Day 29: To upper Prosser Lake campground

August 7, 2009

I left the motel at 8:45. It was still chilly, but at least it wasn't raining. After turning left at the Y intersection I was quickly out of town and in the forest. First on Forest Service land, then State Park land. The road has no shoulder and traffic is heavy because the area has a large population. Fortunately the traffic moves slowly on the narrow winding road.

West of South Lake Tahoe highway 89 promptly gets very narrow and winds among big pine trees.

The road climbs steadily as it approaches Emerald Bay. In this area the road is several hundred feet above the lake.

The road wasn't close to the lake, but it sometimes had good views.

Fannette Island in Emerald Bay. I can stop and take a picture in places where a car could never stop.

Looking across Emerald Bay. I'll be on that road a couple miles ahead.

Emerald Bay, Lake Tahoe. The blue lake is turning silver because of building clouds.

I stopped at the main trailhead at Emerald Bay and hiked a short loop. It was hard to get a good view of the waterfalls without scrambling down steep slopes.

Eagle falls drops into Emerald Bay. It's hard to get a picture from the bottom.

Highway 89 stays high above the lake in the Rubicon Bay area. Here the mountain drops extremely steeply to the lake. The deepest point of Lake Tahoe is not far offshore. Lake Tahoe is the second deepest lake in the USA. Later in this tour I'll see the deepest one (Crater Lake).

Finally the road drops close to the lake in Meeks Bay and Tahoma. In Tahoma I had an excellent Panini for lunch. Along the west shore of Lake Tahoe there are occasional bike paths. I took the path when it was on the right side of the road, but not when it was on the wrong side of the road. The sky was mostly overcast and I was cold. The temperature was about 60F. Much cooler than the usual August weather at Lake Tahoe.

As I travel north the shoreline becomes flatter and the concentration of multi-million dollar homes increases. The road was congested with cars, trucks, cyclists, walkers, etc. Great scenery, but crowded.

Starting in Homewood the shoreline is more flat and the road is sometimes very close to the lake.

There is a bike trail along the shore, but only for about a mile.

I rode through the town of Tahoe City to see what's there. It's a major tourist town with every imaginable service. The 2-lane road through town was gridlocked and parking spaces were scarce. The town has a very fancy pedestrian promenade on a bluff overlooking the lake.

At Tahoe City I looked at the outlet where the Truckee river flows out of Lake Tahoe. More than 60 streams flow into the lake, but the Truckee river is the only outlet. A sign said that 2/3 of the water evaporates, and only 1/3 flows out via the river. A bike trail follows the Truckee river for 6 miles from Tahoe City to the turnoff to Squaw Valley.

The Truckee River Trail goes from Tahoe City to the Squaw Valley turnoff.

Squaw Valley ski area hosted the 1960 Winter Olympics.

Back on highway 89, the road stays close to the Truckee river all the way to the town of Truckee. There was a lot of traffic and the campgrounds were mostly full. I considered camping along the river, but the only available campsites are right next to the busy highway. Less than 50 feet away. No thanks!

Highway 89 truckin' down the Truckee river to the town of Truckee.

On the edge of Truckee a large bear ran across the highway right in front of me in heavy traffic. I continued into the town of Truckee and considered getting a motel. But it's Friday night and every place displayed No Vacancy signs. Plus, it looked like the cheapest motel in town was more than $100/night. So I continued north on highway 89. I passed the encampment where the Donner party (a wagon train of settlers) was trapped by deep snow in October 1846. Only half of the people survived the winter, by eating the people who died.

About 10 miles north of Truckee I turned east on the road to the Prosser Lake campgrounds. The first campground was fully reserved by an off-road motorcycle group. I continued another mile to the next campground which had ONE available site. I'm continually amazed at how full the campgrounds are, even in areas that I don't think of as premier tourist destinations. But I don't fish, ride motorcycles or ATV's. The skies cleared before dark and the weather turned out to be very nice after all.

Today was unusually cold for August. High of 65F and overcast all day. I stayed bundled up all day. Today also had far more traffic than I've seen lately. It was disappointing to have overcast skies while riding along scenic Lake Tahoe. The lake is incredibly blue on sunny days. Even in California you can't expect perfect weather all the time...

Distance: 60.7 mi (97 km)

Climbing: 2466 ft (747 m)

Average speed: 10.5 mph (16.8 km/h)

Max speed: 40.5 mph (65 km/h)

Today's ride: 61 miles (98 km)
Total: 1,296 miles (2,086 km)

Rate this entry's writing	Heart	1
Comment on this entry	Comment	0