Quick Scouting Trip to Lake Tahoe
July 29-31, 2023
Few years back, 2013, I visited West South Lake Tahoe as resting place before hitting famous Rubicon trail. It was OK, my focus was on trail itself, not the lake. I missed opportunity to hang out with this crew couple of weeks ago when they visited Death Valley.
https://www.cv4w.org/media/video/WJWE4MI3KdA/rubithon-2013
This time, our approach was different, basically to research hiking trails to unique beaches, campgrounds, boating and kayaking activities and respective permits, mainly because west side belongs to California and East side belongs to Nevada, and different rules apply for same lake activities.
We left OC early morning, about 4am and choose Hwy395 instead of I5, mainly because scenery is nicer in my opinion. Hwy395 is equivalent to a thematic park for camping enthusiast, Death Valley, Kennedy Meadows, Mt. Whitney, Mammoth Lake, Yosemite and long list of lakes and campgrounds areas as well as Lake Tahoe, our final destination.
Elevation changes from 4’k to +7’k brings unique perspective to the trip, at 4’k is mainly desert and need to climb up mountains to avoid heat during summer and doable in winter time if brave enough. Above 6’k is ideal for summer camping but dealing with snow, ice and closed roads during winter time.
Our first stop was at Crowley Lake, fishing and camping area with all amenities and boat rental available as well as campgrounds for RV’s or tents. Below link if interested.
https://www.crowleylakefishcamp.com/
We continued our journey, passed Lake Tahoe and stopped at Truckee, our air B&B was close to Northstar sky resort area. We had a snack and drink in a nearby restaurant with deck view to Truckee river and sure enough, we end up splashing ourselves in cold water that brings back good memories of Henry Pittier national park creeks back home in Venezuela. We walked and find public deck where nature gives us wonderful memories with wild animals, sort of duck and chickens. We went for groceries and end up at our place early, were I cooked pasta with tuna, corn and Alfredo sauce to close the day.
Next day, we wake up early, had scrambled eggs over English muffins as breakfast and took off to Sand Harbor to enroll in kayak expedition but we failed, by 8:30am parking lot was already full and closest parking area was not walking distance for toddlers so we move on to our next stop on the list, nude beach.
Nude Beach was cherry over cake of this trip, no one naked, don’t take me wrong, we parked in tiny area next to 28 road on Nevada side were it looks is more relax in terms of permits and parking tickets than California side. People spread into multiple areas and hundreds of cars are not equivalent to amount of people on each harbor or beach area, friendly with kids all ages and dogs and you can bring your own inflatable paddle board if you wish, the hike is that simple.
We expended couple of hours there, wonderful beach comparable to Los Roques, without talking about water temperature that was freezing for my taste but I dipped myself in such magical place. We move on and I was force to look for a pit stop, we managed to find a place near parking lot that was descent enough for assignment.
Our next stop was Eagle falls, over 89 road on California side, that belongs to Emerald Bay State Park. We were lucky enough to find parking next to trail head; at least we thought it was. We walked down few yards and we were at top of falls, it was magical, especially for Lian that never seen such amount of water in a river, SoCal raised boy of course. People were climbing all the way down and we did same, all way to end of water fall and then we crossed river to connect with a better trail. We landed at Emerald Bay, fantastic place, maybe for boats, the hike is not friendly for toddlers, especially when taking the extra credit line, maybe illegal to hike as well, path we took both ways, up and down. Lian make friends in a blink of an eye, and like a pirate of the Caribbean, he took over the paddle board and the girl, what a proud uncle moment I had watching kid having fun. Cesar meanwhile was flying drone; hopefully we will see some footage soon. At the top, all cars next to us, but parked in illegal areas had tickets.
We continue to Meeks Bay, the most kid friendly campground we found, white sand, plenty of camping area or day use, but I didn’t make enough video material for a clip, I was tired and did couples of clips of us getting into water. Then we went home, cook chicken thighs over onion, garlic and whipped cream sauce, left over pasta and Cesar’s salad. We rest and drove home with no issues. We are ready for next visit to Lake Tahoe, hopefully, this summer again.
Below some clips on my YouTube channel, if you are not subscribed yet, please do so:
I have small sections by visited places of full long movie, get popcorn and enjoy.
https://www.youtube.com/@rmirandayopo/videos
Roberto L. Miranda