WOW Adventure Club
- Adventure Club
- Lake Tahoe Eco-Adventure
- Lake Tahoe Eco-Adventure Photos
Lake Tahoe Eco-Adventure
October 20, 2001
Tahoe Eco-Adventure Photos
5:45am- Remind us to go to bed before 1:00am the night before a 20 mile eco-adventure next time. However, I found it very easy to wake up when my excitement jolted me out of bed and into the shower. It was still dark, but I could tell it was going to be another great "day at the office" as twilight came on.
7:00am - After a quick breakfast, loading the van with the bikes and the truck with the kayak; Bingo & I set off for higher ground via Kingsbury Grade.
7:45am - We stashed our bikes in the manzanita at the top of N. Benjamin, the beginning of the second stage of our adventure. It was cool; the sun hadn't broken the ridges of the Tahoe Basin yet. The day was clear and forecast was promising.
8:30am - Even though I had planned the whole route with the help of computer topo programs, 3-D images and mileage waypoints; I left a few elements of unknown on purpose. The definition of adventure includes risk and I didn't want to totally eliminate this essential ingredient. We drove up and down Hwy 50 around Glenbrook for about 20 minutes looking for a put-in point for our kayak, the third and last stage of the day. Unfortunately it wasn't the terrain but private property & no trespassing signs that kept discouraging us. Finally we decided to park the truck on the side of the driveway leading down to the apparently abandoned Logan Shoals Harbor. The gate was closed and locked; we soon realized true adventure was inevitable.
8:50am - We parked at the north end of the Zephyr Cove parking lot, strapped on the backpacks, snapped a shot of ourselves with the M.S. Dixie II behind us and crossed over Hwy 50 in route to our bikes stashed 1,500' above. At the end of Warrior Way (a fitting name for the conquest we were undertaking) we hiked through a Frisbee golf course nestled amongst the giant ponderosas. It was just past the course that the trail ran out and we had to rely on our orienteering skills. Bingo had his altimeter with a compass. I had the computer print outs with elevation contours, which helped tremendously once the sun was so high it was no longer a useful marker. This was the only other part of the day where we would enjoy the risk of true adventure, the possibility of getting lost… and we were loving it.!
10:00am - The forest was fairly open and the ascent wasn't too steep. The crunch of pine needles under our feet was the only noise we heard as we found our way up and down the series of hills and ridges.
11:00am - From the route I highlighted on the print out, we knew that it was just over 3.5 miles to our bikes. Of course, we diverted from the route several times but finally got a glimpse of Castle Rock. This was the landmark that ensured us that we were on the right course; we just needed to keep it to the south of us as we climbed our way up to the Tahoe Rim Trail.
11:35am - We were pleasantly surprised to find our bikes where we left them, just a hundred yards from the TRT trailhead. We took a few pics of our transition, ate our lunch, geared up and hit the road; Genoa Peak Road that is.
12:00pm - The first climb was brutal. From 8,700' we climbed 500' in 1 mile. The reward was well worth the effort; a panoramic view of "autumnized" Lake Tahoe. We could see Mt. Tallac in the Desolation Wilderness, the fiord-like canyons surrounding Emerald Bay, the Climbing ski runs of Homewood and the peaks of the big resorts northwest of the lake. I imagined what it must have been like when John C. Fremont crested these ridges hundreds of years ago and saw this lake for the first time. It must have been breathtaking; lord knows it was breathtaking for us…in more ways than one!
1:20pm - The second climb wasn't as long or steep but the altitude made it none the less challenging. We had ridden 4 miles as we reached our highest point below Genoa Peak. This was a beautiful feeling as we knew we had over 6 miles of downhill ahead of us! The trail jogged left as we began our descent through the shady pines. We made a few wrong turns onto intersecting jeep roads but quickly backtracked once we realized our mistakes.
2:00pm - After numerous colorful aspen groves, several golden meadows and a couple of stream crossings, we came to what appeared to be a dead end. Fortunately, the trail continued on the downhill side of the dead end as a loose, rocky and very steep single-track for the last 300 yards before spitting us out onto Hwy 50.
2:15pm - We pedaled about 1.5 miles down the shoulder to the truck parked at Logan Shoals Logan Shoals Harbor. Our transition took about 20 minutes. We sneaked past the locked gate and slid our double kayak into the cool water. The day was still very calm and warm as cirrus clouds formed over the lake.
3:30pm - Just 5 miles of easy paddling. The smooth water was a welcomed change to the dusty, bumpy trail. As we neared Cave Rock we could see a couple of climbers honing their skills on the sheer cliff which juts straight out of the lake. We stopped to take a few snapshots and observe their route.
4:00pm - The advantage to kayaking along the shoreline anywhere in the world is that it allows one to see things you never would be able to see from shore. In the case of Tahoe, that would be the mansions and their estates that grace the private coves and beaches around the lake. Our only question was, "I wonder who lives there and what did they do to make all that money?"
M.S. Dixie 4:30pm - The last 30 minutes of paddling entailed weaving through the rounded granite boulders spaced just wide enough to float through…well, almost wide enough! As we neared Zephyr Cove we could see the M.S. Dixie II making her way back to the cove as well. She docked and we paddled along the beach were we began earlier that morning. Relishing in the day's accomplishments, we paddled around her as the passengers debarked the giant paddlewheel. It was our victory lap, we had come full circle.
4:45pm - We pulled our kayak up onto the sand, posed for one more photo and began loading our equipment. We were tired yet energized. All I could think about was the perfect day we had been blessed with and the way we had taken advantage of it. After nearly 20 miles under our own power with 3 modes of transportation…one phrase kept popping into my mind; carpe diem. SEIZE THE DAY! AND THAT WE DID!
