The day is going to start out with about a 2 mile walk in a meadow and so I get up early in the morning and start hiking at about 5 in the morning. The trail is soft and flat and with the head lamp is easy hiking. Cross a good sized stream and load up with all the water I am going to need to the short 11 mile day. Here are some day break pictures

Out of the meadow there is an easy but continuous ascend to the mountains around Tahoe. Along the way the PCT joins the Tahoe Rim Trail. After a couple miles I reach Showers Lake. Would have been nice to get here last night for camping but it was a bit too far.

My first glimpse of Lake Tahoe. However at this point the trail starts to get nasty. Steep and rocky and my feet start to remember what it was like on the John Muir Trail. By the time I get down from the mountain to Hwy 50 where Lenora picks me up I am beat. If Lenora was not picking me up, I would have gone on to Echo Lake just 1 mile away and that would have been the end of my day. Coming down the steep slope wore me out big time.

It has been a good return to the trail. I am looking forward to the weekend with Lenora and then the next section of the trail to Sierra City. A good part of this hike is around Lake Tahoe and it is suppose to be amazing.