We are finally on our way for our summer travels. We left Boulder City and while driving through Las Vegas we stopped off for diesel at a Sam's Club for $5.13/gallon.
Our first night stop was at a dry camping spot on Bureau of Land Management (BLM) property in Tonopah, Nevada.
Before we pulled in to the area we filled up the truck with diesel for $5.69/gallon. Gulp!
We picked a spot along the dirt road and parked. There was plenty of room. We were level front to back so we didn't need to unhook the truck. That saves us time in the morning when we get ready to continue north.
We got up the next morning and hit the road. Before arriving at South Lake Tahoe which is in California, we filled up the truck with diesel for $5.19/gallon. We heard the prices in California are very high.
We approached South Lake Tahoe, California from Nevada where gambling is legal. This is the view of the casinos on the Nevada side. There are only a few casinos in this area so it's nothing like Vegas.
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View from California looking in to Nevada at the state line at the traffic light.
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We camped in the City of South Lake Tahoe Campground By the Lake for 9 nights. The campground was right in the town of South Lake Tahoe. I loved being parked among the tall pine trees. This campground had no electric, sewer, or water at the site so we were dry camping in this campground.
Lake Tahoe is a large freshwater lake in the Sierra Nevada
Mountains, straddling the border of California and Nevada. It’s known
for its beaches and ski resorts. On the southwest shore, Emerald Bay
State Park contains the 1929 Nordic-style mansion Vikingsholm. Along the
lake’s northeast side, Lake Tahoe Nevada State Park includes Sand
Harbor Beach and Spooner Lake, a gateway to the long-distance Tahoe Rim
Trail.
Interesting facts about Lake Tahoe
- 63 streams flow into Lake Tahoe.
- Only one, the Truckee River, flows out into Pyramid Lake.
- Unlike most bodies of water in North America, the lake's water never reaches the ocean.
- At 22 miles long and 12 miles wide, Lake Tahoe is Big.
- Elevation is 6229 feet
- 71 miles of shoreline (42 in California and 29 in Nevada).
- Maximum depth is 1645 feet
To celebrate my birthday in May I wanted to go zip-lining so we went to Tahoe Treetop Adventure Park at the location behind Granlibakken Ski Resort. The Tahoe City location contains
27 zip lines and 60 bridges/events
The events were mostly unstable steps that had to be crossed to get from one platform to the next. Mixed among the events were zip lines. Of course we were tethered to a cable the whole time we were off the ground.
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Nancy
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We lucked out to be the in the last time group of the day so they let us continue past our allotted time until we wanted to leave. Normally they can tell by the color of the helmet when your time was up.
We had perfect weather and a beautiful blue sky. The course was so much fun and exhausting. We were both pretty tired after using so many different muscles. And jumping off a platform to ride the zip-lines was so scary for me at first but by the end it was no problem.
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Al's Photo
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The view driving back from the zip-lining adventure.
Another day we took the free bus to state line and walked back to the campground. Along the way we stopped off at a beach area of the lake. It was May so the water was too cold to get in.
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Al's photo
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One fun thing we did while in the area was hike the Rubicon trail at Emerald Bay. We luckily found a place to park the truck and hiked down to the lake.
In the center of Emerald Bay is a small island with the ruins of an old tea house.
The 1929 Nordic-style mansion, Vikingsholm, was built on the shore of Emerald Bay at Lake Tahoe.
Vikingsholm was built by Lora Josephine Knight as a summer home. The foundation was laid in 1928, and the building was constructed in 1929 by around 200 workers. Before starting construction, Knight and her architect traveled to Scandinavia to gather ideas for the house. Some parts of the structure contain no nails or spikes, as a result of old-fashioned construction methods. Most of the building was made from local materials.
While Mrs. Knight is known for building Vikingsholm, she and her businessman husband Harry were also primary backers of Charles Lindbergh's non-stop solo flight across the Atlantic Ocean in 1927.
Harvey West, a wealthy lumberman who owned the land after Knight, sold it to California for half of the appraised value in 1953.
Vikingsholm has been called "one of the finest examples of Scandinavian architecture in North America."
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Tea House Ruins
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We even spotted an eagle flying overhead.
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Emerald Bay in the front and Lake Tahoe in the background.
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While looking for things to do in the area we found that there was a volunteer opportunity to plant trees in an area destroyed by fire.
The Caldor Fire was a large wildfire that burned 221,835 acres in
the Eldorado National Forest and other areas of the Sierra Nevada in El
Dorado, Amador, and Alpine County, California, in the United States
during the 2021 California wildfire season. The fire burned August 14, 2021 – October 21, 2021.
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Warning
Entering Burned Area
Potential Hazards Include:
Falling Trees, Falling Rocks, Flash Flooding and Debris Flows
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The seedlings were provided by The Sugar Pine Foundation and transported in boxes.
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Tools and gloves were provided
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We got our instructions from various members of The Sugar Pine Foundation and Forest Service Rangers.
The replanting area.
We spread out and starting digging small holes and planting the seedlings.
While we were planting the seedlings the local TV station came by to do a story.
Here is a link to the blog entry that was posted with a link to the news story.
It was great to see so many volunteers show up for the re-planting event.
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Our carpool driver, Peggy
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While we were camped in South Lake Tahoe we were having trouble with our solar not charging our four lithium batteries. At least we have a generator as a backup. Al spent time trying to figure out the solar problem and then came in the RV to tell me, "I have bad news and really bad news." "The bad news, the solar is not recharging the batteries effectively, and the really bad news, the cord on the generator broke so I can't start the generator." We limped along conserving power as best we could and the solar charged as best it could and with the pine trees blocking the panels that did not help the situation. We managed fine but will look forward to camping at a campground with electric hookups until we get the problems fixed. I have complete confidence that Al will figure it all out!
One day we went to explore the east side of Lake Tahoe in Nevada. Parking is very limited on this side and very expensive but we were lucky to be in the area during the slow season so we found a 20 minute spot in the Memorial Point rest area that was not full. We walked around for about an hour. Shh.....
This was the view from our picnic spot.
We took a day trip to the capital of Nevada, Carson City.
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Capital Building image from Wikipedia
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| Nevada Legislation Building |
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There was a nice park around the government buildings.
Nancy, this is the first post of yours I’ve read. It is wonderful and the photos are fabulous. This trip looked gorgeous. You should publish a travelogue!
ReplyDeleteBeautiful pictures and interesting read! Great memories of all the times we've spent in Lake Tahoe! Time to go back - we'll in the spring or summer!
ReplyDeleteAnother great blog post please keep them coming.
ReplyDelete