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This day was a lot, in a lot of ways.
I love a hotel breakfast. Hotels are actually under a lot of pressure to be able to accommodate people with certain food restrictions, because they don't get most of the business travel market if they don't.
This was amazing.
The first complication of the day was Truckee's bus system. Here is a picture of the route map on the website, but then if you go to see where the stops are on the map there is a subtle difference:
Just a tiny, tiny, 3 mile difference. I could not get to some of the places I most wanted to go. 3 miles isn't terribly far, but factor in 3 there, 3 back, the 3-8 miles from the stop of additional walking to do the hikes, and also that I am an ocean level dweller up in a mountain town, it all adds up fast. I was feeling the elevation a bit. Usually, if I am going into the mountains, I acclimate first by doing some day trips up Mt Hood, but I didn't this time. A lot of Portland gyms actually have high elevation simulation rooms for people to train, but I don't go to any of those places.
Second complication of the day, the bus driver was blasting political content talking about the evils of globalism and the power of anti-woke politics. The driver got very worked up and at a point called out 'hands up who voted fer Trump!' No hands raised and no one even responded at all, but still, he was basically listening to an antisemitic screed. Then, the next episode was on gender identity. I did my best to drown out the podcast of radio show or whatever with my audiobook and tracked where I was on google maps so I wouldn't miss my stop.
I was able to walk to Donner Memorial State Park from the furthest stop and really, that was top of my list. However, almost everything was closed. the website didn't list any closures. When I got back to town the lady at the info booth didn't believe me, but yup the museum, the gift shop, most of the trails and most of the natural areas were very, very clearly closed for repairs.
But, after some looking around I did find some trails that were open, including the trail to the lake.
The sand was covered in frost and/or ice but I wanted the shot:
I walked several miles, mostly on sand. I may have pushed myself a bit too much because hiking on sand is very different from other surfaces.
My lunch spot:
I wasn't able to get to the summit, the old train tunnels, the main viewpoint over the pass or some nice short historic hikes I'd wanted to do. I'd like to go back and do them, but I wont without a car and a travel companion, which means I can't do it. They are really pushing a car-free Truckee with their transit system and walkability, but I had to get back on that same damn bus with the same damn driver to get back to town and I decided that after that I wasn't going to touch the bus system again. I tried arranging a Lyft or a cab to get me around, but no dice, maybe because it was the off-season.
I hate complaining about my trips. I do a lot of cool stuff and very much do the things I want to do. But this all just sucks. I shouldn’t feel unsafe in fucking Northern Californian ski town.
When I was at the info booth in town trying to find more stuff to do, not only did the lady not believe me about the closures she told a lady right next to me to head out and do the park tomorrow. The info booth lady pushed me to use the bus system to Lake Tahoe and when I said I didn't want to, she assumed that I was just ignorant of Lake Tahoe, because why else would anyone stay in Truckee unless they were here for the free transit to Tahoe? The part of Tahoe that buses go to is where the casinos are. The lady thought I was joking or lying about what I was looking to do in the area, and she wasn't the first one. My travel plans are weird, but apparently pumping money into a casino with a view of multi-million dollar vacation homes is normal.
I love a hotel breakfast. Hotels are actually under a lot of pressure to be able to accommodate people with certain food restrictions, because they don't get most of the business travel market if they don't.
This was amazing.
The first complication of the day was Truckee's bus system. Here is a picture of the route map on the website, but then if you go to see where the stops are on the map there is a subtle difference:
Just a tiny, tiny, 3 mile difference. I could not get to some of the places I most wanted to go. 3 miles isn't terribly far, but factor in 3 there, 3 back, the 3-8 miles from the stop of additional walking to do the hikes, and also that I am an ocean level dweller up in a mountain town, it all adds up fast. I was feeling the elevation a bit. Usually, if I am going into the mountains, I acclimate first by doing some day trips up Mt Hood, but I didn't this time. A lot of Portland gyms actually have high elevation simulation rooms for people to train, but I don't go to any of those places.
Second complication of the day, the bus driver was blasting political content talking about the evils of globalism and the power of anti-woke politics. The driver got very worked up and at a point called out 'hands up who voted fer Trump!' No hands raised and no one even responded at all, but still, he was basically listening to an antisemitic screed. Then, the next episode was on gender identity. I did my best to drown out the podcast of radio show or whatever with my audiobook and tracked where I was on google maps so I wouldn't miss my stop.
I was able to walk to Donner Memorial State Park from the furthest stop and really, that was top of my list. However, almost everything was closed. the website didn't list any closures. When I got back to town the lady at the info booth didn't believe me, but yup the museum, the gift shop, most of the trails and most of the natural areas were very, very clearly closed for repairs.
But, after some looking around I did find some trails that were open, including the trail to the lake.
The sand was covered in frost and/or ice but I wanted the shot:
I walked several miles, mostly on sand. I may have pushed myself a bit too much because hiking on sand is very different from other surfaces.
My lunch spot:
I wasn't able to get to the summit, the old train tunnels, the main viewpoint over the pass or some nice short historic hikes I'd wanted to do. I'd like to go back and do them, but I wont without a car and a travel companion, which means I can't do it. They are really pushing a car-free Truckee with their transit system and walkability, but I had to get back on that same damn bus with the same damn driver to get back to town and I decided that after that I wasn't going to touch the bus system again. I tried arranging a Lyft or a cab to get me around, but no dice, maybe because it was the off-season.
I hate complaining about my trips. I do a lot of cool stuff and very much do the things I want to do. But this all just sucks. I shouldn’t feel unsafe in fucking Northern Californian ski town.
When I was at the info booth in town trying to find more stuff to do, not only did the lady not believe me about the closures she told a lady right next to me to head out and do the park tomorrow. The info booth lady pushed me to use the bus system to Lake Tahoe and when I said I didn't want to, she assumed that I was just ignorant of Lake Tahoe, because why else would anyone stay in Truckee unless they were here for the free transit to Tahoe? The part of Tahoe that buses go to is where the casinos are. The lady thought I was joking or lying about what I was looking to do in the area, and she wasn't the first one. My travel plans are weird, but apparently pumping money into a casino with a view of multi-million dollar vacation homes is normal.
