Autumn at Lake Tahoe

I have heard much about the beauty of the Lake Tahoe.  As we had two unused timeshare weeks left in 2014, Elaine and I decided to enjoy autumn at Tahoe.  After a very long Sunday flight (with a 6-hour layover in Denver) from Kearney to Reno, we rented a car and made the 1-hour drive over a mountain pass and arrived at South Lake Tahoe, California at 1 AM Monday morning in late September.

The first 5 days were spent in the hills by South Tahoe.  The resort here is more of a ski resort destination, as it sits near the base of an extensive ski area.  We did some exploring of the area and found plenty of interesting things to do.  The Lake itself is the second deepest lake in the USA at 1,644 ft. deep.  We were told that the sediment can be up to 1,000 feet deep below the lake depth.  The water is famous for its clarity.  Salmon and trout abound in the lake and streams surrounding the lake.  The lake itself has only the Truckee River flowing out of it.  This river flows into the Great Basin area of the USA and does not flow to the sea; it simply dries up in the desert.

The salmon run was supposed to occur while we were there, but the salmon were late and we never did see them.  Salmon are not native to the lake, but were introduced some time ago.  The best viewing for the run is at Taylor Creek, which also has a fantastic nature trail.  The creek was low, but still has a good flow.  There are exhibits along the trail and bird life abounds.  We saw ducks and the Stellar Jay (picture not great of the Jay, but the darned bird would not sit still for a photo).

The lake sits on the California/Nevada border.  Scenic views of the Sierra Nevada Mountain range are present nearly everywhere in the area.  Squaw Valley Ski Area, location of the 1960 Winter Olympics is within 20 miles of the lake.

During our stay, we drive around the entire lake and were treated to some splendid views.  Such as Emerald Bay, one of the most photographed scenes in the area.  While that may look like snow on the trees, it is only sunlight.  The higher elevations did get some snow the day before we arrived.  We very fortunate, as our daytime temperatures were in the 70’s and 80’s the whole time of our visit.  Nights were cool, dropping to the lower forties to freezing.  The sun would warm things up very quickly in the morning.  If you notice things like this, of all the outdoor photos that I took, only one has clouds in the sky (well, there is a trace in another photo).

The lake itself is a treat to walk along the beaches and experience the clarity of its waters.

The jack pine trees cover the hills surrounding the lake.  These hills were clear cut to provide timber for all of the mines in the Virginia City area during the heyday of the Comstock Lodes.  As you can see, the forest has recovered from the assault.  Look. clouds in the sky!

Tahoe City sits on the northwest shore of the lake and is home to a very interesting museum at William Layton Park specializing in two areas:  Indian basket weaving and black bears.   A strange mixture, but it works for them.  Trace of cloud in photo - that's it for clouds.

The collection of baskets and other woven products from local Indians was a life-long hobby of a local lady, who donated them to the museum.  As you can see, these baskets, some of over 100 years old, are very unique.

Black bears are common in this area.  They are not aggressive and the locals have learned to live with them as they are frequent visitors in towns and one’s own yard.  There are several videos that run non-stop which detail the many aspects of their lives.

While at Tahoe City, we attended an Oktoberfest, a small-scale festival, with beer, bratwurst, music and the occasional person dressed in German garb associated with the Oktoberfest.

Continuing around the lake, we spent the next week at a resort on the lake's north shore.  The people running the Tahoe Sands resort were very friendly and we enjoyed the many activities that were offered there.  Mostly, we enjoyed spending a couple hours on the beach each afternoon; we even went into the water up to our knees.  Some hardy souls did take daily swims.  By 5 PM the temperature would suddenly drop and it was then time for dinner and evening activities.

As the Nevada State line is only a short drive, we visited a few casinos during our two weeks.  A very unusual thing occurred, I won at each of the 4 casinos that we tried our luck at.  No pictures of the casinos, as state law prohibits any photography inside the casinos.  Hey, once you’ve seen a black jack table, a roulette wheel and slot machines, it's all pretty much the same.

A surprisingly short drive takes one from Tahoe City to the Donner Pass, where, in the winter of 1846, the 91-person wagon train led by the Donner brothers became stranded in the snow.  The pass itself offers some glorious views of the Sacramento Valley, which was the goal of the party.  Looking east from the pass, the views of the Donner Lake area are beautiful. 

