Yucaipatim - Tahoe Rim Trail Journal - 2014

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Day 2

"PUTTIN ON MY BLUE BLAZER ON AN EVEN DAY..."

On the AT, a blue blazer (Google it for all the drama) is someone who sometimes hikes alternate routes instead of the official trail...

So, as of Day 2, I'm a blue blazer on the TRT! That didn't take long - sorry purists, I'm a HYOH (hike your own hike) kinda dude. See, what happened was... Uh, we didn't want to hike back UP the 1.4 mile side trail we came down last night to get to the North Canyon Campground. So... This morning we hiked up North Canyon [dirt] Road and rejoined the TRT just before Marlette Campground. The benefits of this alternate were 1) we got to see Marlette Lake up close 2) we saw our first deer, which we would not have seen otherwise, and 3) we didn't have to re-climb the 800 ft elevation gain side trail.
The alternate route was about the same distance (4 miles) as the TRT section we "skipped". The drawback to this alternate is that now I'm not "pure" which, to some of inconsequence, is not inconsequential.

Now then, the stretch of trail from Tahoe Meadows to Tunnel Creek Road is open to mountain bikers on EVEN days only... So what?! you might say... well, the so what is today was an even day - the 22nd! Doom on us! At least a hundred mountain bikers went past us during that 9 mile stretch of trail! All of them were courteous, amazing, gracious human beings, BUT, it's really hard to get your hiking mojo on when you have to share the trail with that many bikes.

Oh yeah, before I forget, Ophir Creek is a great spot to soak your poor, tired feet right near the end of a 21 mile second day!

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