
4 minute read
OUTDOOR PROGRAMS
THE COMPASS
Commemorating the 20th Anniversary of the TRTA’s Inaugural 2001 Celebration Hike-Thru
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September 22, 2001, 17 adventurous hikers and two intrepid trail leaders completed the Tahoe Rim Trail Association’s inaugural 150-mile guided thru hike. The “Celebration Hike-Thru” started as a fundraiser commemorating the completion of the Tahoe Rim Trail, a project that, in 2001, was 20 years in the making. As we mark 20 years by Lindsey Schultz since our first TRTA Outdoor Programs sponsored thru Director hike, two of the

Left: Ellen and Ro guiding together in 2008. Right: Ro and Ellen guiding the Thru Hike in 2016. inaugural thru hike participants, who are still volunteering with the TRTA today, recount that first walk around the loop and why they keep coming back.
Ellen Goldsmith and Ro Martinoni have been friends and hiking buddies for 20 years. Their friendship and decades-long commitment to the Tahoe Rim Trail Association all started with a local Nevada Appeal advertisement announcing the TRTA’s Celebration Hike-Thru.
Before their thru hike, both Ellen and Ro had done day hikes and overnights on the TRT as it was being built. Ro even took part in a 1991 TRTA sponsored Backcountry Camp at Watson Lake and paid $26 to do so. She jokingly remembers being asked if she wanted to walk from Tahoe City to Watson Lake with a wheel to measure the distance. “It’s not that far,” she was told. “There’s plenty of water,” she was told. So she ended up paying to walk a wheel 12.5 miles, without a drop of water in sight. The excellent food and cocktails waiting for her at camp helped turn that situation around!
For both Ellen and Ro, the July 2001 advertisement provided a new calling, to be one of the first to complete the 150-mile loop to celebrate the completion of the Tahoe Rim Trail and its 150+ miles of views. It was an irresistible challenge and opportunity to be a part of local history. Ro recounts, “I had been to so many places around the trail but I wanted to see it all come together. Especially to be one of the first. That’s pretty historic.” Ellen was also drawn to the opportunity to be part of history. The trip for her was a lifechanging experience. “It’s a long time to be in the woods,” she says. “There’s nothing flat about the TRT. I love the challenge and the people sharing the challenge with me.”
The trip started on September 8th and the itinerary was designed to have the group complete their hike by arriving at a celebration event marking the completion of the Tahoe Rim Trail loop. Along with the physical challenges that accompany a long-
1997 1998 1999

The first Tahoe Rim Trail Association website goes live.


distance hike, the group faced a difficult decision when four days into the inaugural hike, the September 11th attacks occurred. The group debated ending the trip early but, in the end, collectively decided that nothing would be gained by giving up. Eleven days later the stinky hikers completed their hike near Martis Peak in a beautiful meadow of woolly mule’s ear just as Glenn Hampton, the TRT’s visionary, delivered his keynote address to a crowd of onlookers and media.
The connections with the trail and fellow hikers made during that 2001 thru hike have stood the test of time for Ellen and Ro. They went on to become two of the first volunteer guides to lead the Tahoe Rim Trail Association’s annual Thru Hike fundraiser in 2008. Since then, the Thru Hike’s popularity has grown and the Association now launches two trips each summer. TRTA guides lead 12 participants across 165 miles of trail, the actual mileage waxing and waning with the evolving trail. Both Ellen and Ro note that the TRTA thru hike program and the people they meet offer not just an opportunity to connect with nature, but an opportunity to connect with other kindred spirits.
Since 2001, Ellen, occasionally with her pack llamas or TRTA participants, has made her way around the trail 23 times with a goal to complete the trail 25 times by the time she’s 75. Guiding on the trail offers her an opportunity to see the trail through the participants’ eyes, which she notes, “keeps the experience fresh and keeps the enthusiasm up.” Ro has completed the entire trail six times while hiking segments countless others. In 2014, Ro joined the Board of Directors and was instrumental in creating the foundation for the TRTA’s guided educational programs.
For future thru hikers and visitors to the Tahoe Rim Trail, Ro and Ellen provide sage words of advice to “take a map, be prepared to breathe hard, try to stop and smell the flowers, inhale in the clean air, and enjoy the spectacular views.”
If you are interested in learning more about TRTA’s guided programs including the 15-day thru hike please visit tahoerimtrail. org/guided-hikes.

2000 2001 2002
The TRTA is awarded the Nevada Millennium Trail Award.
The TRTA office moves to the Parasol Foundation building in Incline Village, NV.
Initial TRT Loop is connected on the north end of Lake Tahoe and the TRT officially opens! The TRTA Thru Hike launches and guides participants around the newly opened trail.