Eight-year-old Carlie Sheridan of Northern Nevada never expected to see her cat Splash again.

The orange tabby wandered off in July 2011 shortly after the cat and his family moved from Loyalton to Cold Springs.

Carlie was 4-years-old when she adopted Splash on the same day her brother Bret also adopted a cat named Humphrey. When the cat did not return home, the entire family was heartbroken.

When the Sheridan’s phone rang last week, almost exactly one year after Splash disappeared, the last thing they expected to hear was that Splash had just been found in Sun Valley by Washoe County Animal Control Officer Marie Busselman.

Splash is home now because Splash has a microchip.

“The story of Splash and Carlie is a wonderful illustration of why we so strongly believe in the value of microchips and urge every pet owner to make use of them,” Washoe County Regional Animal Services Manager Barry Brode said in a statement. “Microchipping is your pet’s best chance of getting back home if it ever becomes lost.”

The North Shore pilot ferry program is going to hit Lake Tahoe on Aug. 3. The service stops at the end of September.

The vessel carries 12 passengers and up to eight bikes.

The pilot program includes a “paperless” reservation program, so book ahead online.

Hours of operation are 8am to 8:19pm through Aug. 26 and then the schedule will run through from 8am to 6:46pm to coincide with daylight changes.

Participating docks are: West Shore Café, Tahoe City Marina, GarWoods Grill & Pier and the Tahoe Vista Recreation Area.

Rates start at $10 for adults, $7 for children up to 12 years old. That’s one way.

Ticket kiosks are available at some of the participating docks.

By Richard N. Velotta, Las Vegas Sun

When the curtain rose on the Olympic Games over the weekend, millions of people saw Big Ben, Tower Bridge, the London Eye and other British tourism icons.

It’s the kind of publicity you can’t buy. The images broadcast on televisions worldwide reminded people that London would be a pretty cool place to visit.

Olympic spirit is everywhere in London, including the Tower Bridge. Photo/Kathryn Reed

That’s exactly the kind of publicity Nevada hoped to get in 2022. Northern Nevada was on a short list of places angling to host the Winter Olympics that year.

The selection process for host cities is two-tiered. First, American venues compete with one another to win over the U.S. Olympic Committee. Once a U.S. venue is selected, the competition moves to the global stage, and the International Olympic Committee evaluates sites from around the world. The winning bid is determined in a series of elimination votes.

A Nevada-California bid has a lot going for it. Heavenly Mountain Resort in California and Nevada has been pegged for alpine ski events. Squaw Valley in California has the experience of hosting the 1960 Winter Olympics and could host other skiing events. Arenas in Sacramento and San Jose could handle hockey and figure skating, while a refurbished Mackay Stadium at UNR has been identified for hosting opening and closing ceremonies.

The effort wouldn’t be without challenge. Three other cities have expressed interest.

Read the whole story

By Kathryn Reed

TAHOMA – Lost Lake is appropriately named. We never found it.

Still, the trek along General Creek provided stunning scenery and a chance to explore some terrain that was new to us.

Two winters ago Sue and I cross country skied on the trails at Sugar Pine Point State Park on the West Shore. These trails are where Olympians raced in the 1960 Games hosted by Squaw Valley. We said at the time it would be great to come back to explore the trails on foot.

Lush, green foliage is everywhere.

Indian paintbrush fills part of the General Creek trail. Photos/Kathryn Reed

When we went back a little more than a week ago we said it would be great to come back with mountain bikes. Plenty of tracks and a lone cyclist proved our point.

That’s the thing about this state park – it has something for most recreationists. Because where we were playing is also the General Creek Campground most people not staying the night tend to drive by instead of venturing past the attendant at the shack taking money.

Although the park’s employee gave us a map on an 8½ by 11 inch sheet of paper, it is not the most defined trail system. We didn’t let that bother us. We also didn’t let it faze us that another employee was not clear on how to get to Lost Lake and said it had been quite some time since he’d been there.

Maybe some of the $54 million surplus the parks department has could be put into maps and signage.

After parking in the day use lot, we followed the trail that skirts the campground until we hit a trail the width of a road. From there we headed left into Sugar Pine’s network of trails. The red trail is a loop. Going either way gets you to a sign that says Lily Pond. That’s how we went.

Ferns dot the landscape.

For the majority of the 10-mile roundtrip trek we were able to look up because the ground is free of rocks. Oftentimes we were able to walk side-by-side. But off the loop we walk single file.

An abundance of Indian paintbrush covers the landscape in a vibrant glow of red. A field of skunk cabbage is flowering. Lupine adds a shot of purple to the palette. Other wildflowers are out.

But what is most striking is the plethora of ferns. It reminds us both of the Tahoe-Yosemite trail, which as the crow flies, is close by, and runs somewhat parallel to the General Creek trail.

We were on this hike before the recent rains and still some of the terrain was so lush that “tropical” is the word that comes to mind to describe it.

As we start to climb, a wall of granite is to our right and the creek to our left. Eventually we have to cross the creek to stay on the trail, but the water is low and rocks easy to scamper over.

Various pools of water look inviting to swim in – if one likes cold water. Fish dart back and forth – some 6-inches in length.

We get high enough that when we turn around Lake Tahoe is in the distance.

Up we go, hoping around each bend we will find Lost Lake.

General Creek is close by most of the hike.

We hit a marker that says Lost Lake to the left, Rubicon to the right. Right would have us on the Rubicon-McKinney trail. With the Jeep back at the campground lot, it wasn’t going to do us any good to get on a 4-wheel drive trail. We head up a ways toward Lost Lake. It’s not there.

A guy off trail checking out the scenery doesn’t know where it is either.

