The Stuff We Do
Oh, 2020. You seemed so nice when we first met. You were fun for two months, then you turned ugly. Real ugly. A plague and a recession and wildfires and an election and continuing drought. Yes sir, you threw quite a bit of hurt at us! Yes you did! But we survived. And The LovedOne remained photogenic while social distancing from others kept her within camera range.
Our last hike in the Lake Tahoe area illustrated why guidebooks (online or hard copy), even fairly recent ones, don’t always capture important details. The hike along General Creek from Sugar Pine Point State Park starts along an old road and later becomes a single-track seemingly favored by mountain bikers. We chose it because it started close to our rental cabin and went to two small lakes (Lost & Duck) that offered swimming possibilities. What the guidebook failed to mention is that there is no day-use parking near the trailhead. Walking to it added an unexpected 1.2 miles to the hike. And then there was the smoke. It was so thick during our short drive along Lake Tahoe to the park that we couldn’t see the shore across the lake. Visibility was down to probably a couple of miles. But how much worse could it get? Buoyed on a cloud of false optimism, we pressed on… 🙄
Continue reading “General Creek (Lake Tahoe, California) 19-Aug-2020”
We were a bit rattled by all the people we encountered on the trail during our first hike at Lake Tahoe. So we we cast around for something a little (actually at lot) less popular and came up with Ellis Lake and Ellis Peak. The trailhead for these is only five miles by paved road from our cabin, so an early start wouldn’t require too much effort.
Continue reading “Ellis Peak & Lake (Lake Tahoe, California) 18-Aug-2020”
Wayne and Diane have been our best friends for decades (yes, we’re that old). Recently, we’ve tried to do an annual trip with them – like last year’s epic raft trip on the Green and Colorado Rivers. We had similar plans for this year which, for reasons now obvious to most people, couldn’t be realized. So, as they say, when life hands you lemons, mix another martini (or something like that).
Continue reading “Rubicon Point (Lake Tahoe, California) 17-Aug-2020”
For our last Fall color hike on this trip, we picked the Meeks Creek drainage near Lake Tahoe, California based on a suggestion in only one guidebook. Well, it didn’t have too much in the way of color but it was a nice hike on a good day to a pretty lake. Plus we logged an unexpected geocache on the way back! We stayed in South Lake Tahoe and were forcefully reminded (again) of what a traffic snarl it can be (particularly if they’re paving the road during rush hour).
Continue reading “Lake Genevieve (Desolation Wilderness) 01-Oct-2018”
BOOTS on the TRAIL 