One day I was talking to my neighbor who was born and raised in California, and mentioned that we had just returned from lake Tahoe. It was July. She looked at me, puzzled, and asked: "You went to Lake Tahoe in the summer?! What did you do there?" Then it was my turn to be puzzled. I did not realize that for some Californians, Lake Tahoe is associated exclusively with winter sports and ski resorts. As I found out later, this notion is quite common...
For me it’s very different. My first encounter with this astonishing place happened in early June years ago.
One sunny afternoon, after a four hour drive, our well-weathered minivan carrying the five of us, camping stuff, a beach umbrella and three sets of buckets and shovels, climbed the last ascending hill of Hwy 50 leading to Lake Tahoe, and there was a moment of "Wow!" The winding road brushed the rocky wall on the left side. To our right a deep gorge sloped away into the foggy horizons. We had a bird’s eye view of the scenery. Far ahead clear skies were underlined with a rich blue line of water. Crispy fresh air coming through the open car windows smelled of Christmas, with the scent of pines and thawed snow. It was like stepping into a different dimension. Some twenty minutes later we entered a small town with a long name: South Lake Tahoe. As we were driving along the lake shore, we were able to say just one word: "Beautiful!"
This first impression did not disappoint us. Since then, we’ve seen Tahoe in different seasons and in different weather, we've stayed in motels, rental cabins and dusty campgrounds, we saw the storms and wildfires, but for us this place has its own magic that is much older than civilization. Lake Tahoe basin started to form 25 million years ago and gradually filled up with water. I can hardly imagine such a number of years! And a mere million years ago, during the Ice Age, a huge glacier contributed to the formation of the surrounding mountains. Nowadays Tahoe is about 1,644 feet (500 meters) deep.
I won't dive too much into the history of Tahoe in this post, maybe I’ll come back to it someday later.
Right now I want to share with you my favorite places for enjoying the views, beaches, hikes and so on.
Geography fact: Lake Tahoe's shoreline is divided between California and Nevada. One such border is situated in the town of South Lake Tahoe. It runs along the State Line street: pretty straightforward name. I've watched many times school kids having fun crossing the state borders back and forth! The State Line is very easy to spot: on the Nevada side you'll see huge casinos topping the landscape!
Very important:
Lake Tahoe is situated 6,200 (almost 2000 meters) above sea level. That means the air blanket is thinner there than on any ocean beach and sunburn is a matter of 10-15 minutes in the open sun. Always have a good supply of sunscreen!
Here are the Top 7 places to see around the lake:
#2 Emerald Bay
#3 Taylor Creek
#4 Pope beach
#5 D.L. Bliss State Park and Rubicon Point Lighthouse trail
