GoGeezGo

Friday, August 8, 2025

Circumnavigating Lake Tahoe

Happy to report that I completed my 13-day, 175-mile hike of the Tahoe Rim Trail.

The TRT, which circumnavigates the 191-square-mile Lake Tahoe, was mostly scenic, very well tended, and definitely worth doing, I thought.

But if the TRT is on your bucket list, be forewarned that it’s not for the faint-hearted. It circles the lake, which straddles the border between California and Nevada, via ridges atop the surrounding mountains, requiring more than 25,000 feet of climbing. In addition, the trail’s elevation ranges from just over 6,000 feet to 10,338 feet above sea level.

It’s also worth noting that there are a couple of extended dry sections on the trail. I carried 4.5 liters of water (10 extra pounds) to make it through one of those sections.(Thank goodness my backpack, with seven days of food and all of my camping gear, only weighed 25 pounds, making for a total load of 35 pounds with the water, or I would still be whining!)

One of things I loved about this hike is that because it’s a loop it was a lot easier to plan than other wilderness hikes I’ve done.

I flew into the Reno airport from my home in northern Virginia, then took the Airporter bus ($32.75) into South Lake Tahoe.

Since I am a lowlander, I slept in the 6,237-feet-above-sea-level town for two nights to acclimate.

Then the next morning, I took the free #22 South Shore Transit bus to the South Kingsbury trailhead and started walking the trail clockwise.

I only resupplied once during this hike, in Tahoe City, which is roughly half way around. There I picked up a special delivery package I had sent to the post office.

Another thing I loved about the TRT is that I was able to get a cell signal virtually every day from the trail’s ridges. I even had a nice phone conversation one evening with my girlfriend while sheltering in my tent during a hail storm.

One not-as-nice thing that was impossible not to notice on the trail is that there are clouds of mosquitoes in a few of the lower-lying areas near streams.

This marks the first time in my life that I have worn a mosquito head-net. But I was sure glad to have it, in addition to a small container of picaridin-based insect repellent.

When hiking this trail, it’s also important to keep in mind that mountain bikers are permitted to ride some trail sections. MTBers are supposed to yield the right of way to the hikers. But a few MTBers apparently haven’t gotten this message.

When I finally arrived back at the South Kingsbury trailhead on the afternoon of day 13, I only had to wait a half hour to catch the #22 bus back into town. Very nice.

Some of the younger folks I met during my hike were doing the loop in as few as seven days (25 miles per day on average), or twice as fast as I was doing it.

I’m not sure I would want to go that fast, even if it was physically realistic for me.

My hiking and bicycle touring motto is the same: I’m not likely to get there first. But with any luck, and an occasional tail wind, I’ll get there eventually.

Jim and Deb, trail angels extraordinaire

LA's Sole Sisters

Brooklyn's Zasu

Water cache

Hail storm

Dog was pooped so he was carrying it out

Up by the bench

Friday, June 27, 2025

Shakedown for Spain

Joe, Doug and Dave, l-r

The best way to prepare for one big adventure is by doing another.

With that in mind, Dave, Joe and I rode our fully-loaded touring bikes around a 128-mile loop of mostly-gravel roads near the tiny town of Cass, W.V., earlier this summer.

The three-day shakedown ride, with 10,690 feet of sometimes-steep climbing, was not easy. The temperatures in the 80s and 90s and elevated humidity levels were uncomfortable at times.

But though we suffered one flat tire and a couple of minor stomach issues, all riders demonstrated that they we were up for a bigger challenge.

Sweet gravel

Spain’s 624-mile Via de la Plata pilgrimage route, which we are hoping to ride over 20 days this fall and are training for now, features some comparable terrain.

But the Via, though longer, should be easier in important ways. On the Via, we won’t have to carry camping gear or food because we’ll be sleeping and dining inside. The weather also should be a lot nicer in Spain in the fall.

Next stop: Sevilla! Si se puede!

Pinch flat

Had to push one section

Greenbrier River Trail site

Break time

Camp Allegheny start

Saturday, May 31, 2025

For the birds

Nighthawk watch

When Marisol and I birdwatch near our northern Virginia home, we consider ourselves lucky if we see a single new bird species during an outing.

During a recent weeklong visit to Arizona, we added more than 100 new bird species to our first-time-viewed lists, including such area trophies as the Elegant Trogon, the Red Phalarope and the Mexican Spotted Owl.

Our success was partly due to timing: The early-May visit caught many species just as they were migrating to the north from their winter homes in Mexico and other points to the south.

We also benefited tremendously by participating in a guided trip sponsored by the American Museum of Natural History at its Southwestern Research Station near Portal, Arizona. The week-long birding tour in the Chiricahua Mountains was a fun learning experience for us that brought together ten enthusiastic birders from different states.

The station reminded me of a summer camp I attended as a child. Like the summer camp, the station has dormitories and a cafeteria. But unlike the summer camp, the station includes facilities for visiting research scientists and a feeding station that attracts a variety of hummingbirds.

The station’s accommodations were comfortable and the cooks provided great meals in a family setting. The station’s staffers were friendly and helpful. “I also enjoyed the camaraderie of our group, and I appreciated their willingness to share their knowledge,” Marisol said.

Feeding station

PD Hulce, the amiable veteran birder who led our group, not only was able to identify the birds we saw but also knew where to look for them. He led our group on numerous trips through various habitats in the area, including to a lake adjacent to a golf course in Willcox, AZ.

Among the trip highlights for me were the early-morning hunts for warblers near their natural water sources in the mountain forests and an evening visit to observe nighthawks swooping over a pond seeking insects.

During our stay, we also visited several nearby feeding stations. At these sites, hosts attract birds with a variety of seeds, sections of oranges, peanut butter and grape jelly. Hummingbirds are fed a syrupy solution of sugar water.

