An Iconic Tahoe Weekend

The summer and fall months in Tahoe are probably best known for mountain biking and hiking.  Tahoe has some amazing biking trails.  Mike has a bike... I don't. Luckily, one of my amazing friends from work let me borrow her mountain bike for the weekend. So on Friday, Mike and I rode The Flume trail... one of the most popular biking trails in this area.  It was an 11ish mile ride with great views of Marlette Lake and AMAZING views of Lake Tahoe. 

  

 The trail rides high above several coves along the east side of the lake.  Below is a picture looking down on Thunderbird Lodge... we paddled around this cove a few weeks ago.  The color of the water is amazing. 

 It's an awesome trail, but the views are so amazing that it's hard to keep riding... we kept stopping to take pictures!  

Sand Harbor and North Lake in the background. 

Sand Harbor

I'm so grateful to my friend Chris for letting me borrow her bike!  And now I'm in the market for a bike of my own (even though the last thing I need is ANOTHER expensive hobby). 

Saturday, we decided to go for a hike.  Mt. Tallac is one of the most popular mountains in this area because of the beautiful views from the summit... so we decided to tackle this hike.  It's 10 miles round trip but the climb is pretty steep which adds to the difficulty.  The cool fall temps made the uphill climb more tolerable.  The breathtaking views along the way helped too!

On the way up... we passed Fallen Leaf Lake. 

 We also passed Floating Island Lake... and Cathedral Lake. 

Looking up at Tallac from along the trail. 

Cathedral Lake

Fallen Leaf Lake on the right... and of course BIG Lake Tahoe. 

 The climb to the top of Tallac offers AMAZING views into Desolation Wilderness... including views of a lot of the alpine lakes in Desolation. 

 Looking down on South Lake Tahoe... 

 It was pretty cold at the top.  

The Tahoe Keys... a neighborhood of canals where every home is waterfront. 

Taylor Creek. 

Emerald Bay and Cascade Lake.  

With Fallen leaf Lake in the background. 

A cool tree on the hike down. 

 The last few weeks, we've been checking Taylor Creek regularly because every year in the fall, the Kokanee Salmon run upstream.  We got lucky enough to see some of the salmon swimming. 

This place is amazing.