The group was the last wagon train to leave Independence, Missouri and arrived at Truckee Meadows, near today’s Reno, Nevada in late October of 1846, where they delayed for 6 days.  This delay was to prove fatal for about half of the group, for when they neared the pass, deep snowfall prevented progress and prevented return to lower elevations.  Some of the party resorted to cannibalizing the dead for their own survival.  An immigrant monument commemorates all of the travelers who made this trip.  The base of the monument is 22 feet tall, which is the depth of the snowfall during that winter.

Donner Memorial State Park is the site of the monument.  It is also the location of the dwellings of some of the party.  A visitor center tells the story in detail of that winter.  Several artifacts from people who survived the ordeal were later donated to the museum.

Neither Elaine nor I have ever been to Yosemite National Park and we both wished to go there.  While it was a bit of a drive to the park, about 3 hours, we decided to make a day trip of it.  Our drive took us back into Nevada to Carson City and then down on the eastern side of the Sierra Nevada Mountains to Yosemite.

Taking advantage of the lack of services, the few gas stations along the route were charging $4.99 for a gallon of gas, a full $1.30 more than the price in Tahoe and about $1.50 more than in Carson City.  We did need to get gas, but I sure didn’t fill the tank.

Just before entering the park from the east, we passed by Mono Lake.  Mono Lake is a shallow body of water in a desert environment that has no outlet other than evaporation.  The result is a very saline lake with pillars of salt lining parts of the shore and its islands. 

We entered the park from its eastern entrance and were treated to a scenic drive across the park.  Much of the higher elevations are bare granite stone formations.  The second and third photos includes the formation known as “Half Dome” whose conquest is a sought after by many a rock climber.

Making a decline in elevation takes us into the forest and meadows of the park. 

In some places, evidence of recent fires can be seen.  The area has experienced a severe drought until recent torrential rains.

After an hour of driving, we enter Yosemite Valley, the heart of the park.  El Capitan and Yosemite Falls are in this part of the park.  Many tent sites, RV sites, cabins and luxury lodgings can be found in the valley.  In the summer months the traffic is so high in volume that a bus system has been established to take some of the traffic off the roads.  The bus is free and it runs even in the low season.  Due to drought conditions, Yosemite Falls was a rock face with no water falling.

Yosemite is the home of the Giant Sequoia trees, ones that you can drive a car through.  Fortunately, only a couple of the trees were thus desecrated.  Unfortunately, their location was a 3.5 hour round trip in another direction.  We decided that we will have to come back for a longer stay in the park in the near future.  Back in the late 1800’s, John Muir led the campaign to have the redwoods and the valley preserved as a national park.  He was unsuccessful at first, as Yosemite started out as a state park and only later was incorporated into the national park system.  Such beauty should be preserved.  A similar splendid valley, Hetch Hetchy, on the nearby Tuolumne River lies under hundreds of feet of water as the river was dammed.  Without park status, I’m sure that Yosemite Valley would have also shared this fate.

Many of us grew up watching “Bonanza” on Sunday nights.  Ben Cartwright and his sons Little Joe, Hoss and Adam lived on a ranch in Nevada near Virginia City during the era of the Comstock Lode and it’s afterwards.  In 1859 Gold and later silver were found in abundance and by 1865, Virginia (the City was added later on) boasted 25,000 residents.  At first it was gold they were seeking.  In many cases they dug through layers of a blackish mud until one of the miners sought to find out what this mud was.  It turned out to be the largest silver deposit found in the world.  Today, there remains about 855 residents and the area still has a few operating mines.  Elaine and I booked a one-day tour of the city and found it to be an educational and fun day.  Virginia (City) was the first time that Samuel Clemens employed his pen name, Mark Twain, to his writings.  Clemens lived and worked for the newspaper in Virginia City from 1862-1864.

As our bus made its way into the Virginia and Truckee (V and T) Railroad station, we were treated to the desolate scenes of past mining glory.  A hilly, desert climate with piles of dirt and open pit mines in abundance; the remnants of past hopes and present operations.

 

 
The V and T runs tourist trains.  Our train ride was a 4-mile round trip on the old rails, where we viewed the old and new mining sites.  They had enclosed cars and open air cars – take your choice.  We opted for the open air car, and were treated to a large number of elementary students who were relegated to the open cars.  When we entered a tunnel, they let out a scream that was ear-splitting in volume.  The screaming was encouraged by the train operators.  I did not hear much noise from the old folks in the enclosed car. 

