Hiking at Lake Tahoe’s Emerald Bay State Park

Hi there!

I arrived home a few hours ago from my wonderful getaway to Lake Tahoe. It was the first time I visited the area, and just as everyone who has been there had told me, it’s breathtakingly beautiful!

I surprised my hubby by booking us a getaway to South Lake Tahoe. We own a timeshare, so I exchanged a few of our days for a stay at The Ridge Tahoe. Our room was pretty nice, and the resort was around a 15 minute drive from downtown. South Lake Tahoe is about a 4 hour drive from our home in the South Bay Area, which wasn’t a bad trip. We drove up there on Friday afternoon and zipped back home on this Monday afternoon.

On Saturday, we wanted to go snowshoeing to explore the mountains a bit. Much to my disappointment, the snowshoe rental guy told us that because the winter there has been so mild with not much snow, we didn’t even need snowshoes to go hiking. I was bummed for a few moments….until I got a look at Emerald Bay, at which point I became giddy with excitement at how gorgeous it is there:

Fun fact: This little piece of land situated in Emerald Bay, called Fannette Island, is the only island in Lake Tahoe.

Once we parked, put on what we now know were too many clothes for the unseasonably warm weather (turns out a puffy vest was not necessary!), and climbed on some rocks overlooking the bay, a photo shoot ensued:

I took a few moments to practice my balance skills on uneven surfaces and strike a few yoga poses, obviously.

There was a really cool rushing waterfall above the bay that we ventured over to.

Afterwards, we headed over to Eagle Falls Trailhead to do some hiking. Our original plan was to hike high up through Eagle Trail to what’s called Desolation Wilderness…but that idea was quickly abandoned once we walked over the bridge where the falls were, and attempted to hike up while slipping and sliding around what quickly became an icy trail.

“I knew we needed snowshoes!” I loudly muttered as I tried not to completely bust my butt going back down the bridge to formulate a plan B.

What we decided to do instead was hike up to the top end on the trail loop, then create our own hike of sorts…and by hike, I really mean free rock/boulder climbing our way up the mountain. It was definitely a bit of an adventure and adrenaline rush, and when we started to get to the top I was wondering how the hell we were going to get back down, but the view from up there was worth it. Photos just do not do it justice.

There was not another soul up there with us. I laid down on the mountain to rest my body and quiet my mind, and it was just so peaceful looking out at the trees, mountains, and Emerald Bay for a little while.

After we (safely) climbed back down to the trailhead, we made a quick pitstop to the beach to check it out.

Spending the day with my love amongst fresh mountain air and gorgeous scenery? It doesn’t get much better than that!