Climbing Mt. Tallac - Lake Tahoe

One of our most incredible experiences during our Lake Tahoe trip was our climb up Mt. Tallac! It was a wonderful hike, and we enjoyed it very much! It was a steep trail, so it was categorized as "difficult/strenuous" in the trail guides. We weren't too worried, since we have both been hiking and climbing mountains before--especially with my brother Daniel. We started out about 11:00 am after a hearty breakfast at IHOP.

The trail was rocky in some areas, and quite dusty. There were still some areas with snow coverage, but not very close to our trail.

We passed Cathedral Lake as we approached the mid-way point of our climb.

Cathedral Lake in background (above) . We enjoyed the mountain valleys and beautiful wildflowers.

Our lunch spot had great shade, and a superb view of Lake Tahoe and Fallen Leaf Lake.

Views from our lunch spot! (above and below)

As we climbed higher, there was a false summit. Once we got even with that false summit, we passed some hikers on their way down, and they told us we had at least another hour of hiking. We thought we were almost there...ugh!

Well, we kept going, and made it to the top. The summit was a little scary for me, because it was like a huge pile of jaggedy rocks. One side had a rocky shaft, too--which would be about 1,000 feet straight down a cliff. That part made me nervous. And, there was a group of girl scouts up there near that shaft, and a girl dropped her hat near the edge--she actually grabbed it, too before it went over the edge--but her scout leader told her that she shouldn't have done that, because it was just too close to the edge. That made me really want to get out of that section.--yikes!

Here's a picture of where that shaft went straight down!! (above) We got to the summit, and took a few photos, but my camera battery died, and my spare batteries did not work. But, we got all we needed and wanted, I think. The views included all the mountain lakes in the area and also many mountains all around us.

I was enjoying the summit views, but also eager to get off that scary pile of rocks. On the way down, we saw a bear with four cubs! That was incredible! Neither Jason nor I had ever seen a bear in the wild, so we got to see our first one together! Awesome!

Eagle Lake near Lake Tahoe

Distant view of Lake Tahoe at sunset.



Emerald Bay -- view from the winding road that took us to the trail head of Eagle Lake.

Here is a photo of us from a lookout spot along the drive up to the trailhead of Eagle Lake.

On Sabbath afternoon, we spent a long time at the Adventist Church eating a delicious potluck dinner, and talking with two young adult couples we met. After that, we headed to the trail head of Eagle Lake. The drive up to the trail head was amazing, and somewhat nerve-racking. There were sections of the road that went straight down for hundreds of feet--and no guard rail. The views up there were incredible! You could see Lake Tahoe, Emerald Bay, and the mountains along the edges. The sun was getting low in the sky, so it was a really beautiful drive and hike.

We were not sure if we would make it to Eagle Lake and back before dark, but we decided to try anyway. They were calling for a new moon that night, so we knew that we didn't want to be on the trail very long after sunset. When the moon is new--there's not much moon. We saw Eagle Falls along the way--but it didn't have much water right now, since most of the snow has already melted off and flowed down, down, down into the lake (thus the chilly lake water).

Eagle Lake

We made it to Eagle Lake, but the lighting was kind of dim, so the pictures we took of ourselves with the lake are blurry. I think my camera battery was also getting really low, so that might have been a factor. Eagle Lake was a beautiful spot nestled amidst the mountains, and it was the perfect 1 hour hike for Sabbath afternoon. (about 1 mile one way).

Kayaking to Emerald Bay of Lake Tahoe

Our kayak adventure began on Friday morning as we headed out to the kayak rental place we had found a coupon for. It was on a pier, and we were excited to see stacks of kayaks on the beach.

Our goal was to kayak to Emerald Bay and back in 4 hours. We were getting ready to sign up, when I asked the friendly staff how far Emerald Bay was from there. She immediately said that it was a day trip, not 1/2 day. Yikes! I guess that's not an option... Well, we asked her what there was to see in the area, and she said we could kayak down to the casinos and back... Or we could just stay closer by the pier and kayak around the beach area. Neither of those options were appealing to us, so we decided to pull out our kayak rental list, and try another place.

