Recent Mountain Adventures

TGIF friends! 
I don’t know about you, but I feel like this week flew by for me…I’m not complaining! I was actually really hoping to go to Napa this weekend as this is peak season for the wineries…but since we’ve been pretty busy the past few months, I think we are just going to stay home this weekend and relax. (Gahhh I have to stay in Tahoe for the weekend?! My life is so hard…kidding) I’m hoping that we can get some standup paddleboarding in, and I think we might make a trip to the bustling metropolis of Reno!<–sarcasm So like I said, it’s going to be a pretty low-key weekend, but I’m really looking forward to some R&R!
So since today is Friday, I thought I’d share some photos of what we did this past weekend. Cam and I did a hike…and it didn’t quite go as planned. We had been wanting to hike Pyramid Peak all summer because it’s the mountain that you can see from our deck, and this past Sunday we finally decided to tackle it. The route we chose was 5.7 miles each way, and we knew it was going to be a toughie because most of the elevation gain was supposed to take place in the last mile of the hike. We had perfect weather and the first four and a half miles flew by. We passed by beautiful Lake Sylvia and then the hike started to get a little more intense…
 

We were just getting in to the really tough part of the climb, when all of the sudden Lola freaks out and hurls herself across the rocks. Before I knew what was happening I was surrounded by a swarm of wasps! I started getting stung, but since we were on a steep part of the trail I couldn’t exactly run away…so I did what any rational person would do, I threw my poles down the trail and started screaming at the top of my lungs. Yes, if you need someone to stay calm in the face of danger I am not your girl.

After I got stung…so sad. 
{Also, I’m not sure why my face looks gray in this picture?}
 Full disclosure: Part of the reason I started freaking out so much (and this is a little embarrassing) is because all I could think of when I was getting stung is that scene from the Hunger Games where Katniss and the other tributes are in the Arena and they get stung by the tracker jackers. Seriously. When they were buzzing around me and stinging me all that was going through my head “I am getting stung by Tracker Jackers and I’m going to die here in the Arena” and that’s part of what prompted the blood curdling scream. 
Like I said calm and rational.

I probably got about 7-8 stings total, Cam got one on his face because he was a little bit farther away from the swarm, and poor little Lola got a few as well. Even though we were only about a half mile or so from the summit, we decided to turn back since Lola had never been stung before and we weren’t sure if she’d have a reaction or not. So back down the mountain we went…and even though the wasp stings hurt, it was still really pretty! We ended up hanging out at the lake for a bit before heading home, and despite the wasps we still got in over 10 miles!

If you can’t tell by this picture Lola was pissed about getting stung hence her looking even more surly than usual.
Seriously, she does the McKayla Maroney face perfectly.
Anyyyway, as I was uploading the photos from our Pyramid Peak hike I realized I never shared the photos from when we hiked Freel Peak earlier this summer. We did this hike back in July after we got back from Michigan, and it was nice but not my favorite hike we’ve done. (I’m pretty sure this one is still my favorite hike in Tahoe!) Normally, I love hiking and am really excited to get out on the trail, but on this particular day I was just not feeling it. Plus, it was really tough to find the trail head, and it was super hot and dusty.
But despite all that, it still ended up being a nice day up in the mountains.

 For this hike, we actually did make it to the summit! 
{So of course we had to get a picture with the sign}

We sat up at the summit of Freel for awhile to enjoy the sunshine and great views. There was also a log to sign inside this box, and it was really interesting reading through it. A lot of people wrote really personal things about their life and it was need to see how many people had climbed this mountain recently.

Lola loves being on top of the world.

I’m not quite sure how long this one was, but it was definitely over 10 miles.
Another fun hike on the books! 
Lastly, one thing I’ve really enjoyed this summer is having our Jeep Wrangler–it’s the perfect vehicle for Tahoe! Although, I wasn’t initially such a fan of this Jeep when we bought it last summer, I have to admit it’s been so much fun driving it around the lake and in the mountains.

Lola is not impressed
Have a great weekend everyone! Xoxo
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