Lake Tahoe

Beautiful Lake Tahoe has been a long-time winter ski destination for us. We’ve been there many times and have lots of great memories visiting the Tahoe area with friends and family. The magnificent Sierra Nevada mountains surrounding the deep blue waters of Lake Tahoe as a surreal centerpiece, has always been one of our favorite places, yet we have never been to Tahoe in the summer, until now.

Lake Tahoe, the largest alpine lake in North America, is located on the northern California and Nevada border with the state line dissecting the lake. South Lake Tahoe, on the southern edge of the lake, boasts an abundant nightlife and many casinos on the Nevada side. The rest of the Tahoe area is a scattering of small towns and affluent areas such as Incline (aka “income”) Village. The area is famous for world class skiing at resorts such as Heavenly Valley, Northstar and Squaw Valley (now Palisades Tahoe) where the 1960 winter Olympics were held. One of my fondest memories and images from past trips, is standing on the top of Heavenly Valley with the Nevada desert over one shoulder and the incredibly blue waters of Lake Tahoe over the other surrounded by the snow covered mountains.

Visiting Lake Tahoe in the summer was very different. The absence of snow was the most obvious but even more so was just how popular this place is in the summer. The lake, rather than simply a magnificent visual centerppiece, becomes the center for recreation with boating, paddleboarding, kayaking, beaching and swimming. I never dreamed of actually swimming in Lake Tahoe (for accurate clarification Shannon swam, I waded in knee deep water).

With the absence of snow, so many other recreation activities open up such as hiking and off-roading. There’s always something going on, especially in the South Lake Tahoe area. Farmers markets, outdoor concerts, festivals and random entertainment are abundant all over town. such as the Lakeview Commons Summer Concert Series, right on the shore of Lake Tahoe.

Of course the constant to all of this is the magnificent 1,645 foot deep Lake Tahoe with it’s blue and turquoise water. Simply driving around the lake or visiting your favorite spots such as Emerald Bay are still some of the best things to do, only in the summer you have the opportunity to get much more intimate with the surroundings. Which brings us to some of our favorite summertime experiences and recommendations in Lake Tahoe.

East Side Beaches

There are plenty of great beaches on Lake Tahoe, but often the beaches less traveled are the best. The east side of the lake offers some of the best and most unique beaches if you’re willing to work a little bit to get to them. Most require a short hike along a fairly steep trail to reach them, but it’s well worth it. These beaches include Creek Beach, Secrete Cove, Chimney Rock and Bonsai Rock. Also, a little further north is Sand harbor, an extremely popular but beautiful beach. We went to Chimney Beach and found an amazing little private spot where the dogs could swim and we relaxed in our beach chairs. On another day we explored Bonsai Rock, a very picturesque spot popular with swimmers and photographers. It’s important to note that some of these beaches are clothing optional, however we saw none of that nakedness.

Emerald Bay

The most iconic and beautiful spot-on Lake Tahoe is this large, protected bay on the southwest part of the lake. In the winter this is only accessible by boat (the MS Dixie paddle boat), but in the summer there are other options. At the foot of the bay is the Vikingsholm Castle, a Scandinavian structure built in 1929 for Mrs. Lora Josephine Knight. The bay also features Lake Tahoe’s only island, a small, picturesque spot that was also owned by Mrs. Knight where several guest quarters where located.

The property is now owned by the state and is accessible by a steep trail from the main road. Once at the lake you can visit the castle and even take a private tour of the inside. You can also enjoy the beach and rent kayaks to explore the bay and get a closer look of the island, although no one is allowed on the island.

This is also one of the access points for the Rubicon Trail, a magnificent hiking trail that goes around Emerald Bay and several miles of the main portion of the lake. We hiked about 4 miles or so of this and it was as advertised – a must do hike while in Lake Tahoe.

If the jaunt down to Vikingsholm is not in the cards for you, there are two other ways to see Emerald Bay. The aforementioned MS Dixie paddle boat is a great tour that takes you around the island and near the castle from the water. There are also several viewing points to stop at if your driving the road around Emerald Bay such as Emerald Bay Lookout and Inspiration Point.

More Great Hikes

In addition to the Emerald Bay hikes, there are many other options from easy short hikes to much more extreme adventures such as Maggies Peak which I hope to do on our next visit. On this trip we kept it to mostly shorter hikes but there were a couple of others that were a lot of fun.

Cascade Falls Trail is a short but rocky and somewhat challenging hike to the far end of Cascade Lake. The falls were a little understandably underwhelming on a mid-August day, but the hike offered some unique views of Lake Tahoe with Cascade lake in the foreground. It was a great hike that the dogs enjoyed as much as we did.

