One of our first hikes in the Lake Tahoe area in 2022 was north of Truckee: Sagehen Creek Trail. This trail follows a creek out to a reservoir. Because the area has been very dry with minimum snow, the water level in the reservoir has dropped and exposed much of the bottom. A super bloom of lupine covered much of the exposed bottom. It is a bit counterintuitive that a drought caused a super bloom…

 

Meadow Penstemon (Penstemon rydbergii) in Page Meadows

 

View of the north end of Lake Tahoe from the Tahoe Rim Trail. Incline Village is in the foreground. Lake Tahoe is the second deepest lake in the USA and is 22 miles long and 12 miles wide. The surface of this alpine lake is about 6200 feet above sea level.

 

Karin, enjoying the Many Leaf Lupine (Lupinus polyphyllis) super bloom on the west shore of Lake Tahoe. The lower lake level due to drought also resulted a “once in 7 years” super bloom on the exposed moist lake bed.

 

Picnic Rock vista area off the Tahoe Rim Trail on the north end of the lake. The boats in the foreground of the lake are near Carnelian Bay.

 

One of the reasons we like to visit Lake Tahoe in the spring is the variety of wildflowers. The pink flowers are Sierra Checkerbloom (Sidalcea reptans} and the White is Coyote Mint (or Pennyroyal, Monardella odoratissima). If you rub your hands on the Coyote Mint and smell them, you are rewarded with a spearmint fragrance (but need to check to be certain there are no bees where you rub).

 

Seed heads from dandelions near Lake Watson on the Tahoe Rim Trail.

 

Mule ears (Wyethia mollis) blooming north of Barker Pass on the Tahoe Rim Trail. The stark granite mountains of the Desolation Wilderness are in the background.

 

The east shore of Lake Tahoe (on the Nevada side) has the nicest beaches around the 72 mile shoreline of Lake Tahoe. This photo is of Secret Cove, a clothing optional beach. You do not see many people in the 65F water…  The surface water of Tahoe can rise to the high 70’sF in the shallow water areas in the summer but most of the lake is in the low 40’sF.

 

Karin and Randy on Whale Beach on the east shore.

 

 

Karin and sister Theresa are shopping the farmers market in Truckee, CA near Lake Tahoe.

 

Hoary Buckwheat (Eriogonum incanum) and Scarlet Gilia (Ipomopsis aggregata) (also know as Skyrocket) on the Tahoe Rim Trail trail to Galena Falls.

 

Leichtin’s Mariposa Lily  (Calochortus leichtinii) on the trail to 5 Lakes

 

Coyote Mint and Slender Penstemon (penstemon gracilentis) on the trail to 5 Lakes.

 

A Western Labrador Tea (Rhododendron neoglandulosum) bloom in the 5 Lakes area. This tea is a member of the rhododendron family. Native American peoples boiled the leaves of this shrub to make tea. We have been hiking up to these lakes for years and did not realize the bushes around the lakes were these Teas – the late snow in the area pushed back the blooming of many plants so it was the first time we had seen them bloom.

 

Upper Lake Velma, just off the Tahoe Rim trail in Desolation Wilderness. Over the last 10 years or so, I have been segment hiking portions of the 165 mile Tahoe Rim Trail (TRT). This year I did a 14 mile hike that completed about 6 more miles of the TRT (the additional miles were required to get to/from the TRT). I have only 13 more miles to have hiked all the TRT.

 

Frog Lake off the Pacific Crest Trail north of Carson Pass.

 

Karin enjoying the Slender Penstemon (penstemon gracilentis) and Coyote Mint.

 

 

A small spider spinning a web off of a Lewis Monkeyflower (Mimulus lewisii) on the Pacific Crest Trail north of Donner Pass. The spider is about 1/4 inch long.

 

Castle Rock near the Pacific Crest Trail north of Donner Pass with Cow Parsnip (Heracleum maximum) in the foreground.

 

Randy on the Pacific Crest Trail north of Donner Pass in a field of Mule Ears.

 

Cow Parsnip (Heracleum maximum) is a member of the carrot family and the only member of this genus native to North America and can cause dermatitis in some individuals.