Since I can't leave the dog inside the car, Jonas had to hike with mummy Ingrid :) I trained Jonas to hike since his puppy days. A quite stubborn dog but loves adventure.
So Jonas and I set off the TRT Tahoe City to Brockway. It was scenic in the first 2 miles of the trail until all you can see were the trails and trees. It became boring after that. I plan to turn around by mile 7. It should be enough time to reach the trailhead without too much time waiting for pick-up.
By mile 4, Jonas started slowing but I keep pushing the dog to keep hiking. According to my GPS it was already 4.5 miles. I was not happy that Jonas did not want to hike further. Like a mummy, I was whining while taking a peak on my left side of the trail. There I saw a bear. It was about less than 50 feet from me. It was the coolest thing. I lifted Jonas just in case he barks, though I could feel his heartbeat. Jonas was not liking the bear. I guess the smell of the bear is not his type. I slowly taking off my backpack to look for my phone camera, while doing that, Jonas has becoming antsy and wanted to let go. Whilst searching, I looked around the sorrounding and not far from me, I spotted a big wild animal's head. I looked at it for few seconds to be sure that its a dog, like a big fat yellow labrador but it wasn't.
The animal was a mountain lion. My heartbeat raised immediately and I was shaken. Its not fun to see a mountain being alone in the wilderness. There could be hikers somewhere but at that moment, I was all alone with a little dog weighing just under 10 lbs. It came to me that I have a whistle. Bill left the SPOT device to me before I started the hike. If this lion would attack me, I would probably be dead before any rescuers come to find me. I pressed the red button but it was hard. Annoyed that it was not working so I pressed all the buttons. When you are panicking, you forget how to properly use the gear sometimes.
The first thing that came ot my mind was to make loud noise. I read it somewhere in google. Even if I am going to run at my 9ish pace, I am no match of this monster feline. I grabbed my whistle while the lion was getting closer. I could feel Jonas heartbeat was pounding to the roof and I blow the whistle as loud as I could.
The lion was caught by surprize and took off so did the bear nearby. I lost track of the animals where they went. But I have no time to even think. In case the lion comes back I have no weapon so I assembled my trek pole while walking towards the trailhead. From time to time I constantly check my sorroundings to make sure no big cat was stalking me.
After about 2 miles of trekking back, two mountain bikers passing by, and a lone hiker and few hikers as I headed down. It was quite an experience.
Sunday is the schedule for the TRT training run. Im not registered for this run but Bill is. In 2010 though I was in the same trail hiking with Diane and Brenda, so sort of familiar with the terrain and expected scenic views.
My companion and I started just after the volunteer (tasked to do mark signs on the trail) took off. I told my companion to go on as Im only intending to run say 18 or 20 miles. After he disappeared, I found myself alone in the trail. With the incident from yesterday I got paranoid because I had not carried with me any defence mechanism if I spotted again any wild animal.
It was only after mile 5 that another runner was passing me by ( I stopped for some Gu intake). I saw the runner power hiking and I thought what the heck, it should be running not hiking. But I was thankful, so I did power hiked up. Then few hikers were passing me but there was none after that. They were all male runners and I start to wonder what happened to the women runners.
By mile 9, finally a female runner was passing me by. Thankful for that Ive got some company but it wont be too long that I was turning around. By mile 10 it was time to go back. I stopped at the scenic view to take a picture. The last time I was in this trail, it was very windy that its not possible to take a cam shot.
I did not stop for water refill as I figured it would cost me some time. I did not like that I was power hiking and not running. I just think that it was not good for my training.
Some foot pounding I heard behind me. It was not far from Snow Valley Peak. I turned my head and I couldn't believe that it was Bill. He had come back already....gzzzzzzz whizzzzz I must be that slow.
Yes I purposely took it slowly than I normally would. Each time I run with a group, the males are ahead, me in the middle and majority of women were behind me. Until now I have not met a female runner who was on my pace and training hard.
My companion caught up with me and as usual he was my saviour for the day. Because I did not refill my hydro-pack I was running out of water. Bill gave his other bottle to me. Though the only water I had did not last that long.
With only 3 or 4 miles to go, I was out of food and water again. It was so hot and my lips were getting dry. I did kept on running until I was toast. In those remaining miles, I was all alone again in the trail. This time though I was no longer paranoid, I figured this trail is more popular than the trail I was on Saturday.
GPS recorded 20 miles but I guess it malfunctioned when I was in the tree covered trail. It ended that I run over 22 miles. My legs were a little sore.
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