Lit up with anticipation, we arrive at the launching site...
Welcome to the Tahoe Rim Trail (TRT), a 170-mile long-distance hiking trail that forms a loop around the Lake Tahoe Basin — and we’re here to count down the miles by collecting cache finds all along the way. What better way to celebrate circumnavigating the lake than by remembering those who have orbited the Earth? This series combines three of my passions into one massive project: hiking, geocaching, and space.
As the miles count down, the missions count up — tracking the full history of crewed human spaceflight from its beginnings to the present day. Astronauts, cosmonauts, and taikonauts: that’s a lot of history and a lot of hiking, two of my favorite things.
The series spans the full 170-mile loop, with a few caches per mile all the way around the Tahoe Rim. We use the official TRT mile marker system, which lists Mile 0/170 at Tahoe City counting clockwise — but our series is anchored near Echo Lakes, closer to my home on the South Shore, and counts up in missions as the miles count down headed counterclockwise. First launch is at the southern edge of Desolation Wilderness (we’ll cover the Wilderness a different way) — but there’s no need to go in order. Jump on at any trailhead, in any direction, at any time. All containers should look the same. Spoiler photos are included. Welcome to the mission.
About the Mile:
Mile 122-121 climbs uphill from Echo Lakes Chalet over the hill towards Johnson Pass Road, as you make your way to Echo Summit. Above Echo Lakes you'll pass through the Caldor Fire burn zone and catch glimpses of Berkeley Camp before heading back into the trees on your way to the Highway 50 crossing.
Tahoe Rim Trail Segment:
Big Meadow to Echo Lakes · 18.3 Miles · “Enter the Lakes Region”
Between Big Meadow and Echo Summit, the trail wanders from meadows to lakes to creeks, and through dense stands of pine, fir and aspen. The trail heads south from Big Meadow trailhead across a gently rolling landscape of grassy meadows and fragrant conifer stands. The shaded shores of Round Lake is nestled beneath high cliffs. Further on, the TRT merges with the Pacific Crest National Scenic Trail (PCT) and swings north through flower filled Meiss Meadows and alongside the cool head waters of the Upper Truckee River. The trail then climbs past granite lined shores of Showers Lake and through a rocky bowl where seasonal creeks tumble down steep ridges into lush meadows. Further north the landscape becomes more rugged and much drier, and opens into occasional views of Lake Tahoe. The trail drops over a granite ridge in a long steep downhill traverse before leveling off. A small stream outlined with ferns and flowers provides a refreshing respite before the short ascent to the Echo Summit Trailhead.
About the Mission:
Vostok 6 (Восток-6, 'Orient 6' or 'East 6') was the first human spaceflight to carry a woman, cosmonaut Valentina Tereshkova, into space. The spacecraft was launched on 16 June 1963. It set the record for highest orbital inclination of a crewed spacecraft at 65°, a record not broken until the 90° polar orbit of Fram2 nearly 62 years later in 2025. The flight objectives included: Comparative analysis of the effect of various spaceflight factors on the male and female organisms; medico biological research; further elaboration and improvement of spaceship systems under conditions of joint flight. This mission was a rendezvous flight with Vostok 5 (4.5 km distance) at time. There was direct communication between both capsules during the closest approach.
During the mission Valentina Tereshkova suffered from space sickness and did not reply during several communications sessions. Data was collected on the female body's reaction to spaceflight. Like other cosmonauts on Vostok missions, she maintained a flight log, took photographs, and manually oriented the spacecraft. Her photographs of the horizon from space were later used to identify aerosol layers within the atmosphere. The mission, a joint flight with Vostok 5, was originally conceived as being a joint mission with two Vostok's each carrying a female cosmonaut, but this changed as the Vostok program experienced cutbacks as a precursor to the retooling of the program into the Voskhod program.
About the Insignia:
According to an interview, Valentina Tereshkova said the patch was put together as a surprise by two ladies in the spacesuit design area. They may have inteded the bird to be a dove, but when Tereshkova flew with the new callsign "Chaika" (Seagull) she may have adopted it as that species of bird. In training she was called "Birch" and another of the women cosmonauts, perhaps Solovyeva, actually had the callsign of Seagull.
See you on the next pass. — Mission Control