Archive | August, 2017

A Lakely Birthday August 10, 2017

14 Aug

About a month ago, Alexis and Connie, two college friends, were visiting me and the Carson Valley and we decided to take a cruise on Lake Tahoe. It’s about a two-hour cruise and it’s a neat way to see part of the lake from Zephyr Cove to Emerald Bay. I’m guessing it’s about 10 miles across the lake at that point and it allows beautiful vistas of not only the lake but the Sierras and the Carson Range as well.  (Please click on the pictures to enlarge them and get more detail)

Here is a view from the boat of Emerald Bay. You can see part of CA Highway 89 as a line a little way above the water. It goes around the bay and makes its sharpest curve at those two white spots toward right center. Those white spots are Eagle Falls that were absolutely gushing that day. Ever since then, I’ve been wanting to go up there to see them in person. August 10 was the first opportunity that I had to do just that.

Summer is winding down (in terms of kids going back to school) and I thought it might not be so crowded. WRONG!!! I ended up parking about a mile from the trailhead I wanted to use, adding a couple of miles to my proposed hike. But… I was afforded a great view of Emerald Bay and Fannette Island, the only island in Lake Tahoe.

My first stop was to see Eagle Falls. Its flow has ebbed during the last month but it’s still a dangerous place to be fooling around. I sat down while taking this picture so as not to slip.

Then I turned around and took this picture of people wading in a flat part about 15 feet in back of the first picture. It would have been all over for them if they had slipped.

Eagle Falls a short distance away… I think I was sitting on the flat rock when I took the first falls picture. You can see how steep it is.

The trail down to Vikingsholm is about a mile long, all down hill. You know what that means when you want to go back up the hill. The surrounding area is very pretty, lots of trees, rocks, flowers and even ferns. I was surprised to see such beautiful ferns in what can be a very cold and snowy climate in the winter.

Crimson or Western Columbine

I’m not positive about some of these flowers so I’ll put a question mark after the names I think they are. If you know what they really are, please let me know.

Cow Parsnip?

White yarrow (?) with wasp

Many small falls were at the side of the trail.

Great Mountain Larkspur or some type of Penstemon??

A view of Vikingsholm from the MS Dixie in July.
If you would like to learn more about it and its impressive history, please check this link.
http://vikingsholm.com/#Two

People are able to take a tour of Vikingsholm. I am waiting for another opportunity…perhaps after Labor Day when there aren’t so many people there.

The MS Dixie II paddled into Emerald Bay while I was there.

Lora J. Knight wanted her summer home to be very authentically Scandinavian and had one wing built with a thatched roof.

A small pond is formed by one of the creeks near the Vikingsholm and someone planted some beautiful iris.

Some goldenrod is next to the pond. Many people are allergic to it and I pull it up every time I see it in my backyard.

This burned out tree (still alive) was one of a couple of hollowed out trees I saw. The fire must have been years ago as everything else looked fresh and green.

I saw more flowers on the way back up the hill such as this lupine.

Mountain Monkey Flower?

Rangers’ Buttons

I can’t resist including this beautiful photo taken by good friend, RD Schmidt.  You can see the little tea house on Fannette island.

My hike was fun and then I had a very nice dinner with Jerri and Allan. Yep, it was a Lakely good birthday!