Drive around East side of Lake Tahoe

                                     Saturday 5/19/2012

                  We are now in Duncans Mills, CA., which is about 4 miles from the coast. We will be here for a week. We have one bar on our phones, but seem to be able to get calls so far. My internet is a weak 3G green, so it is a bit spotty, and too slow to add pictures. These pictures for this blog were added on a day we drove to Winters, and sat at a coffee house to do some internet business. I will continue to finish up in Lake Tahoe.

Because we were not going to be able to drive up the west coast of Lake Tahoe, Joe wanted to check out the east coast to see if the roads would be OK for our departure of the area. On the way around the east side of the lake, we stopped at Cave Rock.

Cave Rock was a sacred place for the Washoe Indians.

Cave Rock is a state park. You can pay $10 for the day or $2 for 20 minutes. We paid $2 to drive in and look around.

It is a great spot for photographs.

The shore was lined with red flowering bushes,

with bees everywhere. They didn't bother us, because they were very busy.

Cave Rock has a small beach and picnic area.

Our 20 minutes were up, so we got back into our car to continue north on the east side of Lake Tahoe.

Hwy. 50 goes through Cave Rock.

Our next stop was Logan Shoals Vista Point.

I asked Joe to hand signal 6, and

0, so I could remember what I am not sure now. I think I wanted to remember that it was 60 degrees that day.

We brought Mallery that day, because it was cooler. She can not handle heat anymore.

I put Mallery on a rock for another photo shoot. She let me take two pictures, then she turned her head, letting me know, enough is enough! She is not keen on picture time.

Lake Tahoe has 71 miles of shoreline.

29 miles are in Nevada, which is where we were that day.

Half way up the east side of the lake, the road goes east to Carson City, or north to Hwy. 28 to Incline Village.

That day we took Hwy. 28 north.

View of Sand Harbor State Park beach as we travel on Hwy. 28.

A close up of Sand Harbor Beach.

It cost $12 per car for day use.

No dogs are allowed at Sand Harbor State Park.

The ranger let us drive in to take a quick look see, since we had Mallery. A group of teenagers were on the beach. A few had got into the very cold water!

Looking north on the beach.

A Canadian goose was enjoying the beach also.

The lake shore's water is a very pretty turquoise blue.

Our next stop was at Memorial Point.

Memorial Point has a lot of information boards about Lake Tahoe.

There are restrooms also available.

There were no signs about dogs not being allowed, so Mallery got to walk around with us.

There is a trail going south to Sand Harbor from Memorial Point.

There is a trail going north to Hidden Beach.

Views north from Memorial Point.

We left Memorial point and reached the northern shores of Lake Tahoe. Incline Village sits on the northeast corner of Lake Tahoe. Homes line the shores of northeast to northwest shores of the lake.

Our next stop was Mount Rose Scenic Overlook.

Mount Rose Scenic Overlook is well worth your time to drive up to.

Incline Village and Crystal Bay below. Incline Village sits at 6,350 feet.

At Mount Rose Scenic Overlook, there is information at the overlook..

As we left Incline Village and headed west across the northern top of the lake we entered back into California. We drove through the towns of Tahoe Vista/pop. 202, Kings Beach/pop. 3,796, Carnelian Bay/pop. 524, Cedar Flat/pop. ?, to Tahoe City/pop. 2,017.

Once we arrived in Tahoe City, we turned around and headed back north. We had driven on a prior day up the west side of the lake to Tahoe City, so we had now driven completely around the lake. It would have been shorter to continue to drive south on the west side back home,  but it is a more scenic drive back on the east side when driving south.

This is a beach we stopped at on our way back home. I think it was located in Kings Beach on the north shores of Lake Tahoe.

Surface water temperatures range from 40 degrees to 68 degrees.

It was a bit early for beach time on Lake Tahoe.

This lake statue was located in the park. It shows the depth and shape of the bottom of the lake.

Our last stop was at the state line

at the Cal/Neva Resort Spa Casino.

Old blue eyes use to own this resort.

Joe learned about it on the Tahoe Queen boat ride. We asked the reception desk where the line divided the resort from California and Nevada.

Joe is sitting half in California and half in Nevada.

We left California again and entered back into Nevada on the north side of the lake.

As we drove, we could see the ski slopes of a ski resort in Incline Village.

A fancy gate to a home on Lakeshore Blvd.in Incline Village.

View of Lakeshore Blvd shoreline as we head south on the east side of the lake.

We enter back into the Lake Tahoe State Park.

East shoreline as we drive south.

The blue color of the lake is caused from the reflection of the sky, with the deep clear lake acting like a mirror.

On rainy or stormy days the lake color looks grey or black.

The lake waters never reach the ocean like most lakes.

The lake flows out into the Truckee River, which flows past Reno, into the Pyramid Lake, and then evaporates.

The Hwy around Lake Tahoe is considered one of the most scenic drives in the United States.

If you have followed my blog for any time, you know I like to photograph mountain ranges.

On the south side of Lake Tahoe, we enter back into California,

and back into South Lake Tahoe, CA.

Tahoe Park on Dwellable