We spent a wonderful week at South Lake Tahoe the first week of February. Unfortunately, the snow levels are dismal and our snowshoes never made it out of the car. But, we did get to do two wonderful hikes that were virtually deserted so we had the trail to ourselves.
We first went to Emerald Bay and hiked out past Eagle Falls to Eagle Lake. We have a lovely picnic lunch on the shore while soaking up the sun and making some much-needed vitamin D. The lake was completely frozen over, and it was beautiful to have the whole area to ourselves.
The next day we headed out to Echo Lakes and hiked several miles of the PCT along the shoreline. I had flashbacks of Yosemite with the huge pines and junipers, and granite everywhere. Again, the lakes were frozen over and beautiful, and we didn’t see another person the whole time we were out there. At one point we were serenaded by a coyote and then watched it run across frozen Upper Echo Lake, wish I knew what it was talking about.
For a final fun side trip, we took the Heavenly Gondola up to the observation deck and the Heavenly ski area. What a fun ride (and expensive, but worth it)!!! Many of the ski runs were closed due to lack of snow, but there were still a lot of people up top skiing on man-made snow. Again, we spent time walking around in the sunshine soaking it all in.
I’d like to go back sometime, it would sure be fun to rent a cabin on Echo Lake and take our kayaks. I think a week of summertime out here would be wonderful!