In normal times, I’d be in Squaw Valley today. I’d be running my first skyrace: the Broken Arrow 52K (or 26K).
It’s a race I wanted to do last year, with Jenny. But I delayed it to this year (with last summer’s focus being Jack & Jill).
But while the race was cancelled this year, I found myself not too far away, in Truckee-Donner, at Point Mariah, in a curious twist of fate.
Not going to write too much here. The photos speak for themselves.
7:38PM. An advantage of shelter-in-place: less traffic. Though the four of us left Berkeley around 4:30PM, it took less than 3 hours to get to Truckee-Donner.
An advantage of starting this run/hike near nightfall: no one on the trail (meaning no masks needed!)7:51PM. Despite having lived in NorCal for over half a decade, I visited Tahoe for the first time last year, with Claire, Amanda, Aaron, and Khilesh. As I looked at this view, I was reminded of a hike during that trip, with Claire and Khilesh around Spooner Lake. During that hike, we regularly saw benches with views of… nothing (i.e. a grove of nondescript trees or a not-particularly-interesting meadow). Eventually, Khilesh started “rating” the view for each bench.
During this hike, I was surprised to see this bench. It was the only one. I rated it about a 6/10 in my mind.7:52PM. I actually didn’t really want to run during this outing, haha. But if we wanted to make it to the end before sunset, I thought, running was necessary.8:11PM. According to the Truckee-Donner Land Trust, “this hike offers expansive views of the Granite Chief Wilderness, the Pacific Crest Trail between Sugar Bowl and Squaw Valley, and the breathtaking Royal Gorge of the North Fork of the American River (one of the deepest canyons in the western US).” An apt description.😁“Bring burritos”, Lucas said.The Hellman Hut, with a map of Royal Gorge.The sky was so filled with stars that I didn’t want to turn on my headlamp. It was dark enough for Nicole and Brady to wonder where I went though I wasn’t far behind.Not sure how Nicole and Brady spotted this millipede at night.
