Emigrants Trail, Lake Tahoe Basin, California - 8/30/25

 

There’s a lot of great hiking off of Highway 88 in the Tahoe Basin in California. We drove up there again today to hike the Emigrants Lake Trail, which is in the Mokelumne Wilderness in the El Dorado National Forest.

The trail starts out at Caples Lake, which is picturesque in the morning light.

We meandered around that lake for what seemed like a mile or two and then we were following a creek through forest and rock.

 

As we made our way through some of the rocky sections, I had some difficulty finding the actual trail, but we quickly found our way. There were signs to indicate where to go, most of the time. 

 

The elevation was over 8,000 feet, so I was moving slow on the uphill parts. Aside from people fishing in Caples Lake, we didn’t see a soul for most of the way in. There is a point where another trail connects with the trail we were on and, right at that point, two young and loud women came up on the other trail right behind us.

We saw quite a few mini-waterfalls along the way.

There were some lovely views as well. 

The last part of the trail is uphill for a short distance and then it levels out and poof! We were at the lake. It was lovely and serene. We found a place to eat our sandwiches. A couple with two dogs came by and we talked with them for a few minutes and then we headed back.

The return trip was peppered with lots of people heading toward us to get to the lake, so we had to make way in our usual, congenial manner. I tried to focus on the lovely landscape.

We were hustling to get back to the parking lot to beast the traffic (and to get home to feed the cats), so we passed some slower hikers on the last leg.

All in all it was a good hike. A bit too popular, perhaps. We hiked about 8.5 miles in three hours, thirty six minutes.

Winnemucca Lake Loop - Carson Pass, CA - 8/24/2025

While driving to today’s destination, we were enveloped in rain about two-thirds of the way there. Rather than turn back, we decided to take our chances on the weather. We arrived at the parking lot around 8:30am and went into the visitor center to check it out. The people working there were super friendly and they had t-shirts and whatnot for sale.

I put on my rain jacket (I always keep one in my day pack, just in case), and we ventured to the trail head as the sky sprayed us with little droplets.

We were in the Mokelumne Wilderness within El Dorado National Forest.

 The trail was quite nice, wide and easy to follow with many interesting views along the way.

It was sprinkling most the time, which made the colors of the terrain look more vivid.

 

 

As we continued, the rain began heavier, plus I was feeling the altitude (we were over 9,000 feet!). We had hiked a mile and half before we stopped to consider our options, namely continue or turn back. We decided to continue.

The landscape was magical with the cloudy sky above and moisture all around. And, although most of the hike was uphill, I was taking lots of pictures and enjoying the altered environment.

We were at another decision moment: Continue on the loop trail or retrace our steps. We both agreed to continue on the loop trail, so we followed the path that led away from the lake. The camera got wet, so a few of the pictures were foggy.

The return path was mostly downhill, which was great for me because I didn’t feel the altitude as much. The landscape was just as spectacular.

We met a lot more people along the return path, almost all of them were very friendly. We crossed a cool bridge that looked brand-spanking new.

The last leg of the loop was a little underwhelming. We walked along a road that led to another road that led to the highway, which was a dangerous 1/4 of a mile back to the visitor center. However, there was a beautiful meadow that was worth the trek.

All in all, another nice hike. Very scenic, even in the rain.

Tahoe Rim Trail - Round Lake - 8/18/2025

 

 

About three weeks ago, we took this same trip (see ’Tahoe Rim Trail - Dardanelles Lake - 7/27/2025), but this time we were determined to see Round Lake because some people we spoke to on the previous trip told us that it was their preferred lake.

So, we found ourselves back in the Lake Tahoe Basin and, once again, parked in the Big Meadow Trail Head parking lot. We arrived early, around 8am, so there were plenty of parking spots. We performed our usual routine: sunscreen, hats, and preparing our packs. Then we ventured down the scenic trail toward highway that we had to venture across.

It was a lovely morning, cool air and only a few puffy clouds decorating the deep blue sky.  We were in the area that I previously described as a sort of “demolition” looking atmosphere of boulders, fallen trees, and scattered plant life.

Then we crossed the bridge that led to a lovely meadow that was, once again, very inviting. Some people ahead of us wandered through the meadow to climb a large rock, but we continued on course into the wooded expanse.

I had forgotten that the path to the lakes was mostly uphill, though not difficult. We reached the junction that led us toward Round Lake and a brand new experience of landscape that was unknown to us. 

The lake was not too far from the junction, though we encountered a group of boisterous young men that appeared to have spent the night out there and were headed back. We reached the lake and found that were the only ones there for about ten minutes. The light was quite nice and there was a pigeon hanging out on the shore.The lake itself was beautiful, perhaps not as breathtaking as Dardanelles Lake, but that is just an opinion.

We ate our sandwiches and took in the scenery, then a chipmunk revealed itself on a nearby rock. After a while, the pigeon meandered over toward the chipmunk and I caught a photo of the two, though the chipmunk was more interested in the bird.

Retracing our steps backward, we found that quite a few people heading our way on foot and on bicycle. Everyone was friendly, even if they weren’t talkative. We were curious about the strange rocks that looked like old roads with cement.

We saw a spider along the way crossing the path, stopping to let it pass.

We reached the demolition area and then crossed the highway back to the parking lot feeling great and happy with our little journey.