Lake Tahoe May 7

 May 7, 2021 Friday, Day 3 Touring Tahoe

We cooked and ate breakfast using the full kitchen in the condo. The step daughter and I left in the morning and drove to the California Base Lodge at the western side of the Heavenly Ski Resort. I went there because there was an electric charging station there, but it was not working. I plugged into a 110 volt outlet and got 4 miles. 

I had skied from this base in March with one of my sons and my recollection was that there were nice trails up the mountain, but the lifts were not operating now. An employee told us that it was private property and that we could not hike here, even when I told her that I was a Vail employee. (I showed her mu ski school hat, but I did not have my employee badge.) She suggested that we go to a state park on the Nevada side for hiking.  Instead we walked to the other end of the parking lot and hiked up the Puma Trail near the First Ride Lift. Even a beginner run was hard to walk up starting at 6500 ft. We got a nice view of Lake Tahoe and after about 1.5  hours we turned around, walked back down and drove back to the condo for lunch. 

 After lunch all three of us drove to the west side of the lake along Emerald Bay Road and then up Fallen Leaf Lake Road to the Trailhead. The road became increasingly narrow and windy as we climbed. There were some very nice vacation homes which were perched below the road on the lake. said that theer was no snowplowing on this raod so I wondered what residents did in the winter. When the pavement ceased we parked Glen Alpine Trailhead and began the hike up to the Alpine Falls. After taking in the falls, which was actually a series of large rapids or small falls, we continued hiking along Glen Alpine Creek until we reached the Susie and Heather Lake Trailhead. Here the raod ended and the trail narrowed and we encountered muddy conditions as we crossed and re-crossed the creek in an increasingly futile attempt to find a dry trail.

There were a more than a few hikers around the falls, but as we continued up the trail we encountered fewer hikers. One couple told us that there was more water along the trail so we finally turned around.

Returning to Emerald Bay Road we turned north for what was a hair raising ride along the cliffs over the lakes along a path that had spectular views of Lake Tahoe and many switchbacks until we came to Emerald Bay Park. From Inspiration Point there wereexpansive views of the bay and lake.

 

Lake Tahoe was named "big water" by the Washoe Indians. The Indian legend is that the lake was created whne an innocent Indian was being pursued by an evil spirt. The frightened Indian dropped a branch of leaves which became the lake thus saving him from the evil spirt. The lake is the third deepest in North America, behind Superior and Crater. The Lake is so large that when i viewed the opposite shore it fell below the horizen due to the curviture of the earth. However its distinguishing characteristic is its purity, almost the same as distilled water. As a result one can see very far into the depts of the lake, but its clearity has been decreasing. The Lake never freezes due to constant flow of water from the bottom. There was a lot of logging in the mountains surrounding the lake in the second half of the 19th century when the Comstock Lode needed lumber for fuel and to support its web of mines constructed under Virginia City. The decline of the Lode saved many trees.  

Fannette Island in the bay is the only island in the Lake. It houses the Tea House, which along with Vikingsholm, a 38 room mansion on the shore of the bay was built by Lora Knight as a summer home. No time for a tour of the mansion.

On the way back we stopped at MacDuff's Pub for drinks and finger food. They were social distancing the tables, but it was still pretty crowded.  

After driving back to the condo I went swimming in the pool  and all of us used the hot tub.

We ate dinner in the condo unit