When I first started planning my trip I figured I would skip Lake Tahoe; it just didn’t sound like my kind of place. But I did some reading and people said that even if you didn't think you'd like Tahoe you should go, as you'd be surprised. Well I went, and I guess I'm on the fence. It sure wasn't the highlight of my trip. The first thing I learned is to stay off the roads – road, really - as much as possible. Driving in at 9:00 AM was hell, with heavy traffic not remotely concerned with the speed limit. Desperate to get off the road, I grabbed a $25 site at Sugar Pine State Park, pitched my tent and headed down to D.L. Bliss SP, where the beach is so popular you have to arrive early to get a parking spot. It was like Malibu or something: tans, loud music, water floatation devices. I ate breakfast in the shade and got the hell out. I went to another day parking spot and hiked down to the water through a better looking campground than mine and tried a little reading along the shore. It was hard to concentrate though, as a boat out on the lake was actually blaring Loverboy. Or Starship. Might have been Journey. I got the hell out of there too. Eventually I discovered that the best place for me was the beach accompanying my campground; I’ve even already paid for admission. I went there and enjoyed a lovely evening and a pink glowing sunset. Erhman Mansion.
The next morning I moved to a $15 spot at USFS’s Bayview CG. It was good enough, though a couple of guys nearby spent the whole afternoon drinking beer, never a good sign. One of the guys had come to camp with his ex-wife and their daughter while the other guy just latched on as a drinking companion. The two women split for a while and I saw them later when I went out to the viewpoint overlooking the inlet. A real mob scene and I head back to the campground. This is my take on Lake Tahoe. Early morning is good and after dinner hours are great, but midday is awful.
Fire conditions were volatile and the campground host was adamant that no fires can rise above the height of the firepit. But later in the evening these guys started throwing in tree trunks and soon had one shooting flames 25’ in the air. The host came racing across the campground yelling to get that fire down or the rangers would come and toss them out. I should have been so lucky. But without pyromania to keep them going, one guy staggered back to his site and everyone else quieted down enough and the night went well, until 5:00AM or so when the air is filled with the lusty sounds of the father who seemed to want the entire campground to know he was GETTING LAID. With the ex-wife, I could only hope.
The next morning I got up early and hiked to Mount Tallac, in the famously misnamed Desolation Wilderness. Tom Stienstra gives the hike a "10" in his Hiking California book but it is not a "10". It's an excellent workout to a grand view, but it’s not a "10". (Describing a nearby hike to Gilmore Lake, Stienstra writes: "If you only have time to day-hike to one destination near South Lake Tahoe, Gilmore Lake should be your choice." He gives that a "9".) The view from the top down to Lake Tahoe is pretty much what you’d expect: a big blue lake. Lots of people like that type of view and despite the difficulty and the heat lots of people were up there liking it. But off in the distance to the west, I spotted some landscape that looked much more attractive to me: smaller lakes surrounded by granite and snow peak. I much prefer being IN the landscape to being above it. I asked another hiker about it and he told me how to get there. Like so many mountain areas, it is a lot closer physically than it is a drive to get there. I make a mental note to double back and do it next week, as the weekend is coming up and I do not wish to spend it in Lake Tahoe.
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| Desolation Wilderness and Aloha Lake from Mount Tellac |
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