Tahoe Rim Trail September 2019 Day 2

Day 2
We woke early as this needed to be a big day if we were going to stay on our itinerary to reach Desolation Wilderness on the day of our permit. (TRT thru hikers are exempt from the daily quota system of hikers in D.W. but they still have a permit entry and exit date.) We packed up and were away by 7:30 am. We had intended to get up and over the steepest part of this section of the trail yesterday (Freel Peak Pass 9722') but now it was this morning.

The sunrise was incredible over Star Lake

As we moved up to the top of the Pass, Tahoe Lake came back into view as the sun was rising higher

The Freel Peak Pass 

Over the other side of the Pass 

A whole different world again on the other side of the Pass

There was plenty of water and wildflowers as we descended down toward Armstrong pass 

Nearing Armstrong Pass the path becomes narrower and the granite walls higher. We also saw the last of the Tahoe 200 runners as we met a guy on his bike sweeping up behind the last runners and picking up the signs. 

We stopped for a late breakfast at Armstrong Pass. This was the spot we had intended to camp at yesterday. We were making good time today. Bobbi was feeling better, but not 100% yet. 

There is a steep uphill, going clockwise, after Armstrong path so we took it slow, the area was stark and beautiful on the top. The trees have been shaped by the wind and weather. 

You start to descend down into Freel Meadow and again the landscape changes. When you thought it could not be anymore beautiful, it is! 

There is no water marked on the map in this section, but there are actually two animal ponds in Freel Meadow. 

It is a long downhill once you come over Armstrong pass, all the way down to the very busy Hwy 89. It had been a long day of about 15 miles so far but we hadn't gotten to the point of catching up with yesterday. We actually needed to do another 7 miles to do that, and it didn't seem likely, so we set our sights on Round Lake in 3 miles after crossing Hwy 89.  There are pit toilets in a parking area at the Hwy 89 Trailhead and several water spigots over by the car parking area, but it should be noted now that California has the worst smelling rest stop pit toilets I have ever been in... Yuck!

Bobbi was game, but running out of gas. You enter Big Meadow before a very steep uphill to get you to Round Lake. This proved to be really difficult and it took us several hours to get the last three miles done. 

But she did it and we dragged our butts into Round Lake with just about 1 hour of daylight left. 

We found a good place to camp along the Lake and we set up a single tent tonight and got some dinner by headlamp. 

A really tough day 2, over 11 hours on the trail, so we settled down to discuss expectations and what we should do moving forward starting tomorrow. 

Stats Day 2
Today we discovered that are new expensive Garmin Fenix 5 watches have terrible GPS tracking software. Bobbi and I have the same watch, my watch is over the miles walked by 14% and hers is under by a whopping 25%!