At the stations, Marisol and I saw many new-for-us birds, including the colorful summer tanager, the black-headed bunting and the ladder-backed woodpecker. We loved being able to see so many new birds so quickly in this relaxed setting, but we both preferred the thrill and challenge of finding birds in their natural habitats along the forested mountainside roads and trails.

We saw a lot. We learned a lot. And we had a lot of fun. Five stars.

Marisol, PD Hulce

Elegant Trogan, Photo: Tom Savage

Hooded oriole

Acorn woodpecker

Black-headed grosbeak

The Team; photo: Tom Savage

Author takes one for the team

Two additional photos by Tom Savage, a member of our group:

Nighthawk

Wednesday, May 28, 2025

The camino provides

Portuguese Coastal

If you hike in Portugal in the early spring, don’t forget to bring some serious rain gear.

Or that’s one of the lessons I learned this April while hiking the Camino Portuguese. It rained for the first two days of the hike, and it came down hard at times.

A little rain in the spring while hiking is to be expected, a routine part of the outdoor experience. But this Portuguese rain morphed into one of the most powerful storms I’ve ever been in.

On day one, out of Porto, while I was hiking north on the coastal route, the wind and rain were off-and-on, persistent but manageable. On day two, though, after I switched to the central route, the early-morning rain was torrential. The 75-kph wind gusts broke my umbrella and the wind blew the rain horizontally into the hood of my raincoat, drenching me inside the jacket. It was 50 degrees that morning, so I was not only miserably wet but also freezing and even felt like I might be on the verge of hypothermia.

Fortunately, after sloshing onward through the ankle-deep puddles on the remote countryside road north of Vilarinho, I made it to a tiny town. There, just as I was approaching, a woman was opening the only bar for miles in each direction. What a relief. I entered, had 2 cups of cafe con leche (coffee with milk) and a grilled ham-and-cheese sandwich.

Camino angel tending the bar

With heavy rains forecast to continue through much of the day, I hit the reset button. At my request, the lady in the bar called the local cab driver, and he gave me a ride to Ponte de Lima, 60 km to the north. There I waited out the storm sipping vino tinto (red wine) and cafe con leche in a posh seafood restaurant across the cobbled road from the town’s excellent albergue.

The weather was beautiful throughout most of the remaining 17 days of my trek ( just a day or two of light, scattered showers), and it didn’t start raining seriously again until the evening of April 10, after I had already safely arrived in Spain’s Santiago de Compostela.

It is said that camino provides to protect peregrinos, and arriving at this bar just as it was opening during the height of the storm is an example of the kind of good fortune I have experienced during my camino walks thus far. But I won’t press my luck. The next time I hike a camino in the spring, I’ll bring a poncho to back up the raincoat, just in case.

During this spring’s adventure, I hiked on two of the Caminos de Santiago—the Portuguese and the Invierno. More than a dozen of these ancient Catholic pilgrimage routes cross Europe and Spain and converge on the majestic cathedral in Santiago de Compostela, Spain. The remains of Santiago (Saint James) are said to be buried in a tomb in the cathedral.

Peregrinos, or pilgrims, have been hiking the camino routes for many centuries to seek forgiveness of their sins and more recently also for other purposes. Some devout Catholics believe that completing one of the routes guarantees them a spot in heaven.

I was originally hoping to hike the section of the Portuguese camino all the way between Porto and Santiago this year. But I ended up restarting the trek in Point de Lima, PT, to get back on schedule after being delayed by the two days of stormy weather.

Damp footpath

After I completed the 152-km section of the Portuguese camino, I took a bus from Santiago to Ponferrada, Spain, and then hiked the 253-km Camino Invierno back to the cathedral.

Of the two Caminos, I preferred the Invierno but think the Portuguese route would be a far better choice for less-experienced trekkers. The Invierno is much less-traveled than the Portuguese, has far fewer services and goes through more remote territory. There is also less English spoken on the Invierno than on the Portuguese.

That the Invierno is less-traveled than the Portuguese could be a bit of an understatement. Of the half million peregrinos who hiked caminos last year, 170,254, or 34%, received compostelas (certificates of completion) for hiking at least the last 100 km of one of the two main Portuguese camino routes, according to the Pilgrim’s Reception Office, the organization that issues the certificates in Santiago. The office said that only 2,869, or less than 1/2 of one percent of peregrinos received compostelas for hiking the Invierno.

Practically, this meant that while hiking the Portuguese camino, I ran into dozens of other peregrinos each day, on the trail and in the albergues. On the Invierno, I sometimes didn’t see another peregrino all day, and on several occasions, had only one other albergue roommate at night.

No-pack look on the Portuguese

One difference I noticed between the pilgrims hiking the Portuguese and Invierno caminos is that many of the hikers on the Portuguese were carrying only a few daily essentials in small daypacks and using shuttle services to transport most of their belongings between stops. The handful of other Invierno hikers I met all seemed to be carrying most of their own luggage in their backpacks.

Overall, I hiked an average of 15 miles a day during this adventure. I often started hiking before madrugada (dawn) to get to my destination before 4 p.m., when many restaurants close for siesta.

Many of the restaurants in Spain reopen for dinner at 8 or 9 p.m. but that’s past my bedtime during these adventures because I need at least 10 hours of sleep a night to continue hiking day-after-day like this.

One of the toughest but most beautiful hikes on the Invierno for me was the 19.7-mile trek through the hilly countryside between Montforte de Lemos and Chantada. This section of the camino includes a lot of what the Spanish refer to as “romper piernas” (leg breakers or steep sustained climbs). But the weather was perfect—sunny, cool and breezy—and the views were spectacular. Buen camino.