Day 94: Zero day in South Lake Tahoe

And so we took a zero in South Lake Tahoe, but if anything were closer to Tahoe City on the *north* side of the lake, at an Airbnb. And after spending yesterday running errands, today was mostly about sitting around and doing nothing. Much more so for me, because that's pretty much what I did all day: the others at least went out to see the Lake in the afternoon. But I stayed in, finishing up chores (when I had come in yesterday, I had been gung-ho about finishing all my chores yesterday and leaving today just for resting, but--as always--that didn't happen and the chores leaked into this morning), and trying to catch up on this blog. (One of these is easier than the other--I'll let you guess which!)

But here are the little stories from the stay in "South" Lake Tahoe:

-- Yesterday, when we got in, we wanted to get something to eat--of course--and we ending up going to McDonald's. And, let me say, for all the arguable lack of nutrition and empty calories of McDonald's, the food is *good*. And it's supposed to be *good*, it's *designed* and *engineered* to be good. All those chemical engineers--which was the hardest engineering discipline at my university, by the way, much harder than my simple electrical engineering program--that's what they *do*: they *design* things McDonald's. So it better be good and, viscerally, it *is*. Of course if you think about what you're eating too much, well, then maybe things change, but barring that, it's *good*.

-- I thought that I had consumed the most calories at McDonald's: I got a sandwich, large fries, a shake, and an apple pie (a staple in my family) (really). But then I made a rookie mistake and got an orange juice instead of a soda, whereas Dylan got comparable food, then got a soda *and* a free refill, and surged past me. But I don't begrudge the orange juice. Sure it was probably more sugar than orange, and probably more coloring than citrus, but it was good and you can't get it on the trail and, honestly? I'd order it again!

-- I changed pens. This may not seem a big deal, but for me, this it's a pretty big deal. I've been using the Pilot G2 pens for recording notes in my pad so far; this is the same pen I use in normal life and the one that I always keep in my pocket. But on the trail, this line has been having problems: the pens just seem fragile. They develop leaks, and after the last leak a couple days ago that left my entire right haunch stained a bright blue, and this when the pen was still plenty full of ink and so relatively young, lifetime-wise, well after that I decided to look into an alternative. So now I'm using these Bic Atlantis pens--bought a 4-pack at the CVS. They're much coarser than the Pilots, but so far they write pretty smooth, so I can deal with having to write a bit bigger. They're also a simpler ballpoint, so hopefully they'll prove more robust!

-- While picking up the pens, I also picked up some cold medication. For that I consulted AC/DC--that's the benefit of having a nurse in the group! And she bought medications much like Leslie would back in the day: ignoring brand names and just looking at the active medications, their dosages, and the price tag. AC/DC didn't really care which company made what, she just wanted to get the most active medication for the least dollars. And so I picked up some generic Dayquil/Nyquil tablets, in a package size that was a good price (I could get cheaper, but then I'd be carrying around a *lot* of medication). Of course, when we went to the Grocery Outlet afterwards, AC/DC saw that they had comparable medications for even cheaper and promptly apologized, but to my mind, it was fine: I'll pay a little extra just for the peace of mind of knowing I have *some* medication for treating the cold, rather than rolling the dice on the chance that the Grocery Outlet (whose inventory seems to always be in flux) might have it.

-- There's a Grocery Outlet in South Lake Tahoe, and so before we headed up to the AirBnb we headed there to resupply. And to buy groceries for the next couple days so we wouldn't have to go out to eat. Which is all well and good, until you realize that we were trying to cram 6 people in a Jeep, 4 of whom had their packs, and then on top of that the resupply for 5 hikers, and now also the food for 6 people for 2 days? That's a lot to stuff into a little space! But we managed to do it, by stuffing food under the seats, by wedging food between the Jeep roll-cage and the hard shell, by jamming backpacks onto laps. And by sitting AC/DC in the back, trunk-ish area. Kind of amazing, but with three engineers milling about (Outlast, Dylan, and myself), it would have been kind of disappointing if we hadn't! Anyway, it made for a cramped ride up to the Airbnb, but that reflected outside as well: driving up the west side of the lake, there were so many folks out and about, often parked along the side of the road and walking up to this or that scenic viewpoint. Probably made for some more hectic driving for Matt, who was already negotiating those high, curvy roads. All in all, the ride was comparable to the one we had taken up to Red's Meadow: sure it was cramped and crowded, sure it was uncomfortable, but you can't let your mind start thinking that or it'll go crazy, so you just don't. And then it (eventually) ends!

