Sierra Nevada
Lake Tahoe
Lake Tahoe is a large alpine lake high in the Sierra Nevada that straddles the border of California and Nevada. The lake has a maximum depth of 1,645 feet which makes it the second deepest lake in the United States behind Crater Lake in Oregon. While the surface of the lake sits at an altitude of 6,224 feet, it is ringed by the Sierra Nevada mountains with some of the peaks topping 10,000 feet. The creation of Lake Tahoe began 3 million years ago when tectonic activity uplifted the mountains and created a basin. Later, volcanic activity sealed off the basin’s outlet with lava and debris. The retreat of glaciers during the last ice age scoured the region deepening the basin and the glacial melt filled the depression to form Lake Tahoe.
The Washoe people were the first inhabitants of Lake Tahoe, coming here during the spring and summer to hunt, fish, and gather food. While surveying for the transcontinental railroad in 1844, John Fremont and Charles Preuss were probably the first two Americans to gaze upon the emerald waters of Lake Tahoe. The California Gold Rush of 1849 brought thousands over the Sierra Nevada mountains increasing the interest in the secluded lake. In the 1850s, when silver was discovered to the east of the Virgina Range, most of the forests around Lake Tahoe were logged to build the Comstock Lode silver mines in and around Virginia City. Soon communities sprouted up all around Lake Tahoe as men came from around the world to work in the logging industry. By the end of the 19th century, trains rolled into the region and steamships crossed the lake establishing Lake Tahoe as a tourist destination. By the early 1940s, the first ski resorts were built in the Lake Tahoe region where an average of 300-400 inches of snow fall annually. The skiing in Lake Tahoe is so renowned that Squaw Valley held the 1960 Winter Olympics. Today, Lake Tahoe is known for the largest concentration of world-class skiing in North America, along with endless year-round recreation that the lake and surrounding mountains provide.
The south and west shores of Lake Tahoe lie in California where the city of South Lake Tahoe is a major resort and shopping area including the world-famous Heavenly Ski Resort. Located on the southwest side of the lake in California is Emerald Bay State Park which is known for its crystal-clear water and an interesting 38-room mansion. Built in 1929 by Mrs. Lora Josephine Knight, the mansion known as Vikingsholm is considered the finest example of Scandinavian architecture in North America. Mrs. Knight and her architect traveled to Scandinavia to gather ideas for the construction of the house and employed hundreds of workers who gathered most of the rock and timber for the construction in the Tahoe area. She also owned Fannette Island in Emerald Bay where a stone tea house was constructed. A little further up the shore is another famous Lake Tahoe property. A 15-acre compound called Fleur du Lac features a mansion, grounds, and boathouses that were the estate of Michael Corleone in the 1973 film The Godfather: Part II. Often simply referred to as the “Godfather” house, the waterfront property has long since been subdivided into 22 private residences in a gated community.
The north and east shores of the lake are located in Nevada and tend to be less congested with more scenic beaches such as Zephyr Cove and Sand Harbor. Along over 14,000 acres of the northeast side of the lake is Lake Tahoe Nevada State Park which offer some spectacular views along the 3-mile paved Tahoe East Shore Trail. The trailhead begins in Incline Village and ends at Sand Harbor beach which is known for scuba diving, beautiful beaches, and Shakespeare in the summer. During my four-day visit to Lake Tahoe, I stayed at Zephyr Cove which has a beautiful sandy beach and harbor where tourist can take lake cruises aboard the M.S. Dixie II. The California/Nevada border runs straight down Stateline Blvd. which intersects Highway 50 with South Lake Tahoe, CA to the south and Stateline, NV to the north. Located on the Nevada side are several large casinos and resorts operated by some of the national gaming corporations with gambling, restaurants, and entertainment for Lake Tahoe visitors.
Bodie State Historic Park
Following the 1849 Gold Rush, mining declined along the western slope of the Sierra Nevada. In search of the next big strike, prospectors crossed the Sierra Nevada to the eastern slopes to search for riches. In 1859, W.S. Bodey, from Poughkeepsie, New York, discovered gold high in the mountains of the eastern Sierra Nevada in today’s Mono County. Unfortunately, Bodey died a few months later while trying to haul in supplies during a blizzard, never seeing the town that honors him. He is believed to be buried somewhere on the hill above the town’s cemetery. The town’s name came to be misspelled “Bodie”.
Mining progressed slowly in the Bodie Mining District during the 1860s and early 1870s primarily due to rich silver strikes at Aurora and Virginia City in Nevada. However, a collapse within the Bunker Hill Mine in 1875 revealed a rich body of gold and silver ore. Word spread quickly, and Bodie’s boomtown days began with the town’s population swelling to over 2,000 by 1879. During Bodie’s boom era (1877-1881), there were 30 different mines being operated along with nine stamp mills, the Standard Consolidated Mining Company being the most successful. It is estimated that the population of Bodie peaked at 8,000 residents where men worked dangerous jobs in the mines while fighting the elements of living at 8,375 feet in the Sierra Nevada. Along with miners and merchants, Bodie attracted a rougher crowd who gave the town a reputation for bad men and wild times. There were no less than 60 saloons operating in Bodie, many of them near Bonanza Street were brothels and opium dens operated.
