July 9th 2022, 5:30 am

A long long day to Tahoe. The first 15 miles where nearly all pain. My left achilles is swollen and hurting, also where I have my first bad blister in 450 miles. But if there's one thing I know by now it's that pain can be overlooked and arriving is just the result of a series of small steps. So on I went distracted by the teachings of the book Algorithms To Live By, most of which I completed by the time I arrived at the highway to Tahoe some 29 miles from where I crawled off a boulder early this morning. Looking as bad as I smell after a week without a real shower, hiking 90 miles in just the last three, my hopes for a bring a car from 80 mph to me as a guest of honor, were slim. So I ordered an expensive Uber. 20 minutes later and the eta kept increasing. Maybe i should just camp here and try again in the morning I thought just moments before a car pulled off and began working things around their car to clear a seat. Without hesitation I assured these beautiful trail angels that I'd fit just fine. Arriving at the Tahoe Valley Campground I reached immediately for the free and hot showers, watching 184 miles of sweat leave my body. The next order of business was to grab some food from the nearest pizza shop, returning just in time to catch the end of Cast Away at the campground movie showing, alongside Brightside and Grumby. Finally getting into bed around midnight sleep was just taking me when a black bear some 30 feet away caused a big commotion. After enough shouting from campers the bear meandered toward different parts of the campground letting things die down for intervals of time. Throughout the night car alarms and screaming people made it clear that I'd been backcountry for some time. Then at 5 am a shrieking man jostled everyone awake but just long enough to wonder why that had been their tactic to chase of the bear. Well as we later learned it had been less a tactic than a reflex since a few feet away a hiker woke to the bear licking his face and in response threw himself and his voice into the air. Frightening the bear it clawed at his now airborn sleeping bag tearing it before again heading onward. Needless to say I was among many who didn't sleep very well.