-- Yesterday we also visited the South Lake Tahoe post office, where I had a package, and which was only open from 12-2. Which meant that, for those two hours, it was pretty much Hiker Heaven: there were so many hikers! For example, I bumped into Mark there, completely at random, and Mariposa, and a bunch of others. So if you wondered what happens when the post office is only open for two hours in a trail town, well, for those two hours, over 3/4s of the patrons will be hikers!

And some stories from today:

-- We watched a lot of movies today, or rather, the others did. Me, I tend to stay away from movies while on trail, mostly because movies for me have this reality-warping character. If I watch a movie--and really pay attention and watch it--then afterwards, it colors the world for me. Afterwards, I live half in the world fashioned by the film, and much less in the world actually around me. Normally, I like this feeling, and it's one of the reasons I like watching movies at night: the imagination can stay in the movie's world for that much longer in the dark, rather than being overwhelmed by the hustle and bustle of real-world's day. But on trail, I feel movies take me out of what I'm doing too much, so I don't try to give them much attention. Even so, one of the movies was this time-travel movie that actually was just about family, and I started paying attention to it just in passing, and even just cursorily entering that world I found myself getting emotional towards the end, and the world around me start to lose the dark woody colors of the Airbnb, and start to adopt the pale blues of the film's color palette. Dangerous stuff, movies, dangerous stuff!

-- Also, in the evening, we watched Shrek and Shrek 2, which I think are pretty much Dylan's favorite movies. I mean, he was reciting Shrek 1 alongside the movie as it was playing, before getting embarrassed and stopping. (Also, we started eating dinner, and usually dinner conversation consists of more than movie quotes!) In the car tomorrow (this entry is slightly anti-causal) he would expouse the benefits of watching the Shrek sandwich--which is Shrek 1-2-1, although there are also benefits of watching Shrek 2-1-2, which is a different experience--for he would attest that Shrek 2 is arguably the greatest sequel of all time. On par with the Godfather, Part 2?, I asked. In the same neighborhood, he would affirm, with only maybe a smidgen of irony. I'm just saying: man's a bit of a Shrek fan!

-- It seems our eyes are bigger than our stomachs, because we bought way too much food! Even with the hiker hunger of 5 thru-hikers, plus Matt on top of that, still it wasn't enough to finish all the food! There was just so much left. There were intended meals that we never got to. Like me: I bought a container of tofu, intending to do a simple stir fry of tofu, spices, and green onion (it tastes as plain as it sounds, but I like it), but never got around to even finding it in the fridge! Luckily it would turn out that Uno wouldn't be heading back to the trail with us but instead taking a few more days in Carson City to recover (mostly her feet), so she would take much of it with her, but still, we had so much excess. I felt a bit guilty about it, actually: I hate wasting food. And as a thru-hiker it not only feels bad, it feels weird: wait, you mean I *couldn't* finish all this? But I'm always hungry, how does *that* happen?

-- Ah, I should clarify. We're heading back to the trail tomorrow--going to head into my old haunts in Desolation Wilderness, starting out from Echo Lake and hiking up to Lake Aloha--but Uno isn't coming with us. Instead, she found a place in Carson City (it's cheaper out there) and is going to hang out a few more days. The group is planning to hike out to Donner Ski Ranch (which is the exit point for Truckee): AC/DC has family in Reno, and they'll be coming to pick her up at Donner and head to Reno to visit. The rest of the group will go with--AC/DC's family is quite hospitable that way and has room for all--and Uno will rejoin the group then. As for me, I'm not planning on stopping at Donner Ski Ranch but instead just continuing through to Sierra City, so I'll be leaving the group then. Given my current speed, I'm worried about making it to Canada in time, and taking another zero day at Donner Ski Ranch--effectively just 3-4 days from now--just doesn't seem like a luxury I can afford right now. But the nature of the trail is such that I'm sure I'll see all these folks again up the trail: even when I've been ahead, it seems I always manage to find a way to end up behind. Whether because of sickness, or because of not wanting to miss any bit of the trail, or because of accident, I ultimately end up behind the bubble!

-- Oh, and speaking of food: Cindie Ekstrand had included some more homemade cookies in my resupply box, and I had promptly cut them in half and offered them to everybody. And--as perhaps expected--everyone agreed they were absolutely delicious. And that's from thru-hikers who've been eating everything sugary under the sun for months!

