Adrift in Tahoe



So a few days ago I officially finished my work as a birding technician in the Great Basin. Since I finished earlier than I expected, I got to fill in some time before I pick up my sister from the airport and go ramble around California. That's fine with me. While I've been all over Nevada, gone to some very beautiful places in the Spring Mountains, Toiyabes, Great Basin NP, there have been some places I've not had the chance to see. One of the big ones is Lake Tahoe.

 



A morning panorama of Chimney Beach and Lake Tahoe

     So some impressions of the famous vacation destination. Without a doubt, it's a beautiful landscape. The waters are crystal, the pines and rocky beaches intriguing, the vistas magnificient. With a few exceptions, the little communities are charming. And Steller's jays everywhere!
     On the flip side, a famous vacation destination is going to have its downfalls. From having so many visitors, even the most basic campsites are horrendously expensive, if you can get them. Being the tough-living, car-camping adventuress that I am, I found ways around it, finding a quiet pull-off spot or a remote, fee-less campground. Making a clockwise circuit of the lake, I enjoyed the views but lamented the overcrowding of beaches and scenic overlooks. Again, I avoided that and found some equally inspiring overlooks and romps.

Lovely, dream-like Chimney Beach

 

Balance the pros and cons if you will, but my best find definitely tips my opinion of Tahoe decidedly into the positive. Were this blog in danger of being read by everyone and their dog I would bleep out the name properly, for fear of this wonderful, overlooked place being overrun.

     Driving into Tahoe country in search of a camping spot, I began to despair of ever finding one to suit me. Getting dark, I spied a trailhead parking lot. The next morning I walked the trail, further intrigued by its name. Under fragrant pines, the sloping track took me to a place out of my imagination. Calm waters lapping at the coarse sand shore, smooth boulders made for hopping and scrambling, mountains rising across the horizon. The peace and the beauty of this place brought to mind the "Chimneys" in Jules Verne's Mysterious Island, where the Union castaways find their first shelter and freshwater. Even complete with the kiln they eventually make to fire pottery! I spent several hours there, and had to return to explore some more. Not quite as mysterious when other people started showing up, but truly a piece of a dream.

 



Close up of the namesake Chimney

So where next am I bound? Not entirely sure yet, but I'll begin a southerly journey.