Hiking North Lake Tahoe
 

My husband and I are spending a week in mid-September in Tahoe, with a base in Tahoe Vista. We're primarily looking for suggestions for good day hikes, preferably in the 6-9 mile range (but longer or shorter is also fine), with or without much elevation gain. We also plan to do some kayaking. Being in landlocked Indiana, we don't kayak a lot and would probably be inclined to take a tour before doing any kayaking on our own. If you have an suggestions for tour operations, that would be appreciated as well. Restaurant, café, bar suggestions would also be appreciated!

Thanks in advance.

This is sooo weird -- I posted a pretty detailed response more than an hour ago and it 'took' but now it isn't there :?

Anyway trying again - at least part . . .

IMO you really don't need a kayak tour though there are some good ones.

I'd rent kayaks and put in a Sand Harbor.

You can go south along the east shore at least as far as Thunderbird Lodge and around along the north shore past Incline Village and Crystal Bay, and have a picnic lunch on the beach at Sand Harbor. Easy to do on your own.

Sand Harbor: http://travelchannel.sndimg.com/cont...m.966.544.jpeg

http://thestormking.com/tahoe_nugget...and_Harbor.jpg

Thunderbird Lodge: http://bdcookphotography.com/wp-cont...46-03_1291.jpg

Or -- if you want a tour -- this one

http://tahoecitykayak.com/kayak-taho...or-kayak-tour/

We took a kayak "tour" starting in Kings Beach and went toward Sand Harbor. It was great.

As for hiking, you can't beat DL Bliss State Park, but there's also Shirley Lake at Squaw Valley (not that many miles, but uphill), Five Lakes near Alpine, Castle Peak near Donner, Mt. Judah at Sugar Bowl, Spooner Lake (and I'll think of others and post back)

Spooner Lake is pretty easy. I did it with my knees that need replacement.

We always do a special meal at the West Shore Cafe. Love sitting out on the pier. We like Gar Woods and their sister restaurant, Caliente.

We will be there in a few weeks!

Thanks for the suggestions, everyone. Janis, sorry you had to post twice. I appreciate you redoing your response.

As for hikes, we do like challenging (but non technical) hikes. We do a lot of hiking in the Smokies with a fair amount of elevation guide. I was surprised to see how many hikes in the area are relatively flat. So suggestions for more challenging hikes are welcome. We offset our trips to Europe (where we eat a lot!!!) with an active vacation. So on this trip, I need to work for my supper!

>>We do a lot of hiking in the Smokies with a fair amount of elevation guide.<<

One big difference -- altitude. The very tip top of the peaks in the Smokies are lower than Tahoe lake level. Those 'relatively flat' hikes you may be seeing are maybe a bit more strenuous than at first thought.

all of these are wonderful -- all are towards the south end of the Lake.

http://tahoesouth.com/blog/six_great...n_tahoe_south/

this site duplicates some of the above.

http://www.7x7.com/10-must-do-summer...787190892.html

Oh -- meant to add -- even though they are mostly on the south half of the lake - they are still very reachable from north shore.

Mt. Judah and Castle Peak, and Shirley Lake all fit the challenging but not technical description.

Great! Thanks again for all the suggestions. I'll sort through them all more carefully this weekend.

And, Janis, you're right; the altitude will in itself make things more challenging. Thanks for the reminder.

Castle Peak is a nice hike. You can sit on top with a beautiful view and have lunch. The hike around DL Bliss is nice too. The views of the lake are great and you can go all the way to Emerald Bay. I know you mention hiking and kayaking but biking is a lot of fun. There are some great trails and plenty of places to rent bikes. Have fun.

Thanks to everyone for your suggestions. We just wrapped up a great week in Tahoe. We hiked the Rubicon trail, Lola Montez Lakes, Mt. Judah and Mt. Rose. We kayaked twice out of Sand Harbor and loved it. We stayed at the Fire Lite Lidge in Tahoe Vista and liked it a lot in that it was clean and quiet, with a friendly staff. Lots of road construction right now (which we assume is typical for the time of year). We weren't super thrilled with some of our dining choices, but we had aces good meals (admittedly I missed having a full kitchen as I would have loved a home cooked meal and a night in).

Glad you had a nice trip!

Can I ask where you ate that you weren't thrilled with? We have a condo in Tahoe vista and always looking for new places or what to avoid....
But glad you had a good time- it is a piece of paradise

We tended toward casual places because we didn't bring anything but hiking/casual clothes. We had good food at Bridgetender in Tahoe City, but the service the second time there was awful. We had good service at 50/50 Brewery in Truckee, but the food was just okay (cold pizza but they at least were extremely professional in dealing with our complaint). Very spicy Thai at Siam Cuisine, also in Truckee. We had good sandwiches at the Global Cafe in Tahoe Vista, but we had a weird dinner there were they decided to close for the night right after they took our order, so the experience was odd in that everything was served to us in carry out containers although we ate there. They are friendly though

We ate at La Mexicana in Kings Beach. Okay food but don't plan on eating there. It's really more of a takeout place. Finally, we had pizza at Mofo's in Incline Village, Decent pizza but the menu was otherwise limited (limited salads and no breadsticks).

<i>but there's also Shirley Lake at Squaw Valley (not that many miles, but uphill)</i>

Unless the policy has changed, one can take the tram to the top and walk down the Shirley Lake side back to the valley floor.

As far as I know , if you take the tram up, you have to pay. If you hike up and take the tram down, it's free. Also, although plenty of people do it, the downhill seems much more difficult to me than the uphill.

Just an FYI for other/future visitors >>We tended toward casual places because we didn't bring anything but hiking/casual clothes. <<

No need to stick to super casual/take out type places. There are very few (like can be counted on the fingers of 1 hand) places anywhere around the lake or in Truckee where casual isn't absolutely OK. The whole Lake Tahoe basin is 'casual'.

Good to know that Janis. I wish I'd thought to ask in advance. I'd like to go back in a couple of years so we'll branch out then.

I'd note that I went to a great yoga class one evening at The Yoga Room in Tahoe City for anyone looking for a class while there. Stephanie was the teacher; I liked her a lot.

Jeans fit in anywhere at Tahoe/Truckee.

>>Jeans fit in anywhere at Tahoe/Truckee<< . . . or shorts or most anything decent.

Long pants at night -- not because of any sort of dress code, but because you'll freeze your buns off otherwise :D