Birthdays can be time to reflect and review on an accelerating turbulent life. The best places to reflect from tend to support inward silence and peace.  Starry nights and daytime moments in high mountain forests and meadows always work for me.  My gifted Viking/ Saxon genetics have helped with that.

The Tahoe Rim Trail puts this inward silence together better than most other accessible places in the world I have traveled.  Strangely, this seems to be a best-kept secret from other stressed out friends I know.

This photo essay is on the musings of a formerly young naturopathic doctor choosing to revisit the solo backpacker’s realm of inward scenery–all within the splendor of the Tahoe Rim Trail. This is the first of several where I’ll comment on do’s and don’ts for those of you who might also be drawn to a similar quest. These are my opinions only, and your exercise of uncommon sense and focus will be expected if you choose to make similar moves. I hope these might save you the discomforts and stress of learning from the same mistakes I made. 

I will complete the entire 165-mile trail in reasonable safety and comfort. The first legs will be in on some two-day hops with an overnight on the trail and a break for hot-spring soaks and re-provisioning between these steps. This call was due to being overweight, out of shape, being 33 winters beyond the average-aged backpacker, and my own recall of significant months of backpacking in 1970’s  Europe. Back then the pack wasn’t a shelter or feeding system as Eurail passes, youth hostels, and friends of friends let me live cheap on the road for a year. Occasional day labor or small trades paid the bills.  Wonderful people were everywhere in Europe, it seemed to me. Incidentally, if you doubt that a group of good-looking and friendly people with well behaved kids and pets live in our free country anymore, head for the hiking trails of the Sierra Nevadas. They are out there. 

About 5 hours into my first ascent to the 9700-foot rim trails west of Mount Rose, noting that my foot gear was painfully wrong, I thought about the best training routine to even out slight handicaps between myself and the other backpackers. Weekly full-pack day hikes in open-toed sandals, dragging a small campfire log on a bungee cord,  for a couple months could have lessened the handicap.

As it turned out, breathing techniques taught by my teacher of Russian Martial Arts, Robert Burke, www.battlebornsystema.com were magical for quick recovery during points on the ascent. After fiddling with strap lengths, pack balance, and clothing configurations, it got easier to set a pace and get to an inner balance for more comfort and mental peace.

Strength training with my kettlebell coach, Mike Provost, http://www.renokettlebellcoach.com/ helped get my low back and dot-com butt able to handle the about 40-pound pack in different angles of stress. After a few hours, being passed by thin, fit youngsters with only afternoon hydration packs was more reasonable. Perfect weather helped that, too.

As I got to the narrow rocky-rim paths along the slag cliffs, my foot gear miscall started to nag me. Sketchers have a rounded sole model called “Shape Ups” which are useful trainers for ankle and lower leg stability for city people. On concrete and nothing steeper than a parking garage they help train lower-leg stabilizer muscles. Fine.  Just don’t take a pack on mountain paths without stout heel and ankle support in your future treks. Lightweight and flexible toe bend is okay, but go for a stout hiking boot, with good socks and a solid walking stick as you will want safety and comfort. My walking stick was great, but I needed to use adhesive taping of an ankle to help my stability and blisters cool out. It’s a bad move to not have good hiking boots in the high Sierras.

The next challenge was a water quantity miscall. Carrying a couple liters with a Katadyn filter system,  I had aimed at replenishing at Mud Lake or Ginny Lake to get through the high-level trails from Relay Peak at 10,300 ft to Mt. Baldy at 9,300 ft. Well, those sources were a third of a mile almost straight down and I couldn’t see that making the effort would be worth it, with my full pack and no trail.  Darn, I should have read the topo map better! So 8 hours into the trip and out of water, I was getting pretty thirsty. Trail dust in the nose and mouth really gets rasty.

Alongside Rifle Peak, I saw snow glacier patches on the northern sides of hills behind me on the Rose Knob peak. Okay, a bushwhack off trail to the north was attempted to reach northern forest with that snow to melt.  No luck, dang me! It was too low an elevation for snow, I was getting tired and  time was getting away from me.  So, back to the trail and humming epic show tunes, I was on to Mt. Baldy. There, I rounded the peak and found my snow patch and a great tent site with a world-class view, partial wind protection, and well behaved bugs. Try melting ice with a Sterno stove and squeezing it through your filter a teaspoon at a time when you are thirsty and cold at a 9400-foot campsite. This is character-building for any couch potato.

The first hour was just drinking the water I melted and processed and setting up camp. Another half hour and I managed to get a liter ahead for the trek tomorrow down to the Brockway Summit and the trailhead.  I slept like a baby, despite finding my bag was designed for my elf-sized friends and the bulky Therma-Rest pad couldn’t hold air all night. Extra clothing, a mobile surgical theater, and the heavy .357 bear persuader were stupid to pack. Even chipmunks laughed.  Equipment to always value, though: a hard case for reading glasses, an LED lantern for night reading, a stout walking stick, and quart and gallon freezer Ziplock bags to organize stuff into easy pack modules for balance. Also, heavy-duty adhesive tape for equipment and body repair, and enough drinking water to stay comfortable. I would have liked 6 ounces of rum, too, but that’s the Viking pirate genetics again.

So, TRT  1.0  was a complete success only a little scary. Only 23 or so high-mountain miles over 2 days. Issues with equipment, my body, and supply planning were exactly teaching what I had asked for. My spirit guides got back into service, and we all plugged a little back into place for this psychic rejuvenation project I had planned.

Okay, so why the big solo backpacker re-tread project? Family gatherings and tour groups can be huge fun, and who would knock any efforts to share the stuff of this beautiful life with those who matter to you the most? As years and moments flash by, however, some of us want to fold in and get back to our inner soul, our “Being Human.”   The little dude behind all the masks and plans can get pretty lost, sometimes for years, just keeping all the plates spinning for The Show…  This year before 2012 was a tough one for loss and sadness. Best friends checking out, close calls with loved ones in wildfires,  treasured patients merging with the Godhead, and a world sliding into the demonic, claiming only divine intent. ..Then the deceit filled body politic moving away from all the values and resources fought for by seven generations of my ancestors… And the descent doesn’t seem to slow or re-target at all.   As I approach the Abyss, re-contact with my light body and larger Self just notches up higher on my list.

Solo travel is a meditation tool respected by philosophers and seekers through history of all cultures. With thanks to Mark Twain you know almost all the great philosophers are dead and gone now,… and I’m feeling a bit poorly myself. ;->

Before three decades of mass-media fear porn effectively demonized the pilgrim or the sojourner, it was still possible to travel this world safely and encounter hospitality and kindness more often than not. Now it just takes more planning, discipline and skill.   I’ll keep you posted about my Tahoe Rim Trek.  If you are formerly young and would like to re-tread into a backpack and solo travel,  put it on your list and step lively now. Our Tahoe Rim Trail is a gem for you to train up with.