-- In the evening, I made a call to Terry about resupply, and sat out back on the porch chatting with him. Took, oh, about an hour, and not that late, probably between 9-10pm? And when I finished the call, we got a knock on the door. And I didn't hear the conversation--I was still towards the back of the place--but after fielding the knock, Dylan explained that it seems one of our neighbors had a complaint about the noise. Which is odd: there was a group in another complex, up the hill, and they seemed to be much noisier than me (they seemed to be old friends who hadn't seen each other in a while, and were just chatting and falling into old patterns and losing track of time). But to each their own: if this neighbor felt my cold-addled voice (maybe they just didn't like all the coughing) (I didn't like it either, honestly) was too loud, then they're welcome to issue the complaint. I did use this little escapade, though, to show Dylan a little clip from John Wick (which I attest is an art-house film, it just also happens to be an action movie), and this little bit of dialogue that comes after John (Keanu Reeves' character) has just killed a dozen assassins who had broken into his house, only to hear a knock on his door and look up to see the characteristic flashing lights of a police car. He opens the door and the officer says: 

   "Evening John."

   "Evening Jimmy. Noise complaint?"

   "Noise complaint."

   Pause. The officer leans to the side ever so slightly, sees the bodies in the foyer.

   "You, umm, you working again?"

   "No, just sorting some things out."

   "Oh. I'll leave you be then. Goodnight John."

   "Goodnight Jimmy." Closes door.

Ok, so maybe I'm relating this story mostly just to advocate for the film: very violent--I think John Wick kills over 80 people in the film (although, to be fair, they *did* steal his car, and they *did* kill his dog)--but the action is just beautifully done. And I think I did whet Dylan's appetite with the clip: he thought it was just another generic action film and so dismissed it, but after seeing the clip--especially some interesting camera tricks and lighting choices--he started to see why I called it an art-house film. Oh, and the action: that's pretty good too.

And finally, a reflection. In the evening, I had a call with Terry where we sorted out the next resupply, and he asked me if the Sierras ended up being as spectacular as I had hoped. And I had to admit the answer was no.

First off, the Sierras kicked my butt--I would six ways to Sunday but I said that about San Jacinto--so more like eight or nine ways to Sunday. And that's not unexpected: I remember Chief, way back at Big Bear, talking about her hike through the Sierras back in a big snow year, saying that it was tough and hard, but that the beauty offset the hardship. But while she said that, her eyes got distant. So for me, while the Sierras were beautiful, they were also so demanding physically--in the hiking, in the climbing, in the fall and all its complications--that I'm not sure the beauty fully offset the hardship. When you have trouble breathing, when you're worried about your hike ending, well, let's just say I became too self-focused to be fully wowed by spectacular waterfalls or soaring granite.

And the beauty, while it's undoubtedly there, is also a strange thing for me. I appreciate the beauty of the desert because I feel I can reach out and touch it (by which I mean, reach out and walk it) but the beauty of the Sierras? I don't know: as I've said before, it's almost like it's *too* beautiful, and I'm scared to touch it. It's like being in a museum: look, but don't interact beyond that. And as a result, the Sierras feel almost foreign to me, almost like this precious pretty thing on a podium somewhere. Whereas things like the desert feel immediate and common enough that I can grasp them and hug them and feel close to them. The surreal beauty of the Sierras, the almost other-worldly feel to it, makes it seem distant to me, and as such, not as interesting as it might be.

And I think I did the Sierras the wrong way, in that I don't think that the PCT is the right way for someone like me to do the Sierras. The PCT is a relentless thing, and I get too easily caught up in that momentum. I think the right way for me to do the Sierras is how Tim and Emily are doing it, or how Jane and Jean are doing it: taking it slow--8-9 miles a day--not being rushed, being able to stop and take it all in. Being able to explore and wander. But instead I'm trying to make miles, worrying about falling behind, and while I'm putting off the calculations for how many miles I need per day to get to Canada in time, I know that calculation is percolating in the back of my mind, and its shadow colors things even though I don't want it to. For folks like me, the Sierras are best experienced not via the Grand Tour, but rather via an Unfocused Wander--something that the Second Old Friend can enjoy--and the PCT is defintely the former and definitely *not* the latter.

All of which add up to: were the Sierras as spectacular as you had hoped? In a way, yes: it's the scenery of the Sierras after all. But also, in just as real a way, no, not for me. And that's too bad, but that's also how it is, unfortunately.

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Some notes:

-- I had mentioned, but we had gotten picked up by Matt, Uno's boyfriend. So I got to meet him. He's a tall guy, and could be big and imposing if he wanted to be (especially in his I-don't-care-kilt and hair tied off in a bandana), but smiles too much, and is much too gregarious and chatty, to make that stick. Overall--and this is just based on these few days--he strikes me as a good-hearted person. And, from me, that's high praise: I've only met a handful of people who are good-hearted people. Because for me, good-hearted isn't just a statement of intentions and motivations, but also requires a certain confidence so that not only does the heart *want* to do the good thing, but the person can follow through and act out the good thing with a sort of casualness. That's good-hearted: both the intention and the act, all done with a natural ease. And Matt is like that. Certainly he may have his other faults, but good-hearted goes a long way: I can see why Uno likes this guy!