KM North to Tahoe
A hailstorm out of Kennedy Meadows North, a 31-mile Fourth of July, a big resupply in South Lake Tahoe, and the night a bear took both our food bags.
By Jeffrey “Atlas” Combs · walked Jul 2–9, 2021 · published · updated
Day 64 was a late start out of Kennedy Meadows North and only 16.8 miles. Day 65 my Strava title says “Early stop. Insane storm day.” The trail went white with hail. There are photos of my pack covered in it against a tree, and of me soaked in my rain jacket, standing in a field of it. It was lightning with instant thunder on long exposed sections, and we ended up running. The trail flooded, creeks turned to mud slides, and the hail was marble sized. It felt like getting hit with paintballs. The storm forced us off the trail early.
Day 66 was the Fourth of July, and I made up for lost miles with 31.3 of them, past volcanic spires at dawn and the Carson Pass sign. Day 67 was a quick 7.8 miles out to the South Lake Tahoe road. My dad came over from Washoe Lake to pick us up at the Echo Summit trailhead, early, when we figured everyone in town would still be asleep after the holiday, and do a resupply. We hadn’t planned on zeros yet. He took us to a gigantic Raley’s and we absolutely splurged.
That afternoon we hiked 11.5 miles back in, past Lake Aloha, and camped at Susie Lake. Desolation was a mad house right after the Fourth, with people everywhere and human poop on the ground.
Quoted lines are from my 2021 logs, verbatim.
That year they had you turn rented bear cans back in at Kennedy Meadows North, and I figured the worst bear country was behind me, so we weren’t carrying cans through Desolation. Most PCT hikers just slept with their food. We didn’t want to sleep with our food inside the tent in just odor bags, so we left both bags in the vestibule. I even hung my pot on mine a certain way so it would rattle if anything moved it. I’d left the vestibule half open. The damn bastard slipped both bags out in the night anyway and we never heard it, then took them 100 to 200 feet away and had a little feast. Ultimately our fault.
I woke up, saw it was gone and was like, you have got to be kidding me. I found my bag ripped to shreds, completely demolished, and picked up what I could to pack out. I looked around a lot longer and never found the other one.
Day 68’s title says it: “Bear got all our food had to hike out.” It was embarrassing walking past casual campers who had hung their food properly or had bear cans. I found an intersection on the map where my dad could pick us up again, the very next day, and set a time with him on my Garmin inReach. On the 22.6 miles out we asked anyone we passed for spare food. My pride and ego were bruised for being so stupid. Friends from our big Sierra group gave us bars and such. I don’t think I really ate. After the pickup we took three zeros. My car was at my dad’s house, so we could get to REI in Reno, where we bought Ursacks and I switched to Hoka Speedgoats. We never had a bear problem after that. It became a small legend on the trail.
The food, then and now
At Raley’s I walked out with avocados, all my favorite bars, single-serve almond butter and jelly packs, arugula, tortillas, Sour Patch Kids and Oreos, maybe bagged salads and Abe’s muffins too. Bitchin’ Sauce and Tofurky lunch meat went into makeshift sandwiches. I’m actually surprised I didn’t take pictures of that resupply. The photo from that day is a plate of beans, cabbage, salsa and avocado on flatbread with a green juice. The bear got the groceries. During the zeros I bought protein cookies, ProBar Meal bars and nut butter bars at REI along with the Ursack.
If you’re going now, South Lake Tahoe is still the best vegan shop since Bishop: hikers found TVP at Whole Foods in 2024 and 2025, and Grass Roots Natural Foods, Raley’s and Safeway cover the rest. The Echo Lake store had enough for a vegan hiker for a couple of days in June 2026, at a markup, and doesn’t hold boxes. Kennedy Meadows North is poor for vegans: the veggie patty had cheese in 2024, and hikers reported markups and expired stock in September 2026. The Bridgeport deli made a fresh vegan wrap in July 2026. One more thing for anyone going now: since July 18, 2022, Desolation Wilderness requires a hard-sided bear canister for food, trash and scented items, year-round, and the PCTA notice says odor-proof or chew-resistant bags don’t count. About time. An Ursack worked for us later on the trail, but it isn’t the answer here. And don’t leave your food in the vestibule.
