Lake Tahoe

 

The Sierra Nevada over Lake Tahoe.

I haven't taken a proper vacation in about three years. I visit family two or three times a year but I always say that doesn't count (which makes my mom angry). I love family but visiting isn't an escape from the familiar, no pun intended, which to me is the point of a vacation. I had the overwhelming urge to travel somewhere new earlier this year. Unfortunately I didn't make the decision until spring and it's difficult to get reservations for summer if you didn't make them the previous year.

I still don't have a passport but there are still plenty of places in the United States I want to visit. It's a huge country! I finally decided on the Lake Tahoe region.

Lake Tahoe is the largest alpine lake in North America. It's the second deepest lake in the United States. It was formed from glaciation and the landscape is reminiscent of Switzerland or similar places. The lake features relatively clear water and is surrounded by high, craggy, snow-capped mountains. When I arrived I noted some similarity to the Great Lakes shoreline. There is a general coastal feel to the area rather than merely going to a smaller inland lake or reservoir as many Americans do every weekend. The lake is lined with sandy beaches and even some sand dunes, marinas, bays and harbors, rocky shorelines, and a fjord. It's a maritime environment. You can find photos and videos of people surfing on the short, choppy waves, in high winds.

Since I was planning only a few weeks in advance for the busy summer season, I couldn't find an inexpensive hotel, and I wasn't in the mood for camping. All that were available were either out in the desert, and frankly they didn't look promising, or in the casinos. I chose a casino room, even though I don't gamble. It ended up being pretty affordable and fairly convenient with garage parking included in the price. Parking is somewhat of an issue in the Tahoe area.

I arrived on a Saturday, specifically the day before Father's Day, which meant I arrived in a madhouse. The drive was trying and as I approached Tahoe the traffic was terrible. I was relieved to arrive at the hotel. As a consequence, I took the next day as a "rest day." I was always planning to take a rest day but not for it to be my first day in Tahoe.

The next day the only meaningful thing I did was drive entirely around the lake. This was interesting and spectacular but it took over two hours and I was already sick of driving. However it was valuable in that I learned the lay of the land and it helped me plan the specifics of how to spend the next four days.

The shoreline around North Lake Tahoe is one of the more interesting areas in my opinion. Photo from the North Lake Tahoe bike path.

The second day I drove to North Tahoe to ride the bike path that runs along the lake. The shoreline is rocky and spectacular.

Another angle across the lake towards, uh, Nevada I guess. I think Reno would be on the other side of those mountains.

A view into California from the observation deck at the halfway point on the Heavenly gondola.

The next day I rode the gondola to Heavenly Ski Resort. Heavenly is arranged differently than the other resorts I've been to¹, where you drive up to the base and then pick from a variety of lifts. I gather there is parking on the California side but Heavenly is connected to South Lake Tahoe, Nevada by an 8 capacity gondola and the resort is over the top of a ridge in a high valley with additional lifts departing from there. There is an intermediate stop with an observation platform, facilities, and a short hiking trail to a local promontory. From there you can re-board and continue on to the lodge and base area. Kinda weird to me to ride a gondola from town up to a ski lodge. In summer they had the lodge open and a number of kid-friendly activities. Unfortunately the only activity I was interested in was not open for the year yet, the alpine rollercoaster. I'm not sure why it wasn't open but suspect either economics or snow, because there still was some up there on June 18th. It was pricey but still worth it to me.

I got back in time for lunch then went for a hike in the Van Sickle "bi-state park" on the slopes below the gondola. I originally meant to take it easy but nonetheless found myself headed half way up the mountain to a small waterfall. The trails were almost entirely smooth, although I was amused the hike was described as "easy" because it climbs hundreds of feet at high altitude. Since I live and exercise in Flagstaff at 7000 ft above sea level this didn't bother me but I saw people on the trail suffering. I still worked up a good sweat. Mountain town people tend to underrate trails².

