tahoe Rim Trail is open when the snow has melted off the trail in the summer - usually mid-June and until the snow starts in the fall - usually late October.

The best times to hike are early to mid-July for wildflowers and September/October for fall colors. During the winter months, the amount of snow that falls in the Sierra obscures the trail. If you are planning winter travel, you must be prepared for extreme weather and be competent with GPS and quadmaps.

[te_wa]

Tyler, you may want to contact TahoeMike, who lives there in summer. He's the guy who sold you the Ultra quilt. Im sure he would know the best prime times to get there and some of the lesser known features of the trail. Maybe you can convert him to hanging, before i get the chance to. (he's next on my list)

[Dirt4dinner]

Doing some research it looks like the best course of action is to start at Tahoe Meadows and hike clockwise. Jump on Google Earth and you will see that this puts Tahoe City at nearly the midway point, and will allow for very easy resupply by swinging into a store or hitting a food cache at a locals house if we can find someone. It will be a nice break to be in a town for a day on the way through. If you want to check out the area on Google Earth, Tahoe Meadows does not come up as a search, but it is where the TRT crosses Hwy 27 northeast of the lake. It doesn't cross near the lake at all, but rather several miles up HWY 27, just for reference.

[Dirt4dinner]

I had 40 miles of untamed Washington State Wilderness to think about this hike. I got to considering food caches, and figured out that with three food caches placed accordingly we could go VERY light weight for 3 or 4 days at a time and never have to have heavy packs. I also think I recruited my inlaws to manage the food caches for us to the point that we could leave a note at the first cache asking for specific items/ gear and it would be waiting a few days later at the next cache. Do I still have your attention?

[Crocodile Ryan]

hmm still thinking about this one, although if this was the "Wind River Range" (165mi) June 2010 hike, I would already be committed ;)

[gpsjoe]

I won't be joining this party but I just got back from a week in Tahoe Summit Village (September 19 to 26). I did Echo Lakes with Echo Peak and Flagpole peak, Pyramid Peak, Rubicon Trail and Gertrude and Tyler lakes and lake Gilmore. That was fun.

But the reason for my post here is to say my favorite time to be there is September after Labor Day. Crowds are down then, the weather is outstanding and there are few amkle biters on the trails. So you might want to consider that time period as well (assuming you are not a school teacher).

[Dirt4dinner]

I appreciate the information. I am very flexible on dates.

[rally_toad]

So whats the scoop Tyler? Updates on this one?