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 121-120 is where the TRT crosses Highway 50. North of the highway, you'll be on a wooded trail through the Johnson Pass Road neighborhood of Echo Summit. Crossing south brings you into the Caldor Fire burn zone, corssing the Pony Express trail and heading up the rocky ridge that now offers expansive views down the US 50 corridor.
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:
Voskhod 2 (Восход-2, 'Sunrise-2') was a Soviet crewed space mission in March 1965. The Vostok-based Voskhod 3KD spacecraft with two crew members on board, Pavel Belyayev and Alexei Leonov, was equipped with an inflatable airlock. It established another milestone in space exploration when Alexei Leonov became the first person to leave the spacecraft in a specialised spacesuit to conduct a 12-minute spacewalk.
Though Leonov was able to complete his spacewalk successfully, both that task and the overall mission were plagued with problems. Leonov's only tasks were to attach a camera to the end of the airlock to record his spacewalk and to photograph the spacecraft. He managed to attach the camera without any problem. However, when he tried to use the still camera on his chest, the suit had ballooned and he was unable to reach down to the shutter switch on his leg. After his 12 minutes and 9 seconds outside the Voskhod, Leonov found that his suit had stiffened, due to ballooning out, to the point where he could not re-enter the airlock. He was forced to bleed off some of his suit's pressure, in order to be able to bend the joints, eventually going below safety limits. Leonov did not report his action on the radio to avoid alarming others, but Soviet state radio and television had earlier stopped their live broadcasts from the spacecraft when the mission experienced difficulties. The two crew members subsequently experienced difficulty in sealing the hatch properly due to thermal distortion caused by Leonov's lengthy troubles returning to the craft, followed by a troublesome re-entry in which malfunction of the automatic landing system forced the use of its manual backup. The spacecraft was so cramped that the two cosmonauts, both wearing spacesuits, could not return to their seats to restore the ship's center of mass for 46 seconds after orienting the ship for reentry and a landing in Perm Krai. The orbital module did not properly disconnect from the landing module, not unlike Vostok 1, causing the spherical return vehicle to spin wildly until the modules disconnected at 100 km.
About the Insignia:
The mission patch for Voskhod 2 reflects the simple graphic style typical of early Soviet spaceflight emblems. A silver Zvezda rocket rises through a field of stars, symbolizing humanity’s ascent into space and the expanding frontier of exploration. The globe at the base represents Earth as the origin of the journey, while the Cyrillic letters “СССР” identify the nation behind the mission.
Unlike later, more elaborate designs, early patches from the Soviet space program were intentionally straightforward—focusing on national identity and the achievement of reaching space rather than detailed mission symbolism.
See you on the next pass. — Mission Control