Father’s Day-Summer Solstice hike June 20 sponsored by the Tahoe Rim Trail Association.

Hike Description: After an extended winter, summer has arrived. There is much to celebrate; warmer weather, Lake Tahoe excursions, family vacations and adventures.

Hike toward Mt. Rose, stopping for lunch at Galena Falls, and then continuing to loop back to the trailhead.

Children over 10 years of age only and no dogs on this hike.

For more information or to sign-up for this hike call the TRTA office at (775) 298.0238 or email programs@tahoerimtrail.org.

By Matt Weiser, Sacramento Bee

The federal government says it can no longer afford to maintain Auburn State Recreation Area, the popular park in the footprint of the defunct Auburn dam.

The U.S. Bureau of Reclamation has been paying $2 million annually to the California Department of Parks and Recreation to operate the 30,000-acre park at the confluence of the north and middle forks of the American River.

That money has paid for ranger patrols, trail improvements and a minimal level of visitor programs for the past 33 years.

Read the whole story

Tahoe Queen Photos/Austin Fay

By Austin Fay

Blue waters churned as throngs of people gathered along the lake to top off the South Shore Summer Series with an old-fashioned sternwheeler race. The water, however, was not so summery — the tradition of the losing captain walking the plank into the lake was nixed.

“It was a little too nippy this year,” said Capt. Jerry Summers.

The Tahoe Queen, with 168 passengers on board, won the Great Lake Tahoe Sternwheeler Race on Sunday against its rival, the M.S. Dixie II, still leading the series 8-6.

The race usually goes to the larger boat with a bigger engine, “but with a little help from Tahoe Tessie … we had her underneath the boat for the last quarter mile,” Summers said.

Capt. Jerry Summers and the Tahoe Queen.

Frosty-haired Mark Twain impersonator McAvoy Layne was on the old-style boat, giving words of encouragement and telling tall tales in his signature white suit and black bowtie.

“Truth is one of our most valuable resources, and that’s why I try to conserve it,” Layne joked.

It was a momentous weekend at Zephyr Cove for “Twainiacs,” history buffs and other riff-raff who came to celebrate the forthcoming publication of a 100-year delayed Mark Twain autobiography with a pie-eating contest, a mock gunfight and a “Bald-Faced Liars” contest.

Austin Sass, director of marketing at Zephyr Cove Resort commented on the rarity of such an event like this in Tahoe.

A battle to the finish.

“Finding a setting where you can have a fun and intellectual event like this, it just doesn’t happen too often here in the mountains,” Sass said.

BLS CPR class on July 12 from 5:30–9:00pm. Cost is $50 for this one evening class. Fee includes manual.

This course is geared for the general public, covering the 30:2 CPR for adults, children and infants, AED, airway, masks and choking.

With successful completion, students will receive a two-year CPR certificate.

The instructor is Duane DeClerck. Call (530) 906-8171 for more details.

To register, stop by the South Lake Tahoe Parks & Recreation Complex at 1180 Rufus Allen Blvd. or call (530) 542-6056.

South Lake Tahoe Moose Lodge No. 1632, along with Sierra at Tahoe and Harrah’s-Harveys Lake Tahoe are sponsoring the Fifth Annual Longest Day of Golf on June 24.

Tahoe Paradise Golf Course has committed to helping this community fundraiser by donating their course for the entire day. Golfers will start at sunup and play as many holes as they can before sundown.

Last year, the golfers played 119 holes and raised more $10,000 for the South Tahoe Cancer League. Every dollar raised stays in town to provide financial assistance to local cancer patients.

For the past several years, Tahoe Valley teacher Greg Kuntz and his students have raised more than $700 for this charity. They’ve already raised close to $400 this year.

If you know anyone who has cancer, or has survived cancer, or if you just care about local cancer patients, consider pledging on a per hole basis or a flat dollar amount – even if it’s just $1 – every dollar counts. Send tax-deductible donations to either Angie Keil or Greg Kuntz at SLT Moose Lodge No. 1632, 961 Eloise Ave., South Lake Tahoe, CA 96150.

Nominate your favorite destinations, restaurants, scenic views, lakes, hiking trails, and other special places of interest to be included in National Geographic Society’s interactive map guide geotourism” website now through August.

