Day 78, July 4: Zero in Lake Tahoe

• Start: Lake Tahoe - Mile 1090.8

• End: Lake Tahoe - Mile 1090.8

• Miles: 0

• Ascent: 0 | Descent: 0

Happy Fourth of July!

I woke up slow in the hotel room, continuing to furiously blog before the others woke up. I’m certainly happy to have this documentation of my experience on the PCT, and it gives me joy to be able to share it with my friends and family, but OOF, it is such a chore when I get into town. Hopefully people enjoy reading it!

Around 8:30am, Squirrel Daddy and I walked to the nearby grocery store to resupply. After we were down and had just stepped outside, a huge fighter jet flew low overhead to kick off the nearby Fourth of July parade. I wish I could have seen the parade, but we were just a bit too far away.

We returned to the hotel and SD packed up to get back on trail. He wasn’t going to zero in Tahoe like us as his family was coming to visit soon and he would zero with them. So he left and I relaxed in the room before heading back out to meet up with Cathole, who had just come into South Lake from the north end of the lake. We got pizza that was absolutely incredible and watched the Coney Island hot dog eating contest… brutal.

Cathole and I walked to his hotel nearby and sat in the hot tub for a bit, drinking freedom themed Budweisers to celebrate. We planned to get dinner with the Calzones and I went back to my hotel to shower off and change. We got sushi with them, and Boop, Sensei and Gus joined as well. They were staying at a campground a little out of town but came in to watch the fireworks at night.

After dinner, we all walked to the beach to watch the show and it was mayhem- so many people everywhere. But we luckily found a spot on the sand and settled in with about 10 minutes to spare. We watched the show, which was incredible and definitely one of the best fireworks shows I remember ever seeing. Cathole and I went to the casino for a bit again, but we were exhausted so we didn’t stay long. A successful Fourth!