I saw a bear! We were driving along the highway back to trail when Fitz suddenly shouted: ‘Bear, that’s a bear!’ It was a beautiful, massive brown beast, simply strolling next to the road, still within the town of South Lake Tahoe. Half and Half and me cheered. Finally! What an amazing sight. This was the one animal I still really really wanted to see here.
2 miles into the day, we made it to Echo Chalet, a little store which was supposed to have milkshakes. But of course it didn’t. Onwards then, away from this place of broken dreams!
At Lake Aloha (an alpine lake that, with snow-capped mountains in the background, does not really evoke Hawaii) we took our lunch break and Half and Half, Fitz and me went in for a swim. It was freezing but oh so refreshing.
A lot of FarOut comments mentioned bears stealing food from tents and hanging foodsacks and I was worried the same fate would befall my food that night. I woke up a lot and checked every time if it was still there, but luckily no thieving bear came by that night.