Meeting the locals

You'll never guess how much we sweat to score a free boat ride

It was a beautiful, sunny day on Echo Lake, near Tahoe. We drove from our dispersed camping spot to the lakeshore to make coffee and oatmeal for breakfast. Checking the map, we realized we were on the Pacific Crest Trail, a famous trail for long-distance hikers. We simply had to hike a small part of it.

After gathering our gear—lunch, water, hiking pole, sunscreen—we headed through the marina parking lot towards the trail.

A pickup truck was parked at the dock with a brand new, full size gas stove for a kitchen in the bed of the truck. A few people were milling around it. My partner Dave walked up and asked if they were planning to load the stove into a boat. One person said yes. Dave asked if they needed help. They asked, are you offering? Dave said yes, we can help.

The people with the stove seemed surprised that we, complete strangers and tourists, would be interested in manual labor. But it was interesting. It can be fun to be involved in a physical project with others. After living out of a car for a month and a half (so far) a domestic project with the locals actually seemed quite intriguing.

With five people, we lifted the stove out of the pickup and walked it over to a dinghy and loaded it in.

After a little chatting and friendly offers, we arranged to get in the boat with the people and the stove, go with them to the cabin, and help carry the stove up a “45 degree hill.” In exchange, they would give us a boat ride to the end of the lake so we could start our hike three miles in. (And a boat ride back, if we wanted)

I lived on a sailboat in a marina for over a year in the San Francisco Bay Area, but I’ve never moved a stove in a boat before!

The cabin was up a steep hill with a rough stone staircase leading up. The five of us picked the stove up carefully and walked it up the hill, placing it down periodically to rest. When we finally maneuvered it onto the deck, we went inside to look at the old stove. It was a forty-year old Roper gas range that looked quite familiar, actually! I’ve had a lot of experience with such a stove. We carried that one out to the deck and the new stove in. Success! It felt like a job well done.

Then we got back in the dinghy and two of the people taxied us to the end of the lake.

Our hike turned out to be quite exciting. It hailed three separate times, and rained twice. We sheltered from most of the rain under some trees.

Then on the way back we walked back into sunshine. The trail was a flowing stream underfoot in some places, but by the time we reached Echo Lake again it was as if it had not rained.

We decided to walk the rest of the way back around the lake instead of trying to coordinate a boat ride with limited cell reception. I did text our new friends an update to thank them for the ride and the interesting adventure:

“Hi, this is Rey and Dave from earlier with the stove. We decided to walk back around the lake so we won’t need another ride, thanks. Beautiful views! We stayed dry under a few trees. Thanks to you and friends for the boat ride earlier!”

An hour later, I received a response:

“Hello Rey and Dave! Glad you were able to stay somewhat dry! Quite a day with a couple of good claps of thunder, wasn’t it? We really appreciated your help this morning, and were happy to give you a slow ride up the lake. Feel free to look us up again when you’re in the area!”

I was happy to hear from our new friends and glad we had put in that work to have a unique adventure while traveling.

It’s possible to be a tourist without learning anything about what life is like in a place you’re visiting, but that feels like such a wasted opportunity. I love learning about the animals, plants, fungi, and ecosystems of the places I spend time in. And this time, I had a chance to be part of the human community of Echo Lake for a day.

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I’m excited to announce another session of my online creative nonfiction class Writing the Personal Essay starting September 12th! Early bird price until Sept 1 is $100. Click here for more details.

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For more mountains, lakes, and wildlife, check out my trip videos on:

YouTube (videos of full hikes!): https://www.youtube.com/@reywrites

TikTok: https://www.tiktok.com/@reywrites

Instagram: https://www.instagram.com/reywrite/

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Take care,

Rey