First Lake Tahoe Hike of the Summer

And my feet hate me.  I'm trying to break in my new beefy Scarpa hiking boots for our upcoming trip to Switzerland, as we're planning on doing a 3 day hut-to-hut hike in the Valais region.  While I ordered the boots well over a month ago, a stupid foot injury has prevented me from doing much walking the past two weeks.  With our departure date looming I decided to get out there today, and hiked to Lake Aloha with the dog, starting from the Lily Lake trailhead.

The good news is that the boots supported the part of my foot that had been tender.  The bad news is that after 12 miles my toes were not all that happy.  They're still not talking to me 2 hours later.  However, I've got a back up pair of shoes I'm going to bring, and I'm hoping that planning-for-contingency results in no foot discomfort whatsoever.

Trail conditions are much snowier this year than last, and I got to test out the boots on a number of snowbanks between Susie Lake and Lake Aloha.  The dog was, as usual, thrilled, and seems to have recovered from any disappointment over failing Friday's audition.

Right now I'm feeling my age - and feet.  Twelve miles didn't used to exhaust me like this.  Dunno how I'm going to cope with 42 kilometers next month, but the promise of hiking in the land of chocolate will no doubt provide incentive.