The National Geographic Society has partnered with the Sierra Nevada Conservancy and Sierra Business Council, and residents to capture the history and heritage of the Sierra Nevada region in order to create the website and webmap featuring unique destinations.

Geotourism is defined places that sustain or enhance the region’s environment, culture, aesthetics, heritage and the well-being of its residents.

The Tahoe Emigrant Corridor includes the counties of Placer, Nevada, El Dorado, Washoe, Douglas, and Carson City. Log on to www.SierraNevadaGeotourism.org to nominate a destination.

A Geocouncil will oversee the Sierra Nevada Geotourism Project.

Experience summer birding and wildflowers on a free guided hike June 26 and July 3.

Hike Description: The Tahoe Institute for Natural Science, the Tahoe Rim Trail Association, and the Lahontan Audubon Society are sponsoring this easy hike through verdant meadows. Enjoy a profusion of birds and wildflowers as the group searches for such species as Mountain Bluebird, Red-Breasted Sapsucker, MacGillivray’s Warbler, Black-backed Woodpecker, and Pine Grosbeak in Tahoe’s flower-covered alpine meadows.

Bring water, sunscreen, and insect repellent and plan to finish before lunch.

Free, but reservations are required.

Meet at Page Meadows in Tahoe City at 7:30am.

For more information or to sign-up, call (775) 298.0238 or email Kirk Hardie krhardie@yahoo.com.

Ever wanted to know how to create HD videos with your DSLR? Michael Mariant has a five-day Video & Cinematography with your Nikon DSLR workshop based out of Lake Tahoe that will go through the ins and outs of shooting, editing and compiling HD movies.

The HD Video workshop is scheduled for July 28-Aug. 1; one of the most beautiful times of year for outdoor filming at Lake Tahoe.

Click here for more information.

By Kathryn Reed

Snowshoes would have been more useful than hiking boots. Poles really would have been welcome. A trail would have been the best thing to have.

Such are the hazards of hiking in spring in Lake Tahoe. Two weeks ago a jaunt to Lily Lake was interrupted by gobs of snow. So much snow we didn’t really know where we were. We knew we were along the Glen Alpine Creek, but that was about it.

Water covers much of the Glen Alpine area. Photos/Kathryn Reed

A couple with their three dogs was going to backpack over Memorial Day weekend. They didn’t really know where they were either as they searched for a safe place to cross the raging water.

I’m not sure there was a safe place. And with the snow melting rapidly, people in the know are not advising crossing streams, rivers and creeks.

Some guys coming out of Desolation Wilderness with fishing poles said they couldn’t make it to the lake – there are several from this trailhead – because of all the snow.

So much for thinking this was going to be one of those lower elevation hikes where snow wouldn’t be a problem. Despite the balmy weather of the past few days, this trail that leads to Gilmore and Grass lakes as well at Mount Tallac may not be in much better shape.

An abundance of water made following the trail difficult without waders in late May. Skirting the side and going off trail made it navigable. It’s bound to be more flooded now.

The initial marshy area that is a meadow most seasons has a robust eco-system. Geese swim between the blades of grass. Swallows zoom by. The ribbit of frogs sing out, but none is visible.

With all this standing water, mosquito season is bound to be a doozie. Bug repellant will be needed for future hikes now that the temperatures are staying above freezing.

The old buildings of Glen Alpine are worth a visit and an easy trek from the parking lot on the far side of the store at Fallen Leaf Lake. Normally water gurgles from Soda Spring, the one place where it’s safe to drink the water.

On this day standing water is everywhere.

Not much farther up and we hit snow. No problem, lots of tracks to follow. But then the tracks go where I know the trail really doesn’t go, but I don’t want to break trail. We become lemmings.

An expanse of granite unfolds before us. Ah, that famous Sierra silver. Boulders beacon us to sit in the sun and have a bite to eat.

Onward we forge. I’m sure the lake is not far away. It probably wasn’t. But the tracks we chose to follow didn’t take us there. Eventually, we knew it was time to turn around.

Despite intentions to backtrack, we instead did a bit of a circuitous route through the snow.

I’ll save Glen Alpine for a summer or fall hike in the future.

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To know which state highways in the Sierra will be having work done to them the week of June 13-19, click on Caltrans.