By then it was getting a little late, and we were worried that most placed wouldn't have 2-seat kayaks available. We decided to try Camp Richardson --which is a big resort and camping area that has every type of activity, rentals, classes, and who knows what else! (The Adventist church in Lake Tahoe will be having their campmeeting at Camp Richardson--a perfect spot for it)

It was a huge place with families walking and biking around everywhere. We headed down to the docks, and found that they had a bright yellow 2-seater available.

We hopped in, and headed out.

The winds were pretty strong, and the water quite choppy.

We stopped once to rest and enjoy the view.

We made it to Emerald Bay, and enjoyed the beautiful waters there.

We had to started heading back to the docks pretty quick, because our rental was only 4 hours.

We stopped to rest once on the way back also.

It was a gorgeous journey...although very tiring on the arms and shoulders (especially for me). But it was great, and I do hope to kayak again soon!

Biking Lake Tahoe

Lake Tahoe has about 70 miles of biking trails that loop around it. We knew we would not do all the 70 miles, but planned to take a leisurely ride for about 4 hours. There are so many different places that rent bikes by the hour! It was great! We called a few of them, and found one that sounded reasonably priced, and headed out on foot to find it. The walk was a little longer than we thought, but it was a good warm up. We really enjoyed the scenery along the bike trails, and even walked our bikes down onto the beach once.

We had to drive through neighborhoods for about 1 mile, and then this was where the trail took off into the woods--with beautiful meadows, bridges, lakeside outlooks, and mountainviews.


Here was our little stop by the beach of Lake Tahoe. It was our first time to dip our feet in the water! --brrrrr! Lots of families were down there swimming and playing on the sandy beach. The sand was pretty coarse and hot, so the cool water felt good.

We found this huge tree along the trail, and it was cool! At first we were just taking photos of it, then I realized it would be easy to climb inside, so I did!

Lake Tahoe Vacation

Jason surprised me one day by sending an email to me at work. He asked me if I could get off a few days at the end of July... I checked about it, and shortly after that we were getting ready to say, "Lake Tahoe - here we come!" Jason surprised me by booking the flights, and was going to keep our vacation destination a secret...but then we talked about it and I just couldn't wait!! With a few big hints, I guessed that it was Tahoe. Woo hoo! It was so exciting getting ready for the trip, and we both could hardly wait to get out there. Our vacation started out with a few challenges! First, our flight from Houston to Las Vegas was delayed, and so we missed our flight from Vegas to Reno. We had to wait about 2 hours in Vegas for a later flight to Reno. By then, we were looking at the possibility of not getting to Tahoe until 1-2 am. Yuck. Well, we could handle that, but then when we arrived in Reno . . . our bags DID NOT. So, it was the middle of the night, my cell phone was dead (charger in lost bags), and we still had about 45 minutes to drive to Tahoe. The airport employee who took our information for our luggage was nice, and she called our hotel to be sure they would let us check in at 2 am. The hotel owner who lives on site was not too happy, but did agree to provide a key for us upon arrival. We were thrilled to be awakened by a call from the airport saying our bags were available to pick up. So, we put our travel clothes back on (we had nothing), and drove to pick up all our stuff! On the way we had breakfast at a little bakery. I had this wonderful Cobblestone Pastry that looked and tasted like a giant bran muffin--yummy! Jason tried their blue berry bagels, and we both shared a raspberry danish.

On our way back, with our luggage safely in the car, we pulled off the road to take a few photos. These are some of our first sights of Lake Tahoe and the surrounding area. It was gorgeous... breath taking!

Ready for vacation!

See those kayaks out there? We were really looking forward to kayaking on Friday! This photo was taken along the lake as we walked from our hotel to go rent bikes (Thursday).

This picture was taken along a path that circles the lake where we biked. At various spots you could walk your bikes down to the water's edge. Isn't that water clear?

Avalon Lodge --where we stayed for three nights. The first hotel "Lake Tahoe Inn" was pretty plain, so I didn't take a photo of it. However, this one was really nice --bed and breakfast-style with beautiful furnishings, jacuzzi tub, and pool.

Entrance to Avalon Lodge.

Sunset.

Sunset at Emerald Bay.