Tahoe Rim Trail Hike - Day 5

Photo - Views from alongside the trail near Freel Peak.

Our fifth day of hiking was one of the longest days we encountered, but also one of the most beautiful. We started at Star Lake and went over the shoulder of Freel Peak. From the TRT it is only a mile or so to the summit of Freel, but requires extra hiking on a spur trail. At the crest of the trail there were some glorious views and lots of snow patches. Rolling around in the snow was Chester's favorite pasttime on the hike. He always seemed a little disappointed to leave the snow patches. At this point the trail descends pretty much all of the way to Armstrong Pass, which is at the intersection of four trails. Along the way we start picking up a few small streams, some beautiful granite outcrops and, best of all, beautiful displays of wildflowers.

From Armstrong Pass the trail really does become a "rim trail" because it literally runs along top of the watershed divide. The trail is also quite dry along this section consisting largely of decomposed granite. After going along the watershed divide it drops down to Freel Meadow, our first real meadow along the hike since leaving Tahoe Meadows on day one. We also encountered our first real run-in with lots of mosquitoes. Then we continued along where we passed the infamous "Mr. Toad's wild ride" where mountain bikers decked out in some serious protective gear hurl themselves down the mountain. From there we dropped down into thick forest with frequent streams, more meadows, and more wildflower displays. At 14.5 miles we showed up at the Big Meadows trailhead realizing the bug spray had fallen out of Holly's pack somewhere back up a few miles and that we had just entered mosquito country. Not knowing how long it would take I volunteered to hitchhike into the town of Meyers some 5 or so miles away. Fortunately for me I got a ride from a friendly Forest Service employee/UC Davis botany student down into town, and even more fortunately he offered to give me a ride back up to the campground. I ended up returning to the camp site bearing bug dope plus some treats, bananas and pudding, which made everybody happy. That night we learned from a camper that a bear had ripped through a tent the previous night. I made sure that nothing with even the slightest scent was out of the bear box, and fortunately we didn't have any incidents.