Some more Tahoe

I have a few more pictures from the Tahoe trip up on Flickr ... some more sunset shots from King's Beach (I know, I know - more sunsets?!), some snowshoeing pics from the Tahoe Cross Country resort, and some more Truckee pics.

Sunset on Lake Tahoe:






I alluded in the last post to the fact that Nick and I spent a day together cross country skiing at Tahoe Cross Country, a x-country-only resort on the North side of the lake, California side. It's a bit hidden and out of the way, but they had Tuesday $12 trail passes, and I knew from the Brace family holiday two years ago that the trails were well-groomed and the rental equipment was top-notch. We rented skis and poles and headed out. We had a great morning of uphill cardio ... and then came the downhill drama. Thankfully I was better-conditioned this year (being active at elevation for a few days already certainly helped a bit) and I also knew better than to take downhills with reckless abandon! I still had some good spills and I even took one "steep" downhill squatting (as in butt cheeks resting on the back half of the skis) which elicited a lot of laughter and thumbs-up from passing skiers. Hey, if I'm good for anything it's the point-and-laugh. sigh. But all in all, I came away with only a few bruises (small ones) and sore (but not ruined) knees. It was a very good day! Nick had offered to take the camera backpack but honestly, I didn't trust him not to wipe out ... me of little faith ;-) He was a champ. He even decided to try out skate skiing (instead of track skiing; the skate skis have a sharper edge that let you ski more easily outside of the tracks) in the afternoon. I hate being reminded how non-athletic I am, even though I really want to be!! haha.

After spending a day out skiing we headed back to the condo and got ready for a nice dinner in Truckee. Over the mountain pass and heading into Truckee, we saw the most gorgeous dusk. It was ~20 minutes past sunset, and I could not have imagined how vibrant and beautiful the colors would have been ... I made Nick pull over at a somewhat precarious spot with traffic rushing by! I would have tromped out into the middle of the field if it weren't for the barbed wire:



The next day, I decided to go back to Tahoe Cross Country while Nick was snowboarding at Squaw - this time, I wanted to go snowshoeing and get some pictures of the lake! It was a sunny, beautiful, and warm day - great for snowshoeing!! Despite the week of warm days, there was still plenty of snow, although it was interesting to hike the same trails as the day before and see significantly more melt. Here you can see the "rings" from each snowfall that become more pronounced as the snow melts:



There's a trail at Tahoe XC that has view of Lake Tahoe. Appropriately, it's named the Lakeview Trail. (see a map of the resort HERE - the Lakeview trail is the black one). I decided to loop around on the Blue trail, which is dog-friendly (I hoped the dog-skiers wouldn't mind a random snowshoe-er on their trail) and then head up the black trail switchbacks. Sadly, I had no idea that the other side of the black trail is much less steep and therefore the only part of the trail that they bother grooming. oops. Well, the switchbacks were, um, steep, and uh ... fun? And empty!! There was much more booty-shakin and loud singing to be done on those heart-pounding slopes. At the top, I was rewarded with a great view of the lake:



I love that wispy cloud haze over the lake: in person, it was kind of an optical illusion.

And speaking of optical illusions, here are some amazing clouds like the ones I described in the last blog post: puffy but silky, smooth and magical:





There were some beautiful views of the lake from the top of the trail, and it was luckily sunny and lovely.





The skies were very blue, and I was lucky enough to catch some contrails (for Nick, of course!):





And on the way back to the lodge, I saw this amazing tree:


I drove over to Squaw to meet Nick for a little apres-ski cocktail, and then we headed into Truckee once more for the afternoon. Because we had time, we stopped up at the Rocking Stone, a 17-ton rock that used to wobble on its point when given a little push. It's housed in a gazebo up by the historical society and it no longer rocks ... after someone in their Californian wisdom decided it was a safety hazard, it was cemented in place. Yeah, this despite it being a sacred spot for the Native Americans who lived in the Truckee-Donner Sierras. Now it's just a nice viewpoint over Truckee.







We wandered down to the Old Town area and happened to cross the train tracks as a train was waiting. I loved how the mountains in the background were touched with pink from the sunset!



That same silky cloud that hung over the lake all day was still there, picking up the light of sunset. This was taken at the bridge, just over the Truckee River, right before we headed into our favorite little underground coffee shop for a warm-up.



We were inside for all of three minutes, and when we came outside the cloud looked like this (amazing how fast sunset progresses!):



One more day to go ... post forthcoming!