Minden 7-year-old completes Tahoe Rim Trail in 13 days

A trek around the Tahoe Rim Trail takes hikers on average a maximum of 15 days to complete the 170-mile trip and that’s for a typical experienced hiker, but 7-year-old Minden resident Radley Lacu completed it in 13 days with his family in July.

“It was hard at first then got easier as we kept going,” said Radley.

Radley killed the time on the long trail by playing “Disney 20 questions,” pointing out animals he saw and listening to “Wings of fire” by Tui T. Sutherland on audio books.

Radley said the most memorable part of the trip was seeing all the different animals.

He enjoyed finding lizards, butterflies, golden mantled ground squirrels, deer and turkey vultures.

“We nicknamed him the biologist because every time he’d see an animal, he’d say wait, then look it up in his wildlife cards and tell us all about it,” said Radley’s mother Amanda Lacu.

Radley also learned survival skills like how to set up camp and filter water during the trip.

“He’s done some impressive things for a little kid,” said Amanda.

Amanda said Radley has been hiking since he was about three years old. He’s hiked Jobs Peak, Wheeler Peak in New Mexico, Yosemite, the Grand Canyon and the family is planning to hike Timberline Trail in Oregon and Wonderland Trail in Mount Rainier National Park in Washington.

With his experience on the Tahoe Rim trail and others he’s done Radley said the most important thing to remember is to watch your step.

“There’s some steep parts and if you’re going downhill you have to be careful and watch out for cliffs.”

Overall Radley said the experience was fun and he was happy to have seen so many animals.