The border of California and Nevada is home to one of America’s most beautiful lakes. Lake Tahoe is mostly in the California side, and includes the most photographed area of the entire Lake which is Emerald Bay seen above. Emerald bay is known for its dark green forests that surround the small bay and Fannette Island in center. In the mid 1800s, an English man named Captain Dick Barter moved to the island where he constructed a tea house and became known as the Hermit of Emerald Bay. The captain certainly had some screws lose in his head, and was famous for showing off his self amputated toes. He built himself a small chapel and tomb on the island on which he planned to be buried, but he later died at during a storm while sailing and his body was never found.
The roads that surround the lake can be a bit intimidating and scary since they can occasionally be along steep cliffs that lack guard rails. The road on the upper left was my favorite, it passes a high area that has cliffs and lakes on either side. The higher areas give you some great views, such as Emerald Bay or the view of the beach on the right.
Lots of wildlife lives in Lake Tahoe area, including some dangerous animals such as bears or mountain lions. I still have yet to see a mountain lion in the wild, and rarely come across bears. However I finding lizards is never a challenge for me in any part of the world. I’m not sure the species of the lizard above, but he had lots of friends in the area I went hiking. On the upper right is a some type of high altitude moss that I’ve seen in other states like Idaho. Below is an enormous evergreen tree, and a new tree just starting out.
With most of Nevada’s image being dominated by hot deserts and casinos, it’s sometimes hard to imagine that the state is home to one of the most beautiful lakes in the entire country. Lake Tahoe sits on the California/Nevada border over a mile high at 6,225 feet. The high altitude lake is surrounded by mountains that rise up several more thousand feet and are snow covered most of the year. During the winter time, the entire area is filled with deep snow and chains are mandatory on cars in order to drive through.
I actually ended up with more photos from the California side, so visit that state as well if you’re interested in seeing more photos. Lake Tahoe was the first place where I went snow boarding way back in 2003. My most recent visit was in April where day time temperatures were in the 70s or 20C, but there was still plenty of snow in the mountains. The water is crystal clear and beautiful, but very chilly. Above are two different species of crawfish I saw that were among a school of fish.