A typical view from the trail to the waterfall in Van Sickle Bi-State Park.

Van Sickle Falls at the Van Sickle Bi-State Park

A view of the Heavenly Ski Resort gondola and the observation platform.

Pano from a high promontory on Martin's Trail, a very short trail accessible from the intermediate observation platform on the Heavenly gondola.

A view from the boat launch at El Dorado beach. It was a little too bouncy to risk pulling my phone out of the dry box once I got out on the water and I forgot to bring my old GoPro with a waterproof box.

The next day I decided to go paddling on the lake. I'd brought my smallest whitewater kayak and considered paddling one of the rivers, particularly the Truckee, but finally settled on a lake paddle near the hotel. It turned out to be pretty choppy and there was a little adrenaline just from keeping the tippy playboat from flipping. I only paddled for about 30 minutes but it was continuous and I felt a little out of shape.

The Upper Truckee River from the Meyers Bike Path, California.

Like Flagstaff, Meyers, California also has a scenic driving range. I brought my golf clubs but in the end decided I hadn't practiced enough to dedicate several hours of my limited time on this trip.

Since that didn't take very long, I decided to fit in another bicycle ride. Unfortunately I had to settle for something less scenic than I might normally have wanted but I confused two different bike paths in the area (there are several) and ended up on the Meyers Bike Path. There was still some nice scenery. It's just that standards are pretty high around Lake Tahoe.

For the last day I planned a "big" hike. Actually it still ended up being less than 10 miles, but it was fantastic. The Meeks Creek Trail climbs up a drainage to a series of alpine lakes. There is a major stream crossing, which fortunately was easy on the day I was hiking. I think we were past the worst of the melt in that particular drainage.

A giant redwood along the Meeks Creek Trail.

Right at the beginning of the trail I spotted a tree with really unusual bark. What was wrong with it? I stepped back and looked up at it and realized it was a giant redwood! I had not expected to see any in the Tahoe area and had even inquired with ChatGPT about it and was wrongly advised (yet again). On the other hand this trail is not that far from Sequoia National Park. I took careful photos of a couple of trees and some foliage just to verify when I got back in cell range and I'm confident they were sequoias. It seems like the foresters do not advertise the presence of redwoods in the area. I've known rangers to do similar elsewhere³ to protect species. These particular sequoias were not really much larger than the other pine and fir species around them, except maybe in girth, but it was still a neat first for me.

Lake Genevieve on the Meeks Creek Trail. I now realize there was another lake just 0.4 miles farther. I wish I'd continued hiking.

Crossing Meeks Creek

I headed home the next morning, returning by a different route that passed through some desolate high country in the eastern Sierra Nevadas before crossing back over into the Nevada Basin And Range region. It skipped some of the winding highways and desert but had its own issue: a lack of fuel. But I made it.

Alas, the Tahoe region features enough trail, water, and other points of interest that a week is inadequate to see everything. Will I ever go back? I'm not sure. Other than there being too many people, especially on the weekend(s), Lake Tahoe is one of the most beautiful places I've been. The Sierra Nevada are spectacular!

Footnotes:

1 Arizona Snowbowl is our local resort here in Flagstaff. The other resort I've been to is Purgatory near Durango, Colorado. Both feature large parking lots near the lodge and lifts fanning out from there.

2 Here in Flagstaff people often describe our Fat Man's Loop trail as easy because it is only two miles, but there is nothing easy about it for a lowlander. They can't breathe and the loop is a steep climb if you take it clockwise. If it were any steeper you would need to use your hands.

3 Back in the southeast I was acquainted with a Tennessee State Parks ranger supervisor who was aware that bears had returned to an area where they had been extirpated for many decades. Parks kept it secret as long as possible to avoid "rednecks" trying to shoot them. They weren't wrong to worry because a guy was arrested a few years later for essentially killing the first bear he saw, out of season and without a license, and doing so in a way that was cruel. I'm proud of my country heritage but some of my people struggle to live in the modern world.