On the uphill route back we passed one of the collapsed railroad tunnels.  We actually passed this tunnel twice, as the engine did not get enough speed to make it up the hill on its first try.   The engineer had to back the train down the hillside before he got enough speed up to make it to the top.

We spent the rest of the day exploring the old city itself.  Other than tourism, there is no real reason for the town to survive.  Our lunch was in an old ornate hotel, with Italian tin ceilings.  Once you are off of the main street, there is little to see.

 

The next photo is a little blurry, as I used max telephoto from the moving train to take the shot.  The area is known for a large number of wild horses.  We felt it was a treat to see some of these animals whose history goes back to the Spanish days in the southwest USA.

Other than Las Vegas, I have not had the opportunity to see much of Nevada.  Besides Virginia City, we also spent some time in Reno and Carson City.  The only thing we saw in Reno was the airport (coming in and going out) and a casino (where my gambling luck was very good).  Carson City was much more interesting.

The City is named after Christopher “Kit” Carson, the famous Scout and Buffalo hunter of the Indian Wars.  On October 31, 1864 Nevada gained statehood and Carson City became the state’s capitol.  We like to tour capitol buildings, so we dropped in to the 2^nd oldest capitol building west of the Mississippi, it was built in 1871.  The original dome was made of silver. I believe that recent remodeling has replaced the silver dome.

While there was not a guided tour on that day, we struck up a conversation with the welcoming lady, a Mrs. Nixon, who ended up giving us an informal guided tour.  We saw the old house and senate chambers, which are now used for displays, as the supreme court, house and senate have separate quarters today.

In the main hallways are hung portraits of all 29 governors of Nevada.  The ceiling borders are hand-painted with a design that incorporates all of the types of minerals and ores that the state is known for.

The governor’s mansion is a few blocks from the capitol building.  As Halloween and the day that Nevada became a state share the 31 October date, the mansion celebrates by decorating the mansion in an appropriate way for the dual holiday.

Nevada’s cultural and natural history is on display in the Nevada State Museum in Carson City in the former Carson City federal mint.  The holy grail of USA numismatics (coin collectors) are coins from the Carson City mint.  The Carson City Mint was built in response to the discovery gold and silver in Nevada’s Comstock Lode.  The first coin was struck in February of 1870 and the last in 1893.  The quantities minted were low by most mint’s standards and as condition, rarity and demand are the main determinants of value, possessing the coveted CC mint mark will set you back quite a few dollars.

The coin stamping machine is part of the mint display.  The press was brought back into use for the 1977 governor’s conference held in Carson City.  The press struck commemorative coins for each of the 50 states.  A display of all 50 states (plus D.C.) coin and stamps is also in the mint display.

Other sections of the museums holdings are worth a view.  One section features a large gallery devoted to that famous soldier and explorer of the 19^th century, John C. Fremont.  His surveyor tools are here as are parts of the famous canon that was lost when going over the Sierra Nevada Mountains on his way to Spanish California in 1846.  The only part recovered was the canon carriage.  The canon itself remains lost.  Although some claim that the original canon is the one on display in this museum. Fremont became the first senator from the State of California in 1850.  In 1856, he was the first Republican Party candidate for president of the USA.  One of his campaign flags is preserved at this museum.

Since mining is so important in the history and economy of Nevada, a large mining display is part of the museum.  They have recreated what it was like underground in the mine shafts.  Each museum has its unique feature and this is one of the Nevada State Museum’s unique displays.  The first photo replicates a mine collapse.

Gambling, or gaming, has been a draw to the state and it too is celebrated.

The natural history display is very well done.  The mammoth stuck in a mud pit is a replica of how the  remains were found.  The birds and other animals display is a visual treat.

While there were many more interesting artifacts, I’ll leave that for you to discover on your trip to Carson City, Nevada.  I’ll close out this slutigram with a photo of Elaine’s favorite hobby, quilting.   This quilt has a square for each of Nevada’s counties.

 Elaine and  I enjoyed exploring The Lake Tahoe region and experiencing its attractions and some of its history.  I think we'll return for more time in Yosemite, and see if my casino luck continues.