Elevation Gain: Approximately 100 ft. (almost 7000 ft in the car in a 2 hour drive)
Time: 8:00 am - 9:30 am
Weather: Cold and clear morning, a beautiful sunrise over a ridge.
I flew down to California to see my buddy who was on the first hike of these 72. He lives in Davis and we have not hung out in almost a year. He is a big runner and hiker, and we had plans for a big day, climbing to almost 10000 ft. We drove east from Davis towards South Lake Tahoe, but around Kyburz we turned north and drove 4 miles up a mountain road to our trailhead.
The hike was 6 miles out one way with 3000 ft. of elevation gain. That means our trailhead was a little less than 7000 ft. It was cold. We geared up and began walking around 8am. The trail starts nice and wide through an open area with lots of little campsites. Soon the trail narrows and begins meandering through the Eldorado Forest. We were walking for about 15 minutes when my friend said he needed to take a break. I turned around and saw a shade of green in my friend's face that is never a good indication. As he described how he was feeling, the only thing that made sense was altitude sickness. We spent about 30 minutes hydrating and snacking lightly, and he still felt awful. The only smart choice was to turn around and get back down.
We walked back slowly and made it to the car around 9:30 am. I figured we walked about a mile. I took his keys and began driving down. On the way out, my friend got worse. We pulled over to let his stomach settle down. After about 10 minutes he felt a bit better, and we continued the drive down. Once we got to the highway, he was feeling more like himself. We drove to Lake Tahoe and had a delicious breakfast.
Orchid: Getting back to the highway and seeing my friend doing much better.
Onion: Being worried about my friend when we were back at the car and things were getting worse.
Picture:
Google map
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