North Along the Sierra Nevada Mountains

Sunday, June 12th - Yosemite National Park to Lake Tahoe, California - Day 121

 Our campsite was in the midst of snow-capped mountains and plenty of forest. The campsite had a lot of trees but still felt spacious. We had an easy morning after another late night. We wanted to drive up the Sierra Nevada mountains to Lake Tahoe to complete our tour of California’s interior before we went to the coast. 

On the road we filled our large water bottles at a roadside fill up then quickly came to an interesting sight, a blue-green lake that I initially mistook from a distance for a farm. The lake had white towers sticking out of the surface and the shoreline was a rough white surface dotted with miniature mountainous peaks. The water in this lake does not flow to the ocean, over time rainwater flushes salts and minerals from the mountain into this lake and they just sit there. The water is twice as salty as the ocean and very basic. We parked and walked to the shore. John was temperamental and decided to stay in the car. Charlotte started climbing on the mineral mountains. A quick walk, a breezy lunch on the border of Nevada, and we were back on our way. 

 The Sierra Nevada mountains were beautiful. There were very few trees, just long languishing hills framed by snow capped mountains. We made our way slowly downwards along a river to a plain near Carson City. 

The next step was to go back up into the mountains to the Tahoe ski resorts and then back down into the town of Lake Tahoe. We didn’t really stop in the city proper, which had casinos and restaurants, and looked like somewhere to spend your money.

Two of the top destinations on Lake Tahoe, Emerald Bay and Vikingsholm, were on the southwest corner of the lake. The hike to reach them was 1 mile long and was long switchbacks leading down to the lake. We found ourselves on the shore of Emerald Bay on Lake Tahoe looking out on the mountains framing the lake. We walked through Vikingsholm, a historic house based on Scandinavian architecture. They had a beautiful courtyard with rooms around the outside and a living roof. 

The path to nearby Eagle Falls was quick and provided a beautiful running waterfall with a bridge to walk over it. Convincing John to go up the hill was the hardest part of our day; he was not a happy little camper. Mary was at the top and said she could hear him making his way up. 

 We continued our route along the western edge of the lake and came across Sugar Pine Point State Park. We settled into one of their first come first serve spots.