This weekend was going to be a solo. At a party on Friday night Eric invited me on his trip. I’m glad I said yes.

I’ve been suggesting it as a destination to people for years. It’s the highpoint of Tahoe and it’s easy. A few years ago, I came close when we hiked past Freel Peak on a section of the TRT. We skipped the summit even though it was only twenty minutes away. It was already a high mileage day.

Yesterday, four of us reached the summit and were rewarded with the fantastic view of the lake and most of the region.

Eric and I walked on to Job’s Sister. When he went down to the lake, I continued on towards Job’s Peak. Ridge walking ranks high up on my list of favorites when it comes to hiking and backpacking. It was a damn good day.

A little before dark I walked in to camp while the crew was having dinner. Clink, clink, a thermos of ice cubes was on hand for our whiskey.

My dinner was a risk: canned tomales that I’d dehydrated and a random collection of other mostly powdered foods. Delicious. For desert Jamie had carried in a delicious home-made birthday cake.

It’d been a bit of a hard day of hiking above 10,000 feet. Since I had to climb Job’s Sister a second time on the way back – my legs were worked.

A few bugs landed on my face during the night.

Thanks for having me on your trip crew. It was fun.