Tahoe Rim Trail: Week 12

Week 12: Watson Lake to HWY 267

This week we had Martha Kreig join us for this very special run that is dedicated to her son, Max Kreig  who lost his life at the age of 5.  With Martha comes many girlfriends who love and support her every day as running buddies.  So, for this run, she brought Katie Benty and Jenny Wilson, and we also were joined by Laura Brown, Executive Director of Excellence in Education!  So, we had 4 guest runners this week!  We're ready to have some fun out on the trail.

We all gathered at the end of the trail (6 cars, 2 dogs and 6 women) ready to run.  Luckily Jenny had a car that could hold all us all so we only had to take one car to Watson Lake where our run would begin.  After getting aquatinted in the car… it took Jenny some time to sort out 3 different Katie's… We made it to Watson Lake. 

It was a perfect day to be out on the trail running with bright blue skies and the sun just warming up.  We all start off around the trail that skirts around Watson Lake before turning right into the woods.  We all kept a good pace line for the first couple of miles with one stop to take it all in. Lots of chatting! 

Through the first golden meadow filled with crispy mule ears we find a Tahoe Rim Trail trail crew.  We are lucky for the volunteers that keep this trail in good shape for our enjoyment.  They all got 6 'thank you's' as we trotted by.  

As we hit mile 3 and 4 the trail began to go up and Katie T kept pace with Martha and Laura in the front as Katie C was dragging behind today and Katie B and Jenny held back to keep her moving.  The trail kept inching up and up as we keep wrapping around Lake Tahoe and we all are chugging along.  Then we get to a break in the trees and we see an amazing view of Big Blue way down below. 

A bit further and we are looking off to Diamond Peak ski resort where we will be heading to in the next couple of weeks. Wow, that looks far away now. 

The trail crosses the Fibreboard Freeway and then we have a very steep but short pitch before it's all downhill to the car.  For the whole downhill you can see Lake Tahoe in the distance to the right across skeletal trees towering over beds of manzanita bushes.  The Tahoe National Forest has so much beauty to be enjoyed! 

And there we are, we made it!  6 miles, 6 girls and 600 feet climbed! 

Hugs all around to remember the fun loving, charismatic, thoughtful, funny, smart, loving boy Max.  We love you so much and think about you every day.

We will proudly be sending a check to Excellence in Education in celebration of another section completed!  Thank you for making the Tahoe Truckee Unified School District better with classroom enhancements, teacher awards and training, specialized programs to help grade level literacy and much, much more!  We appreciate all that you contribute to our children.

Www.exined.org

Next section we will be running for a very dear person to us, and Truckee's animals and humans alike, Dr. Brooks Bloomfield. Meeting someone like Brooks is a very rare occurrence, he has such a big heart and kind soul-his connection with the animals he treats (our pets!) is so evident and his compassion and caring attitude is refreshing in a time where sometimes people seem like they are on auto-pilot. Brooks has been diagnosed with Multiple System Atrophy (MSA) and at this time there is no known cure. Brooks treated my dear dog Jasper (Weimaraner) through an aging disease, and gave us his constant care, attention, love, and nightly emails to see how Jasper was doing, all while he was battling MSA and having serious personal struggles. It amazes me to this day that he cared so much about what we (and Jasper) were going through when he had so much pain and discomfort to deal with. That's just who Brooks is, though, thinking about others before himself. 

Click here to read this touching article about Brooks, his dear family and MSA.  

We will be sending a donation to The MSA Coalition to further support, education, research and advocacy for this rare disease.

www.multiple-system-atrophy.org 

We love and appreciate you so much Brooks.

Katie Tyler

Realtor®

BRE 01442453

c 530 277 1012 

Tahoe Rim Trail: Week 11

Week 11: Tahoe City to Watson Lake

Off on the trail again for a new adventure!  Lucky for us our shuttle driver, Katie C.'s mom, Ann, is available to drive us to our end point at Watson Lake located on Brockway Summit and then to Tahoe City where we left the trail a couple weeks ago.  

There we were across from the Baptist Church in Tahoe City with the trail ahead of us heading straight up.  With some quick elevation we were rewarded with an expansive view of Lake Tahoe.  On this bluff was a sculpture of memories, rocks, sticks, dog tags and small treasures.  We decide we should contribute.  We each found a unique rock, said a little thank you to our surroundings as we stood on the top of the Thunder Cliff band then added them to the momentous pile. 

From here we turned the corner and started following the path of the Truckee River.  The views started off looking back towards Twin Peaks were were had been a couple of weeks ago.  It looked so far away now. 

From here we were in and out of the thick forest on a very windy trail that was slithering up till finally we pop out on top of a bluff that looked out over acres and acres of forest and Lake Tahoe.  Although nothing like some of the peaks we climbed on the South side of of the Lake, this must be Watson Peak!  … Nope.  We turn the corner to see another towering peak ahead of us.  Although we will never make it to the top of that one, the elevation gain is not over yet! 

A bit farther along and we were looking over at the large piece of land known as Squaw Valley and Alpine Meadows ski resorts.  We could see High Camp at Squaw Valley all the way to the top of Summit chair at Alpine Meadows from where we stood at rocky perch high above the HWY 89 corridor.  It all seemed so large and grand. 

We turn the corner around the mountain.  On the left we are looking down at miles and miles of forest land towards the Truckee area. Straight ahead is the 'real' Watson Peak and to the right is Lake Tahoe in the distance and the super fun downhill section of the trail heading down towards Mt. Watson Road.  We cross the road and as the trail starts again there is the sign letting us know that we are still 5 miles away from our destination of Watson Lake.  

At this point we are on a remarkable trail hugging the mountain to the left of us with endless views of Lake Tahoe on our right.  It's hard to keep your eyes on the trail when the views are so jaw dropping.  But we do in order not to sprain our ankles.

Then there's our turn.  A split in the trail takes us straight up again.  At this point we are still chugging a long but the pace is slowing as the climb grows steeper.  Of course with a steep climb comes great rewards.  There it is, Big Blue views again staring right back at us!  Thank you TRT for putting us in this gorgeous place today.

At this point we realize that we are not making it to the top of Watson Peak but we are getting close to Watson Lake where the car is parked!  

Around the corner and on the other side of the mountain is Watson Lake.  We made it! A little murky to be jumping in, we decide to just take in the view, a good stretch, and off to work for the day.

Checking our stats for the day we have done 14 miles with 2,115 feet in elevation gain.  A good amount of elevation gain makes us understand why we were feeling the drag half way through.  We made it, we did it.  See you next week Watson Lake! 

We will proudly be sending a check to the Truckee Trails Foundation in celebration of another section completed!  Thank you Truckee Trails for your continued effort in keeping our community connected by trails, creating trails and maintaining the what we have already in place.  We love our trails!  Keep up the good work.

Truckeetrails.org

Next week we will be running in honor of Max Krieg who lost his life at the age of 5 following a short illness in December 2010. Max and his family are very dear to us and to the Truckee/Tahoe community. There is never a day we don't think about him-his sense of humor, funny costumes, and sweet spirit.  In his honor by request of his family,  we will be donating to Excellence in Education. Max's mother Martha Krieg, will be running with us as will the Executive Director of Excellence in Education, Laura Brown.  We are looking forward to sharing this beautiful trail and run with Martha and Laura while (always) remembering a very special 5 year old Max who is with us in our hearts every day. We miss you Max. 

"While we try to teach our children all about life, our children teach us what life is all about" 

Exined.org

Katie Tyler

Realtor®

BRE 01442453

c 530 277 1012