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Caught a shuttle bus from the hostel to the airport where we picked up a hire car to drove from San Francisco to Lake Tahoe, a distance of 200 miles, and join Arleen at the Tahoe Beach & Ski Club for a few days.
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Drove up to Spooner Lake Summit on the road to Carson City to walked the Tahoe Rim Trail. The path started in pine and fir woodland and gradually ascended with view points at various places overlooking the Carson Valley to the east and Lake Tahoe to the west. Chipmunks scurried about among the large cones. The well-worn trail finally emerged above the trees and after what seemed an age we finally reached our objective of Snow Valley Peak with glorious all around views under a clear blue sky, making the effort worth it.
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Rim Trail History
The idea of a trail encircling the Lake Tahoe Basin was proposed in 1981 by Glenn Hampton of the US Forest Service. Soon afterwards, a non-profit organisation known as the Tahoe Rim Trail was formed to help plan, construct, and maintain such a trail.
The 150 mile Tahoe Rim Trail circles Lake Tahoe, winding through Nevada State Park lands, national forests, and wilderness areas. It traverses the ridges and mountain tops that form the Tahoe Basin, past sweeping panoramas of Lake Tahoe and the surrounding mountains and valleys. The trail crosses thick conifer forests and wildflower-filled meadows; skirts the shores of alpine lakes, revealing intimate portraits of Sierra Nevada and Carson Range ecology.
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Returned to the car down the same track.
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Fallen Leaf Lake
from Mount Tallac Trail
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For the days walk we decided to climb Mount Tallac, a peak on the south side of Lake Tahoe. To walk the trail a permit was required, but this was easy enough to obtain as all you had to do was fill in a two part form that was in a box at the trailhead, post one part into a box and attach the other to the rucksack. From the trailhead we walked along a well-worn track with views, as we rose, of Fallen Leaf Lake to the left and Mount Tallac through the trees to the right. After passing Floating Island Lake we reached Cathedral Lake and the start of the more difficult ascent.
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The path of talus, boulders and granite bedrock became less distinct and required greater concentration to make sure we didn't wander off. When we came out into open ground we climbed up towards a saddle, the path went steeply up to the right or alternatively less steeply to the left, we chose the latter to reach the top of the saddle.
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With views over Desolation Wilderness we climbed up the west side of the ridge towards the summit, the tree line was higher on this side with occasional stands of pine. For the last climb up to the summit the path all but disappeared as we clambered over boulders to join half a dozen other walkers on the top and savour the glorious views in all direction, under a clear blue sky.
After sitting on top for lunch and chatting to the other walkers, we made our way back down the same path but now with the views over Lakes Tahoe and Cascade before us.
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Lake Tahoe
from Mount Tallac Trail
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In the evening we sought out an Internet Cafe to pickup and send our emails. In a tourist town the size of South Tahoe you would expect to find quite a few, but the only one in town was at the Caesar Casino business centre. The alternative that we went to was 5 miles out of town.
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Drove out past the trailhead we hiked from the previous day and on to the parking for an area called Vikingsholme at the end of Emerald Bay. Vikingsholme is a property built in the Scandinavian style, this was because the owner felt that Emerald Bay seemed like a fjord.
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Fannette Island
Emerald Bay
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From the car park we first walked down to Vikingsholme ands then followed the shore line clockwise through woodland of pine and cypress. There were far more bushes in the undergrowth than we had found elsewhere and probably as a consequence the wildlife was more prolific. The usual stellers, chipmunks and squirrels were around but we also had a good sighting of a woodpecker.
The path followed the edge of the woodland where it met the lake shore with it's sandy beachhead and the enchanted Fannette Island. Continued on passed a beautifully located boating camp ground to Emerald Point where the bay meets with Lake Tahoe. We then followed the trail back to the car to return to the apartment.
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After lunch we left to drive 480 miles down to Las Vegas.
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Travelled back out to Carson City and continued on the 50 until we reached Fallon where we turned onto the 95 that would take us down to Las Vegas.
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The USA has a surprising low rate of people travelling abroad or even to another state, but we bet that in the league table of travel Nevada is up near the top. If we were children of Nevada we would have left at an early age.
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As it became dark the area became more interesting! Lights appeared in places where previously there had only seemed to be scrub.
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From 70 miles away the glow of Las Vegas appeared in the southern sky, part of this was from the lights of a prison that we passed.
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Prison Area Hitchhiking Prohibited
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The last 60 miles was on duel carriageway, but until we reached the outskirts of Las Vegas we only needed to overtake one vehicle.
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The glow changed to a million pinpricks of light as we crested a hill and drove the final few miles to plunge into the Las Vegas traffic. Without too much difficulty we found our hotel and settled in for the night.
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After returning the car back to the airport we walked up Paradise Road as far as the Stratosphere and then turned back down Las Vegas Boulevard to walk 'The Strip'. Stopped off at Sahara Casino for a $5.99 all you can eat brunch, which, with a discount voucher, we got for $4.99. No wonder the Americans are so large.
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Large billboards were everywhere advertising aged pop stars, exotic dancers and politicians (which seemed to fit in with the first two).
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In a temperature of 90 degrees we continued strolling along, in a land where size matters Las Vegas has gone a step further with huge architectural features, even the Eiffel Tower at original size.
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By 4 o'clock we had had enough and wandered back to our hotel to prepare for our next trip.
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