The heat is getting to me. Sue is struggling with recovering from a cold. We turn around.

Lost Lake remains lost.

—-

Getting there:

From South Lake Tahoe, go north on Highway 89, around Emerald Bay and past Meeks Bay.

Before hitting Tahoma, on the right will be a sign for the Ehrman Mansion.

In less than one mile make the left turn into the Sugar Pine Point Campground.

Parking is $10.

Dogs are not allowed.

Acoustic jazz artist Joe Craven is putting on a performance to support the Tahoe Rim Trail Association.

All proceeds from the Aug. 15 event benefit TRTA trail enhancements, programs and educational outreach.

The event is at Camp Galilee Chapel, 1776 Highway 50 Glenbrook. A no host bar will begin at 6:30pm, with the concert starting at 7pm.

Space is limited to the first 125 registrants. Ticket prices $35 for TRTA members; $50 for non-TRTA members. Reserve seats by going online.

A mountain lion was seen near the Environmental Magnet School in Meyers on Monday morning.

El Dorado County sheriff’s officials said the animal was walking in someone’s front yard about 9am July 30.

“It did not appear threatening or injured, and then walked away from the area,” sheriff’s Lt. Pete Van Arnum told Lake Tahoe News.

He is asking people to be on alert, especially with the number of children in the area playing at the school and attending the nearby child care center.

This is the second mountain lion sighting in the county in the past few weeks. The other was near the meadow area between Hunkpapa and Golden Bear Trail.

Mountain lions are native to this area, and travel and hunt throughout the Sierra and Lake Tahoe Basin.

— Lake Tahoe News staff report

The UC Cooperative Extension – Central Sierra in partnership with the Tahoe Resource Conservation District is offering the inaugural Lake Tahoe Master Gardener volunteer training beginning in September in South Lake Tahoe.

Upon completion of the 50-hour training course, certified Lake Tahoe Master Gardeners will provide the community with research-based information about home horticulture and gardening.

The training will consist of core programs in horticulture, native plants, soils, irrigation, pest management, plant nutrition, diseases, forest health, wildfire defensible space considerations plus additional topics specific to the Lake Tahoe Basin.

Once certified, Master Gardeners volunteer 50 hours during their first year of service and 25 hours in subsequent years. Volunteer activities include providing one-on-one consultations, answering questions from phone and email hotlines, offering workshops and classes, writing articles in the local paper or online media, as well as many other outreach and educational opportunities.

If you reside in the Lake Tahoe Basin and are interested in becoming a Master Gardener, go online gardener info or call (530) 621.5528 for more information. Applications for the fall training sessions are due Aug. 7.

By Barbara Barte Osborn, Sacramento Bee

On his way to Lake Tahoe earlier this month, Greg Service pulled into an eastbound rest stop along Interstate 80 about 40 miles west of Truckee.

The Santa Rosa resident tossed a ball to his dog at the Gold Run Safety Area, but was soon in for a nasty surprise.

“He came out of the bushes covered with slime,” Service said. “It smelled like sewage.”

Behind the bushes, Service said he saw a stream covered with a foamy, orange, foul-smelling substance.

“It was about 5-feet across in some places and almost 3 feet deep in some places,” he said. “It was full of what appeared to be sewage.”

He cleaned up his dog – “fortunately, I had the truck, so he could ride in back,” he said – and continued on.

But he was so concerned about the incident, he took photos of the stream and called the state Department of Transportation. Dissatisfied with the agency’s response, he checked the westbound Gold Run rest stop on his way home, where he found more of the substance, and later called the Bee.

“It was right after the Fourth of July holiday,” Service said, adding that he suspected that the rest stop’s sewage system had backed up or they flushed it “right into an open trench about 100 feet away.”

Read the whole story

By Chris Ciarlo, KTVN-TV

It’s now official, the 49th annual National Championship Air Races will take to the Reno skies once again this year, now that they have the funding they need – thanks to a $600,000 sponsorship from the Nevada Commission On Tourism.

After last year’s crash, the air races insurance premium spiked nearly $2 million, but when the NCOT announced their sponsorship, it gave the air races the green light.

“From the casino resort community, community leaders and that kind of stuff, they wanted to know that we are working hard and that we’re committed to making sure this event was going to be as successful as it’s been in the past and safer than it ever has,” said Mike Draper with R&R Partners.

Draper said the Air Racing Association has been able to meet both goals and that’s why they are seeing the support pour in.

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By Stuart Elliott, New York Times

Simply put, a lot of what Madison Avenue says these days is simply put.

“Simply,” “simple” and “simplicity” — along with like-minded thoughts that include “easy,” “honest” and “clear” — have become marketing buzzwords in response to three related trends: how busy life today seems, the growing complexity of technology and the increasingly complicated economic picture. That has encouraged advertisers to woo consumers with promises to provide solutions that are meant as simple but not simplistic.

“We all have this desire to simplify our lives, but we don’t know how to do it,” said Marian Salzman, the longtime trend tracker and chief executive of Euro RSCG Worldwide Public Relations, North America, who described herself during an interview as “talking on one BlackBerry” with her second BlackBerry “in my hand, with my coffee.”

Envy is also driving the simplicity movement, Ms. Salzman said, listing examples: “We have envy of other people who seem to have it together. We envy the time we had just three TV channels to choose from. And we envy the man in the gray flannel suit who knew when work started and ended.”

Simplicity marketing is, well, simple to find. Radio commercials for McDonald’s offer paeans to “the simple joy of a wholesome breakfast.” Ads call Ban antiperspirant “effortlessly simple,” while those for Ally Bank declare, “Saving is simple when no one charges you for it.”

Read the whole story