July 29, 2015
Marlette Campground to 5 miles south of Hwy 50
15.5 miles (18.5 for Greg)
30 total (33 for Greg)

Yesterday, Greg mentioned several times that the pants he was wearing were too big.  I have thread and a needle and offered so he asked about sewing them up a bit.  Here is the end result.  He liked it a lot and mentioned that he was probably going to bring his tailor needs to me from now on.  Sorry Mom.

Marlette Campground had a hand pump for water, a marvelous feature.  We have a 25 mile stretch with no water along the trail.  The east side of Tahoe receives aboit half the annual moisture of the west side making it more challenging to hike.  Our plan was to hike 10 miles and then hike off trail to Spooner Summit Lake for water.

The highppoint for me today was hiking through about 10 acres of lupines in full bloom.  It was in a high open meadow and was amazing.  Pictures cannot do it justice!  We were told that they had received several nice rains 3 weeks ago so the flowers are blooming like crazy.  Not typical for this time of summer.

By the time we areived at the Spooner Lake cutoff, I was bushed.  Since Greg is a stronger hiker than me, it made more sense for me to watch the gear while he went and fetched about 20 lbs of water from the campground faucet.  So, I slept and rested in the shade while he worked.  I offered him a dollar for doing it.  He declined.  I told him he was my hero!  He did want credit in the blog for the extra distance.

After we crossed Hwy 50, we climbed 1600 ft over the last 5 miles.  It nearly sucked the life force from me!  Climbing just wipes me out.  Greg is always stopping and waiting.  We found a beautiful spot at the top for the night.  Greg told me the next morning that he heard deer walking around our camp.  He commented on how much deer sound like bears after dark.