Over the Labor Day holiday we took a long weekend up to Lake Tahoe. We stayed on the California side and went out exploring the woods and alpine air!
On the way up we decided to drive through Death Valley. It was quite aptly named! Behind us above you can see a dry lake bed that extended for many miles. It was also 110 degrees or something ridiculous.
Passing through the valley, we made our way up to Mt Whitney, the highest peak in the continental US. It doesn’t look that high because the average height of the Sierra’s is great, but wikipedia tells me that it’s the tallest 😀
Upon arriving to our cabin, we immediately checked out the view and WOW! Picturesque landscape, a clear view of the water…sunsets, what more could you ask for?
We went out on that water and had to take a selfie. I’m not sure why we’re making this face. Perhaps because we were contemplating getting in the water…
On the boat we watched the sunlight sparkle on the water as we passed by. We made it to this abandoned concrete building on an island and of course had to get out and explore.
After the boat day we decided we should check out one of the many hiking locations around Lake Tahoe. It was very busy everywhere we went, but we found a good location and heard that there was a waterfall view at the end of the trail. So away we marched.
Behind us you can see the lake basin we were hiking around. That’s the same lake we were on yesterday but a different part of it (it’s huge! And deep! And COLD!)
We finally made it to the waterfall, and you can see the beautiful views above, especially that crystal clear lake water (you should be able to click on those pictures to open a very large version). The air up here was much cooler, though that was much appreciated after the hike there. Everyone was commenting on how out of breath we were, due to the average elevation. It reminded us a little of the big hike we did in Peru, but not as bad 😀
We decided to hang out here for a little bit and enjoy the views. There was a lot to see and it appeared the area hadn’t been landscaped or cleaned up in some time. There were dead trees and all sorts of nature everywhere, haha.
We made it back from the hike just in time for the sunset. We sat out on our balcony and enjoyed every last bit of it.
Also, as a nice surprise, I got to meet up with a friend from Japan and his wife! They were, by happenstance, visiting Tahoe the same weekend and staying just a block away. We hung out well into the evening catching up.
The next day we got up and packed for the drive home. We went back through Nevada so it was much quicker but much, much more boring. Oh well! A great trip was had by all and we can’t wait to return. Thanks for reading!
