Aug 11 Richarson Lake 7,550’

10:54am I left camp this morning and rolled in here at 10:30am…that’s 8.8 miles in 4 hours. It helped that all but 2 miles was flat or descending. Never-the-less a good place for me.

I’ll be hiking on to Barker pass today and probably a bit beyond to where there is a spring/creek 2.5 miles past Barker Pass if I can manage it. This will make for a 17.8 mile day. Yikes a mundo! Stay tuned.

6:45pm Approx. miles 149.5 8,000+/_

I found the little creek beyond Barker pass that the guide book spoke of. It is indeed beautiful, sitting above the north fork of Blockwood Creek with a view out of my tent screen of Lake Tahoe. Pretty dang cool.

I need that tent screen tonight as the mosquitoes are out. In fact today I got more bites (4) than I had the previous ten days (3). Believe you me I am not complaining because I have been extremely blessed to be almost completely free of the little buggers. One of the benefits of backpacking in August.

Just after signing off at Richardson Lake I met a woman walking towards the trail with pack on back. I struck up a conversation and it turn out she and friends were going out the same way as I. The question of water ahead was asked (by me). They ended up filtering water for me. Sweet!

I was a little slower than they in getting to baker pass, but when I arrived they were sitting at a picnic table munching and chatting

So there were Andrea, the first one I met, Joan and Jeff and their daughter with boyfriend. It turns out that Joan had done the Tahoe Rim Trail last year, in section hikes, mostly day hikes. We had a lot to schmooze about. Well Andrea, the one who owns the water filter I used, offered to let me borrow it for the rest of my trip. I thanked her many times. That one worry, about what water to drink and where I can find safe water, is no longer an issue. Phew.

I must say I am beat tonight. I probably say that every night, but I really mean it tonight. No joke here. 17.8 miles matches my largest day ever on a hike…the day I completed the JMT and climbed Mt. Whitney. Nothing so dramatic today, but I do have a gorgeous home for the night and full water bottles, the simple things in life…Ahhh

This still leaves me with 14.2 miles to do tomorrow, but if I get an early start I should be done by midday. I start the day with a climb to the beginning of Granite Chief Wilderness, where the TRT and PCT split. The TRT to my truck in Tahoe City. I know which trail I’m going to take!