Hiking At Tahoe

One of the assistant principals at the Large Suburban High School set up a hiking trip for anyone interested in going, so of course, the Happy Joiner enthusiastically signed up. Yesterday, we met at school (first day of summer vacation finds Meg driving...to work) and drove up in various vehicles to meet near South Shore.

It was a glorious day for it--sunny, not at all hot, perhaps a little on the hazy side--and the company was good. I got to talk with people I haven't really talked with before, and it turns out I have some genuinely cool colleagues.

But enough of that. I took tons of pics and I want to share them.

So, of course, Lake Tahoe is situated in the middle of
Tahoe National Forest, which is near El Dorado National
Forest. A lot of forest.

We wandered about half a mile from our cars to the Tallac Museum homes
to look around.

Quite a view they had.

A few of us wandered down to the water. While it was not a cold day, the
water is frigid.

Tahoe is known for being very blue, and very clear. Sadly, it's slowly
being polluted.

Someone else stood the feather up. I just took the artsy
shot.

Most beaches I visit don't have pine cones.

Chipmunks everywhere! I got this and the next (same little rodent) using
extreme zoom.

 

Very glad I used zoom. Oy.

This poor monarch was missing a chunk of its wing. Didn't have a hard time
flying, though.

We wandered some more, enjoying the views. 

Glimpsing the very blue lake between the trees.

We took the Rainbow Trail for kicks.

It led us past/through (literally, the water flows over the walkway, and my
socks got wet) a creek that feeds into the lake.

This is brilliant--they built an observation room with the creek running by
and you can watch the various fish.

We picnicked near the parking lot before heading off
in our cars to another part of the lake.

We stopped at the Emerald Bay overlook. I took some
Instagram pics here that will show up on the blog on
Saturday.

Another Emerald Bay overlook, on the other side. We clambered up this
huge rock formation. Definitely worth the exertion (the altitude makes
everything a tiny bit harder for me). 

Waterfall

Part of our group, checking out the waterfall.

I climbed on those.

...and those.

The island in the middle of Emerald Bay.

A little bit later, we stopped for one last short hike--and here, the water was
so gorgeously blue, it was almost painful.

I love the contrasting colors.

Part of our path. Yikes! Even I had to duck.

That, believe it or not, is a lighthouse. It looks, as was pointed out by
one of my colleagues, more like an outhouse.

Walked down them to the lighthouse...had to walk
back up. StairMaster at 6,000 feet.

How do you help hikers over a fallen tree? 

Make steps.

Possible victim of a lightning strike.

On the way home, we passed through historic downtown Truckee. I
explained my sign pic thing and took a few pics out the windshield.

We also stopped at this overlook--that is Donner Lake.

Our driver knew of these huge concrete statues in Auburn, so he drove us
by them.

I got home around 7:00 last night, exhausted but feeling great. Not even a sunburn! Today is my first official "lazy" day of summer vacation, so I slept 'til 7:00 this morning (positively decadent) and went for a 5K run. That's just how I roll.

I love that I work with people who like to have adventures, as I do. I'll definitely continue to go along on these trips; it was a lot of fun, and a great way to bond with colleagues I wouldn't really get a chance to know otherwise. It's a huge school, and we all stay in our areas for the most part. It's fun to mix and mingle a little, because at the end of the day, the art teachers, the music teachers, the math teachers, the coaches, and the English teachers all have one big thing in common--we are teachers.