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Day Hike in Lake Tahoe - Mt Tallac (Part II)

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On a ridge close to the peak Once we passed Floating Island Lake and then Cathedral Lake where one can stretch the legs and take a breather (be aware of mosquitoes), the terrain started to change. We were faced with a huge mountain of massive rocks, and a faint trail switching back and forth up. It had been a while since I last witnessed the desolate look of a nearly treeless mountainside of rocks, pebbles and stones. I was mesmerized by the scale of the mountain, the texture of the rocks, and its minimalist beauty. It is also in this stretch where it got steep... very steep. I would even go so far as to consider this section more of a stair/rock hopping section, but on the side of a mountain. (Tip, if you experience vertigo, this is not the best trail to take, consider taking a different route from Glen Alpine.) As the trail continued to climb, my breathing got even more labored. I tried to use my core and thighs more consciously but nothing seemed to be helping much. Mea...
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Day Hike in Lake Tahoe - Mt Tallac (Part I)

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I picked up hiking again since the shelter-in-place started in March. I hiked about 3-4 times a month in the San Francisco Bay Area and got myself relatively conditioned for trails. When we had a day off on Juneteenth, we decided for the first time since the pandemic to drive out of the Bay Area and spend a long weekend in Lake Tahoe. For our first weekend-get-away since the pandemic, I thought I would go hike in the Lake Tahoe area, as I had never done so. A friend who's a property owner in South Lake Tahoe mentioned Mt Tallac trail. As soon as I saw the description on AllTrails, I had my heart set. I expected a beautiful journey through lush forest, along scenic ridge lines, past small alpine lakes and across high-altitude meadows. In the same time, I completely ignored that the trail is 10 miles over 6400 ft elevation out and back, and that I have to climb 3300 ft in five miles. 😬 We arrived on Thursday evening. For some reason, perhaps out of anxiety and excitement, I was not ...
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Location: Mt Tallac, California 96150, USA
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Driving the Unforgettable Ring Road - Trip Planning (Making Flight and Hotel Reservations)

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Today I will share my experience making reservations for flights and lodging in Iceland. Rental car booking and other trip planning topics will be covered in the next blog.  There have been quite a few deeply discounted package deals with flight, lodging, etc. offered by companies such as  Groupon  and  Living Social . Those deals are usually for short (3 - 5 days) and off-season travel around Reykjavik, great if you only have a long weekend, don't mind traveling in sub-zero temperature, and want to make another trip in the future for the ring road. Here, I'm only sharing my experience as a DIY traveler. Air 1. WOW Air.  Here is what a single-trip (double the fare for round trip most likely) fare looks like for June 2017 (start of high season) from Boston. Late June to end of August is prime season with higher airfare and hotel cost. You will get a better deal if your dates are flexible and you can travel in early June or early September, which ...
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