Heavenly Lake Tahoe

We already arrived in San Francisco about 2 weeks ago, and this city is really amazing. You can find tons of small cafes and hip shops combined with an impressive cityscape. But to be honest, as an Austrian girl I already missed my beloved mountains. Of course SF offers millions of hills but that can’t be compared…

Luckily Lake Tahoe is just around the corner! Lake? Yes, it’s an alpine lake surrounded by mountains on all sides – therefore a spectacular panorama is guaranteed from every spot along its shoreline.

After a 3.5 hours drive from SF you find yourself in one the most breath-taking landscapes. Lake Tahoe is the largest alpine lake in North America (surface elevation of 6,225 ft / 1.897 m) and is located between the borders of California and Nevada. The second deepest lake in the USA (1,645 ft / 501 m) is about 22 mi (35 km) long and 12 mi (19 km) wide. Its water is crystal-clear with a sight over 100 ft (30,5 m) but freezing-cold during winter. Now the water temperature is about refreshing 37 F (2,8 C) but warms up in summer until 75 F (23,8 C) – perfect for diving, swimming, canyoning and many more water sports.
And you can find nearly every sport for every season there: During winter, you can go skiing or snowboarding in one of more than 10 skiing areas. There you can ride from top of the mountains almost to the lake! In summer, you can enjoy the sun at the beaches or one of many outdoor activities. Of course, you will also find lots of hiking and mountain bike trails there to explore this incredible landscape.

Since our time was limited and the snow conditions weren’t that good we decided to explore the landscape around the lake. Our trip started in South Lake Tahoe and continued counter clockwise northwards to Crystal Bay and than down again to the Emerald Bay State Park and the Eagle Fall.