GUEST POST: Weekend in Tahoe
This post was authored by Grace and Dominic!
Hello PCT Blog Readers,
Grace and Dom here. We’re excited to let Daphne and Miles focus on walking instead of writing and to provide an outsider’s view of their trek, fresh from a restful weekend in Tahoe on Sep 12-14.
When we arrived Friday night, Daphne, Miles, and Miles's cousin Pate (who powered through several 28-mile days on the trail keeping up with our favorite trailblazers!) had settled in at the 🍕Blue Dog Pizzeria🍕 where you can get a free pizza if you download their app! Miles, sure not to let a good thing go to waste, ordered a large mac and cheese pizza complete with extra mushrooms, extra onion, extra olives, extra sausage, extra meatballs, and extra bacon—if you could get extra, Miles got it. Daphne and Pate stuck to more standard orders.
We continued to make sure everyone was well fed through the weekend with Ali’s chilaquiles breakfast, Francesca’s eggplant parmesan dinner, Cilla’s waffles, and endless muffins, chips, fruit, and a few beers ;)
Francesca's bomb eggplant parm accompanied by Cilla's refreshing salad, and vegan chilaquiles from Ali. Chef's kiss all around!
Miles and Daphne were gracious enough to give us a tour of their “ultra light” bags and gear. Highlights included their shared sleeping bag and their teeny tiny knife. Daphne and Miles really went to the extreme to minimize weight—every gram scrutinized—leading to some decisions that some may consider abhorrent.
The next day, at the hikers’ insistence, we spent the whole day on the beach. Savannah had brought along her good boy Tuck, so we visited a dog-friendly beach where Tuck made a dozen new four-legged friends including Scampie, Luna, Loki, and Theodore, to name a few.
Here are some more beach photos:
Daphne and Miles also showed us they still got those acro-yoga skills in them despite being a few months out of practice.
After their third shower of the weekend (don’t worry they still stink a little), we celebrated Daphne’s birthday with a homemade peanut butter and chocolate cake that Ali secretly baked right under Daphne's nose! Once we cleared dessert, we watched Quinn dye Daphne’s hair with henna!
Happy birthday, Daphne! Also, the henna really looked like Quinn was smearing s#*t all over Daphne's head 🙂
We closed out the night with fun games and conversation, and tried to squeeze out every minute of our time with Daphne and Miles before they headed back to the trail Sunday morning.
Sunday morning, we got to experience the incredible resources PCT hikers provide for each other when we stopped by the gear exchange store where Miles was able to replace his socks for free, and Daphne found new sunglasses and fresh packs of oatmeal. The oatmeal was great since it meant they didn’t have to eat mashed potatoes for breakfast the next few days!
We were very sad to drive Miles and Daphne back to the trail after the gear exchange and sent them on their way down to Mexico with a few friends providing moral support for the first couple of miles!
All around, it was a delightful weekend getting to hear all about life on the trail, the friends they’ve been making en route (shoutout Meat Wagon), and seeing how much Miles is able to eat in a day!
Thanks for reading, and back to Daphne and Miles. Good luck!
-Grace and Dom