The boom years ended quickly in Bodie as unsuccessful mines began closing. By the turn of the century, the population of this once boomtown had dropped significantly with only the most successful mining operations like the Standard remaining. Production was sporadic following the stock market collapse in 1929 and during the years of the Great Depression. A devastating fire in 1932 also contributed to Bodie’s demise, but it was ultimately a 1942 order by the U.S. War Production Board that ceased gold mining in favor of wartime efforts that sealed Bodie’s fate. That same year, mining operations terminated for good and most of the residents left Bodie. Between 1860 and 1941, the total gold and silver production value for Bodie was estimated at $34 million (equivalent to $100 million today).
The family of Bodie’s last major landowner, James S. Cain, hired caretakers to watch over the town and protect it from looters and vandals. In 1962, California State Parks purchased the town to preserve the historic buildings and artifacts. Today, only about 5 percent of the buildings remain from the town’s 1877-1881 heyday, most have fallen victim to time, fire, and the harsh mountain conditions. The town is preserved in a state of “arrested decay”, meaning that buildings’ roofs, windows, and foundations are repaired and stabilized, but not restored. Walking through Bodie State Historic Park is like a stroll through a time capsule with the homes and businesses appearing much as they were the day they were abandon. A few of the structures are open to explore inside, but most are closed and you have to peek through the windows. The mining areas are strictly off limits due to safety concerns, but during the summer months, the state park offers guided tours of the Standard Mill.
Mono Lake
Mono Lake, located on the eastern slope of the Sierra Nevada and the western edge of the Great Basin, is over 750,000 years old. Before human intervention, the Great Basin drained approximately one-fifth of the western United States with water draining west to Mono Lake and water draining east to its sister lake, the Great Salt Lake in Utah. The lake formed over three-quarters of a million years ago as a result of volcanic activity and faulting. It is a terminal lake meaning that Mono Lake has no outlet. As lake water evaporates, the concentration of salts and minerals increase which makes Mono Lake 2.5 times saltier than the ocean and 100 times more alkaline. While fish cannot survive in Mono Lake, trillions of brine shrimp and alkali flies thrive providing an important food source for millions of migratory birds.
In no time in its long history has Mono Lake’s survival been in more doubt than in the past 85 years. Beginning in 1941, the city of Los Angeles began diverting water from many of the tributaries that fed Mono Lake to meet the growing city’s need for water. As a result, between 1941 and 1982 the lake dropped 45 feet while losing half its volume and doubling its salinity. Land bridges began to appear between the shoreline and islands where nesting birds had raised their young for thousands of years, now exposing them to predators like coyotes. Concerned environmental groups intervened with a landmark lawsuit against Los Angeles which they won in 1994. As a result of the ruling, goals were set to restoring the lake level to 6,392 feet (surface elevation not depth) by limiting the city’s water diversions. Mono Lake has yet to reach its target level and has fluctuated around 6,382 feet for nearly 30 years.
One of the more interesting features found at Mono Lake are the tufa towers. When calcium-rich springs flow up through the lake bottom, the calcium bonds to carbonates in the lake water. Together they form calcium carbonate which is a type of limestone. This solid material builds upon itself, gradually forming a tufa tower. As the lake level drops, the exposed tufa stops growing. Tufa towers are found all around the shoreline of Mono Lake, but they appear in greatest numbers at the shoreline known as South Tufa where there is an interpretive trail through these interesting formations. There are also two volcanic islands in the middle of Mono Lake. Paoha, the larger of the two islands, doesn’t look volcanic because its surface is composed of lake bottom sediments. About 300 years ago, magma slowly rose underneath the lake and pushed these sediments above the water level. The black island called Negit formed by volcanic eruptions that occurred about 1,700 years ago. Up until the appearance of the land bridge, Negit was an important nesting site for seagulls.
Tioga Pass – Yosemite National Park
There are numerous routes to cross over the Sierra Nevada in California, but perhaps none are as scenic as the route through the Tioga Pass. At an elevation of 9,945 feet, the Tioga Pass is the highest elevation highway pass in the Sierra Nevada. State Highway 120, also known as Tioga Road, climbs out of Lee Vining on the eastern slope of the Sierra Nevada before it passes through the Tioga Pass with Mount Dana to the east of the pass and Gaylor Peak to the west. This highway is the eastern entrance to Yosemite National Park; however, it is closed for most of the winter due to snow at the high elevations.
After entering the national park, the highway sweeps across Tuolumne Meadows and past some beautiful alpine lakes like Tenaya Lake. This route is less congested as it climbs well above the Yosemite Valley. About halfway over the Sierra Nevada at Olmsted Point, there are spectacular views of the Yosemite Valley including the backside of Half Dome. Once you descend out of the mountains, you can turn south at Crane Flat to enter the Yosemite Valley or continue west on CA-120 like I did to head into Gold Country.