Cave Rock is where the Highway 50 tunnel is, but is also a spot for some really cool rock scrambling. A short trail takes you to Cave Rock where you can scramble up to the top (over the tunnel) for some amazing views. It’s a really fun spot with amazing views and a popular spot to watch the sunset.

South Lake Tahoe

For clarity sake, the town of South Lake Tahoe is in California just over the border from Nevada on the southern side of the lake. On the Nevada side the town is actually Stateline Nevada. Although the delineation between the two is obvious with the casino’s lining the Nevada side, many refer to this entire area as “South Lake Tahoe”. Regardless, this is the most popular (and populated) part of the Lake Tahoe area. It’s amazing just how much goes on here in the summer. You have the casino life in a much smaller setting than Reno of Vegas. There are many shops and restaurants within Heavenly Village, and as mentioned earlier, always some live music, a festival or farmers market to visit. We really enjoyed the Thursday night Lakeview Commons concerts and went there twice.

Zephyr Cove

Zephyr Cove, three miles from Stateline, is a great place to stay. There is a lodge and cabins right on the water and an RV park right across the street. Both have access to the beach and amenities. It was nice staying at the RV park and being able to walk right across the road to hang out at the beach, enjoy a beverage at the beach bar or watch the sunset. There’s also a hiking trail that goes along the lake that made for a great dog walking area. We had a couple of enjoyable days hanging out at the beach with the dogs and our travel partners, Dennis and Sandra. If you are looking to take a cruise on the MS Dixie, this is also where she is ported.

Off-roading

Another activity that opens up in the summer months is off-roading. There are several great trails in the general Tahoe area including the famous Rubicon Trail. Our Jeeps aren’t quite equipped for the Rubicon Trail but we did find a few others such as Strawberry Pass which offered a few moderately challenging spots. I believe Dennis christened his skid plates on this one. Genoa Peak and Logan House Loop was another nice trail with amazing views of Lake Tahoe from above.

Scenic Drives

Sometimes the day calls for a lazy scenic drive and you will be hard pressed to find a better one than the 72 mile loop around Lake Tahoe. Highways 50, 89 and 28 connect together to make a great day trip with amazing views and charming towns along the way. The east shore offers the Cave Rock tunnel, many great views and elevation changes. The west shores provides the most dramatic section of road around Emerald Bay along with the small towns of Homewood and Tahoe City. The northern part of the lake is home to Incline Village which would be a great place to stop for lunch or do some shopping. And of course the south shore is where the high octane action is with the towns of South Lake Tahoe and Stateline.

TIP: If you’re traveling towards South Lake Tahoe from Reno and Carson City in an RV, extreme caution and preparation is required. Likely your GPS will route you into South Lake Tahoe via Kingsbury Grade (Highway 207). This route is a narrow and extremely steep mountain pass. It’s doable for most people with caution, but for me there is a better option. Your RV GPS won’t route you on Highway 50 from Carson City because of the Cave Rock tunnel. The northbound tunnel is 9’11” at the lowest point in the right lane, however it is 12’3″ at the lowest point in the left lane. My recommendation (based on research and personal experience) is to get in the left lane about a mile from the tunnel (have its GPS location identified because there is little signage) and then, if the 12’3″ clearance is an issue for you, lane split before reaching the tunnel so you are going down the center. The tunnel is short and the traffic isn’t typically too bad here so that shouldn’t be a problem. For me, this is a much better alternative than Kingsbury Grade.

Great Eats

If you follow us you know we like to explore the unique local restaurants in our travels. There are many of great places to eat in the Tahoe area but I will highlight three in particular that we really liked.

On one of our early trips to Lake Tahoe we found an amazing nice restaurant called Dorey’s Ore. It was an old wood framed building right in a residential neighborhood. This was our special night out spot, where we had a valentine’s dinner and anniversary dinner. It’s been closed down for a while, but we were pleasantly surprised when we went out on our first night in town to MacDuff’s Pub that this was the same site of Dorey’s Ore. Nothing had changed except the menu. We gad delicious pub fare out on the patio.

Lucky Beaver Bar and Burger is a great little dive right in Stateline. It’s a small place, its loud, sometimes rowdy and they have some fantastic burgers (and as I understand, great chicken wings as well)! Don’t miss this stop for a good unwind evening but avoid their ($15) parking lot.

Finally, Sonney’s BBQ satisfied my inner-Texas barbeque cravings in an awesome way. Living in Texas for many years, we know good barbeque and I will say, their brisket was the best we have had since we left the Lone Star state. It’s also a fun place to hang out, with inside and outside seating and a couple of bars.

Going back to Lake Tahoe was like catching up with an old friend. We experienced it in ways that we never had before and realize now that this is a year round destination, not just a winter ski destination. As a bonus we got to share the experience with good friends.

Check out all of our pictures from Lake Tahoe.