Hwy 88, Carson Pass

6-18-2013
A couple miles out of Tahoe. 
Last night the wind started howling and it was knocking my tent around and making it flap. I hardly slept. Only 6 hours instead of the normal 8-10, sometimes 12, sometimes more. The morning walk was kinda cold but great. I was along the shaded ridge till about 10. It was pretty windy, but at about noon it got very windy, then I came up to a switch of going from one side of the hill/mountain to the other, so I was exposed to wind. The wind there was blowing harder than I've ever seen by far. I had about 10 yards of walking in that wind and it felt like there was a very strong guy pushing me as hard as he could and occasionally throwing a Mike Tyson punch at my side. If I had to guess it was gusting 40-100+ miles per hour. I'm no expert on knowing what wind speed is, but whatever it was, it was so hard that if it would have been a couple miles an hour more, I don't think I could have done it. I was crouching down to stay balanced and strong. It almost blew me over twice, and I was on the ridge!!! Then it died down to 20 or 30, or something manageable to where I could hear myself think. I got to the Carson Pass Ranger Station on hwy something, and got a coke and 2 bannanas!!! What a treat. If you ever want to bring food for hungry hikers a coke and bananas are A+. They know what they're doing at that ranger station!!! Got a few miles to south Lake Tahoe where I'll figure out the upcoming few weeks. If you didn't know, I'm from El Cerrito, Bay Area, and Hwy 50 and 80 is a quick drive to the trail, so I've got a few visits coming up. I'm pretty excited to get em going. Friday starts with camping with my friends, then hike a week with my Dad and Uncle, then camping, I think with my brother. So, I've got 2 days to figure out what to do in the Tahoe area. Also, I might be borrowing a friend's dog for a bit. I feel weird from all the wind today, like drunk or hungover, or constantly dizzy. Great day and I'm sure I'll sleep well, and sleep in tomorrow. 
http://ohv.parks.ca.gov/?page_id=23056