We’re back in Mountain View after an intense and outdoorsy
weekend spent at Tahoe. It was the summer solstice this weekend, and we couldn’t
found a better way to spend it.
We left later on Friday than we would have liked, and got to
Tahoe quite late. It was the first time we rented a private room through Airbnb.
Though we reached quite late on Friday, it turned out to be gorgeous. The
couple was nice, relatively less chatty (which is a very good thing) and quite
patient given we reached at 10 pm, 3 hours later than we had planned to. Their
house was stunning, especially once we woke up, to this view:
While we had no major plan for Saturday, we considered
hiking partially or even all the way to Mt. Tallac, a mountain peak that is
9,736 feet high, and known to be a ~10-11 miles round trip. However, we were
quite unprepared and didn't even have a decent backpack, since we ripped off my
trusty VIP of 11 years. While we could make do with my gym bag, we were short
of water too, so decided we would probably hike up only till the Floating Island
Lake, ~1.5 miles away and turn back. As we hiked, we got some beautiful views
of the Fallen Leaf Lake as well as Lake Tahoe. We reached the Floating island
lake, but weren't terribly impressed. As we sat by the lake, we got the energy
to continue on and decided to go all the way to the top. A couple of hikers on
their way back, played their part by encouraging us. We soon reached the
Cathedral Lake, another mile away, and definitely prettier than the lake we saw
a few minutes back. I washed my face with the cool water, while Peeps sat on
the rocks, and we pumped some energy in to ourselves to continue on.
Little did we know what lay ahead. As we hiked beyond the
Cathedral Lake, we entered a very dry mile-long stretch, which required us to
ascend ~400 meters. Having done some pretty intense hikes, I can safely say
this was treacherous. What was really concerning
was the absence of enough water, and the knowledge that we were gaining
altitude and entering a desert. We were fortunate to meet a gentleman who was
on his way down and offered us a bottle of water. That eased some of the
difficulty but we were still rationing water amongst us both, as we have
learned from our Kilimanjaro experience how precious water is at high
altitudes. Of course we did make it up this very difficult stretch, only to find
we had another 2 miles to go. Every moment we saw something that looked like the
summit was followed by a view of another point even higher, and even farther.
By now, I treaded ahead of Peeps. We were gaining altitude, which slows Peeps
down a bit. Plus, he was carrying the nasty single strap duffle bag that had 3
bottles half filled with water. He isn’t one to give up though. In about 90
minutes, from when we left Cathedral lake, we were at the
summit.Totally.worth.it. We pranced around the sharp rocks soaking in the
panoramic views of the lakes and the snow-capped mountains around us.
The descent was a monster. The brutal slopes crushed our
toes but we kept going. We were both quite proud of having gone up this
distance, which is definitely not something for the faint of heart. We decided to make a first stop only once we
came down all the way to the Cathedral lake. We didn’t stop for long. We took a
couple of nice pics, and then continued down. Another 90 minutes and we were at
our car. While the internet says it’s a 10 mile loop, my vivofit tracked ~13
miles in all. It sure felt like it. By now we were aching all over, chiding
ourselves for taking on such a tough hike but at the same time feeling very
very proud of having stretched ourselves yet again, physically and mentally.
That’s the thing about hikes. They’re therapy. To me, the outdoors are a
religion. It helps me connect with my body like nothing else does. Some of our best times spent together have
been spent on long, grueling hikes, some times under the scorching sun and at
other under ice cold, star light nights. We followed our hike immediately with
a cold beer, followed by a light Thai meal and then wine as we went to bed
later at night.
This morning, before we headed back, we drove towards
Emerald Bay, to reward ourselves with some incredible views.
After four hours of driving back, we’re finally back home. I
thought it might be nice to wrap up a fit and fun weekend, with some light
tomato soup. We picked up some ripe tomatoes on our way here, and after
settling back in, I got to work. In keeping with my general philosophy of
cooking, it wasn’t a ton of work. I boiled
the tomatoes, with some basil, onions and celery, in chicken broth and blended
it all together. The quantity I made from 2 pounds of tomatoes is sufficient to
last at least a couple of more nights. So, I put most of it aside for
refrigeration and heated up 2 bowls for dinner. Once the blend was piping hot,
I topped it with some ground black pepper, fresh basil and shredded cheese. It turned
out to be quite thick, exactly to my taste. The husband likes his soup thinner
though, but played ball and ate it up.
A good weekend this was!
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