Years ago sheep owners would bring their flocks up to Lake Tahoe from the Sacramento Valley and the Carson River Valley nearby in Nevada. The sheep would be taken to high, mountain pastures where there was ample grass. Sheepherders would stay with the sheep over the summer mouths and then return the sheep to the valleys over winter.

Rumor has it that the oven in this picture was handbuilt by sheepherders.

One of my favorite places for beautiful trees is Page Meadows, right in Tahoe City’s backyard. (Some people spell it “Paige” incorrectly, according to the authoritative book Tahoe Place Names, by Barbara Lekisch.)

Page Meadows is surrounded by aspens bursting in yellow, gold, and red, and hikers get glimpses of Twin Peaks, Grouse Rock, Ward Peak, and Scott Peak in the distance, above the trees.

Emerald Bay
There is no more scenic trail near the lake than the Rubicon Trail that begins on the beach of Bliss State Park. The trail runs along the shore of Lake Tahoe to Vikingsholm at the head of Emerald Bay; the trail is open and inviting at every turn.


On the first three miles along the lake, keep your eyes peeled for Ospreys, which are seen frequently, and Bald Eagles that are seen occasionally.

Sugar Pine has much to offer--sandy beaches, trails, skyscraper forests, a mansion, and, most of the year, solitude coupled with views that sooth the mind.

The park, with two miles of lake frontage (Lake Tahoe has 72 miles in total), has a rich history. In 1860, the first permanent settler of record on Lake Tahoe's west shore built a cabin at the mouth of General Creek. This was the trapper and fisherman, William "General" Phipps, and his cabin can still be seen today just north of the park pier.

The elusive fountain has been "found" in many places throughout the ages, often where explorers of the time have been or fantasized. Such places have included Asia, the Middle East, the Bahamas, Japan, and, closer to home, Florida. Here, for example, is a famous Japanese Fairy Tale:

Most people have heard of Sutter's Fort, which can still be visited in Sacramento. It was the targeted, end-of-the-California trail for thousands of emigrants--including the Donner Party--before, during, and after the '49ers gold rush to California.

It was in February of that year that John Charles Fremont first spotted the water and called it "mountain lake" on his map of the area. Another member of the same expedition, Charles Preuss, created his own map and called the water "Lake Bonpland" in honor of a French botanist. Much later, as the reader will see, it was "Lake Bigler."

Fremont and Preuss are the two men considered to be the first white men to have seen the lake, and they each gave it a different name. It is time now for the real story of the naming of Lake Tahoe, famous the world over, to be told.

Big Blocks on the Move
In the early days there was no Sierra Nevada Range, only a wide hump between what is now the Sacramento Valley in California and the Great Basin that includes Nevada and Utah. Then a grinding collision of tectonic plates deep inside the earth caused a north-south fracture in the earth's crust allowing blocks of rock to move up or down. One uplifted block created the 50-mile Carson Range that runs along the east side of the lake today.

The combination of wind and water resulted in many boats dragging their buoys (or anchors) and hitting bottom along the West and portions of the North Shores. One local reported seeing boats aground all the way up Highway 89 along the West Shore, on Friday.