Mile 1,000 & beyond!!! South Lake Tahoe, mile 1,078-ish

Been falling more in love with the trail lately...not many road crossings & many days in between town stops makes it so that we are truly experiencing some remote places...places you couldn't go unless you backpacked, or spent a good amount of energy & time to get there.  It feels like you really have to earn it & when you earn it, it feels dang good.  California is such a diverse place, we never know what we're going to find over the next mountain pass.  It's truly exhilarating.

We hit mile 1,000 a while back, which was very surreal feeling.  It's now been over two months (almost 2-1/2, actually) & it's JULY!

We were planning on heading into South Lake Tahoe via Echo Lake at mile 1,094 but when we reached a road crossing at Hwy 88, mile 1,078-ish, we threw out our thumbs in hopes to beat some of the holiday traffic through town.  A woman in a Subaru (of course) picked us up & she had her young daughter in the back seat, which at first, surprised me.  Turns out, she just completed the John Muir Trail (which was also the PCT for 100+ miles) & so she was very familiar with PCT'ers.  We instantly hit it off & after talking about how expensive our town stay was going to be since it's so near to the 4th, she invited us to stay at their home.  She pulled up to her house & basically said to her husband, "Look what I brought home!" & he immediately was friendly & welcoming to us & invited us right in.  He took us on a bike ride through town as he skateboarded (on a longboard, which is pretty sweet...& he's dang good at it) & rode us up to a pier on Lake Tahoe last night for a quick dip before the sun went down.  She has fed us fruit & goodies & shuttled us around town, making sure we're getting our town needs met, because she knows just what hikers need!  It's been lovely.  And their daughter is adorable, reminds us of Gabby, Keith's neice.  We're staying one more night & then heading back out to where we left off tomorrow sometime & will celebrate the 4th hiker-style (pack out veggie brats & few other treats), on the trail.


Running low on library computer time again, so I'll have to cut this short, but thanks for all the love to all you who we heard from!!

Oh & I just got new glasses because in California they have "opticians," (rather than just optometrists) who can look at your glasses, read your prescription & then make you new ones...Amazing!!!

Next stop - Sierra City!!!