Vacation 2009, Day Three: Sticky Fingers, Leaking Bladders, and Italian Meatballs

Today was my first really long hike this vacation. Object: Watson Lake via Brockway Summit, west of here and west of Kings Beach, CA, where I came through on the way to Incline Village. This isn't the hilliest of hikes, although there was a 700' elevation gain between the trailhead and the lake. The problem was the distance (round-trip 13.4 miles) and elevation (7700 feet at the start, which is only slightly lower than Santa Fe, where I nearly died the last time I tried to hike there). This photo shows the view of Lake Tahoe on this trail at about the start of the second mile in.

This Labor Day started out like it wouldn't hold much promise. As previously advertised, it got terrifically cold last night-down to 38 degrees. I enjoy getting out of the Texas heat, but really, 38 is about as cold as it gets in December in Austin. Radio stations go into "Blizzard Warning 2009" mode when it gets below 40. So this is a bit much. I thought about my New Zealand trip several years ago, waking up to run in Wellington and cringing at the thought of the 50 degree temperatures. My tortoise-like preparation routines, however, came in handy this day, keeping me from getting out of the house until 9:30, and to the trailhead until 10:30. By that time, it had warmed up to the upper 60s. Lots of gathering to do, don't you know. This creeping, vacation-style way of taking three hours to get ready in the morning allowed me to enjoy the Stellar's Jays gathering on the deck, to prepare my spinach/egg/cheese/turkey bacon breakfast burrito exactly the way I like it, to savor my Tazo Awake tea on the deck with the wooden bear carving (see flickr photos for Tuesday), and pack my backpack for the hike. In other words, to be 75 years old. All that was missing was the Today show and reading the newspaper from front to back (obituaries and letters to the editor in particular) while muttering to no one about [insert name of suspected ageist politician here]. Oh, and doing all this before the sun comes up.

The trail led through evergreen and white fir forest that had obviously seen much fire damage. It reminded me of another hike I did in Yellowstone about 10 years ago (maybe more), through some heavily fire damaged forest near and below Mt. Washington. Unlike that time, the fire had spared about half of the trees in this forest section. Nonetheless, as you can see in the pictures, fire has hit this section of the forest very hard.

The trail, particularly in the earlier, lower sections, winds through a great deal of volcanic rock. Of particular interest is the Lava Cliffs, which give a really great view of Lake Tahoe. I climbed on top one of them to take the picture featured above, and others on flickr. The trail itself has a lot of rocks embedded in or lying on the ground, each one a sprained ankle or even blown out ACL in waiting. Though there wasn't a tremendous elevation gain, Watson Lake is the highest point on the trail, and most of the way there was uphill. Much of the trail leads through thickly forested areas, while other sections lead through clearings blanketed with manzanita and leafy grasses whistling during wind gusts.

I had one brief scare, about 20 minutes into the hike, when at a service road crossing the US Forest Service placed a "Area Closed" sign at the trailhead. After walking up and down the road for about 15 minutes, I decided to be a rebel and chance it. Sure enough, the area was not closed, but the government employees had put up the wrong sign. These are the types who are going to control our health care? Excellent. The lines at the Post Office and your local driver's license office think ObamaCare is a great idea.

After 3 hours on the dot, I made it to Watson Lake, a fairly smallish lake that lies entirely on top of volcanic rock. This is where I had lunch, plopping down on a fallen log and watching kids play in the lake (Watson Lake is accessible by car, and several families were having picnics). My "camelback" water pack (basically a sealed plastic bladder with a tube for easy drinking) had been leaking, of course, and got most of my backpack's contents, as well as my shirt, wet. So I took off my boots and socks, and shirt to dry while eating. Unfortunately, as I sat there cooling down, the wind picked up and the sun went behind the tree line so I began getting chilled. It got so bad I was having trouble moving my fingers. And thanks to the "smushing" effect of packing too much stuff, the jelly managed to run out of the PB&J filled tortillas I packed, inevitably winding up on my dirty fingers. Note to self: pack hand sanitizer for next hike. Nothing like having to hike back three hours with dirty, sticky, freezing hands. I felt like a three year old (except my face wasn't sticky too).

Unfortunately, I didn't see much wildlife on this hike. A few woodpeckers and Steller's Jays, some sort of ground bird I couldn't identify, and the elusive "golden-mantle ground squirrel." Sort of like a gray squirrel painted like a '69 Corvette with racing stripes.

At exactly 6 1/2 hours (including a 45 minute lunch break and walk around Watson Lake), I completed the 13.4 mile round trip hike. As a 45 year old desk-bound worker with one heart surgery and back and hip pain to my credit, this was pretty good. How does that taste, 18 year old x-box playing couch potato incapable of making it to the refrigerator from the La-Z-Boy without getting winded? Yeah, I thought so.

Terry is visiting his mother in Wisconsin, so Kimberly graciously volunteered to join me at the condo for a couple of days and cook dinner each night. She arrived during my hike, and proceeded to put together one of the best meals ever, featuring salad with goat cheese and cherry tomatoes, kale with garlic, and made-from-scratch Italian meatballs. To call them delicious hardly does justice. She explained that they were made of organic ground beef and pork, and other fresh spices. She also made the tomato sauce from scratch, using among other ingredients olive oil and San Marzano tomatoes from Italy. She made the whole dish in her Le Creuset pot. Topped with mozzarella, it was incredibly filling but some of the best Italian food I've ever had. (See the picture on flickr.) It completely hit the spot after the long hike, probably replacing every calorie burned with two new ones. Over the meal, she shared stories of her and Terry's recent month-long tour of Italy, in particular describing some memorable meals had in Florence. We made plans for tomorrow, then, wallowing in meatball ecstasy, called it a night.

Tomorrow-a trip to the Post Office, the capsizing of the S.S. Reeder, hiking Spooner Lake, a rogue sunset, and vegetarian lamb.