Squaw Valley and Tahoe City
As I mentioned in my burrito quest post, hiking was high on the agenda during our short trip to California. After Pasadena we dropped the car off at the Hertz drop off (an awesome rental experience, thanks Hertz!) and did the Bataan Death March from the parking garage to the departure terminal at Bob Hope Burbank Airport.
An uneventful flight later had us touching down In Sacramento and then onto Gold River. The actual reason for going up to the Tahoe area was to get in a little bit of snowshoeing and so we piled all of the gear (and it was a lot!) and poles into the back of the car for our little two day trip.
We had traveled from Abu Dhabi with all of our cold weather gear and puffy jackets prepared for the worst. This was the same gear we had mostly not needed in Patagonia or Tibet but surely California had something more daunting to offer in April! Ha! I had even packed my Oboz hiking boots complete with BDry waterproof technology (Hi Josh!). Shani traveled with her ancient La Sportiva hiking boots but time seems to have gotten the best of them and the sole completely detached and rotted away from the boot. No amount of Shoe Goo was going to make that right! The keen observer will notice she has on a bright pair of North Face hiking boots thanks to an incredible sale in Squaw Valley.
Alas, there was no snow at Donner when we arrived. Seeing as we had packed some sandwiches it seemed a fitting place to have a bite! The weather was perfect for a little hike and that area is very tranquil, even when a train goes by high on the hill side. There is a new visitor center that is very informative, detailing the sad tragedy and events that unfolded in the immediate area.
We were staying in Squaw Village where the die hards were still getting in some runs on the mountain. According to the receptionist, it was still quite fun higher up on the mountain but we didn’t go for it. The small village had several bars that were loud and full even this late in the season. As drunken ski bums weren’t really the vibe we were looking for, after a stroll around town we headed into Tahoe City for dinner.
Finding restaurants that are gluten free for Shani has gotten considerably easier in the last few years thanks to the gluten free diet fad crowd but it still takes some time! Plus we wanted something on the water since we were in Tahoe and right next to the lake. Finally we settled on a BBQ joint right on the water; the food was decent but the view was really what we were after.
Since I was spending my money on burritos and booze this trip, I did a quick pop in to the local hipster liquor store for some of the ‘Soup of the Day’, though I’m pretty sure the guys running the place were enjoying some of Mother Nature’s other intoxicants. The date and time stamp on the photos from the day are 4/20 so there is that.
The next day we decided to hike a portion of the Tahoe Rim Trial starting from the new Transit Center hub in town. After a false start we hit the trail only to find that about half of it was still covered in snow. Having already resigned ourselves to just hiking, we had left all the snow shoe gear back in the car. We soldiered on for a ways but finally threw in the towel as it was a little rough going. There was a small creek we had to cross so I decided to dunk my boots and the BDry technology worked perfectly, dry feet, no problem.
We had a nice lunch in Trukee, a few beers, and that was the end of that. Our snowshoe dreams had melted away.
This is what we were hoping for!
Here’s the whole gallery from the trip. Enjoy!
