Around Lake Tahoe and Down the West Side of the Sierra Nevada

May 10 and 11, 2014

In the morning we took the time to check on the possibility of getting a reservation at Yosemite National Park. Plans to visit friends in Sacramento fell through, so we rethought the idea of detouring to Yosemite. Originally we had decided to stay away from the crowds, and not having made a reservation months ahead for their campgrounds, we decided to skip it. After Greg bought and studied “The Roadside Geology of California”, he decided that he didn't want to miss Yosemite.
I had checked for a canceled reservation a few days before, and found nothing, but after checking again, I found two nights in a campground in the valley and we pounced on it! It meant delaying our arrival there by a day, but we couldn't let this opportunity pass by. The park will probably be crowded, but not as bad as summer, so since neither of us has been there, we are going!

After barely seeing the lake the day before, Saturday morning we began the drive around the circumference of Lake Tahoe. The temperature was in the forties and the wind gusting to 25 mph or more, so we weren't sure we wanted to hike. Good thing we didn't! Every trail head was parked solid, and since we need a little extra parking room anyway, we were out of luck. We found one lot where we parked briefly, walked to the overlook of Emerald Bay, tried not to blow off the mountain and got back in and drove some more.

Emerald Bay

By the time we got to Incline Village on the north shore we were ready to take a break and get lunch. We walked into a small, mobbed restaurant, T's Rotisserie, and waited our turn for good rotisserie chicken and tri-tip. Good food, great prices and a fun cross-section of Lake Tahoe coming and going.
Replenished we started the drive down the very sparsely populated eastern shore, and stopped at a beautiful overlook. This part of the lake is in Nevada, and most of it was originally owned by an eccentric, wealthy man. The property became a state park after his death, so it preserves the shoreline. The best views are from this side. The snow capped peaks are visible across the lake, whereas on the other side you are below them, and also have the view blocked by houses.
Our circle took us back to South Lake Tahoe, past the previous night's campground, and back south on Route 50, away from Tahoe. We got an introduction to the beautiful lake and we were ready to head over the Sierra Nevada to find Yosemite.

Manzanita in bloom

The western side of the Sierra Nevada slopes gradually into the foothills. The eastern side has the sharp peaks rising spectacularly from the valley floor. We drove down the gradual side, although we still had thousands of feet to reach the foothills and Gold Country. Arriving in Placerville we drove south on Route 49 through the historic areas from the Gold Rush. We found an open Army Corps of Engineers campground at the New Hogan Reservoir, east of Stockton. It was warm, sunny and reasonably priced, but no hook-ups, so we decided to take a break to warm up and stay two nights. We needed to wait an extra night in order to make our Yosemite reservation.