July 2025 at Lake Tahoe
Beautiful clouds over Desolation Wilderness and the Bay.
Early morning, July 30.
I never tire of the beautiful skies at Tahoe - blue, cloudy, sunsets and sunrises, moons full and otherwise. All previous 4 years here I have gone to the Overlook to watch the fireworks on July 4 over South Shore, but I opted not to this year. They start past my "bedtime," and by the time they are finished and I get back to the RV it is quite late. I guess it's one of the signs we're getting old! But I take advantage of my little spot at the end of the Overlook Trail most mornings around sunrise.
Sunset sky to the north, July 6
Moon rise, July 6
Sunrise, July 11.
Moon set over North Maggie's Peak, July 12.
Sunrise, July 19.
Rising sun reflecting on the mountain tops.
I love to watch this in the early morning from the Overlook.
July 22, sunrise, as I walk to the shed to get my bicycle for an early morning Kayak.
More sunrise, July 22.
Sun reflected on the mountain top and in the lake.
July 22.
Sunrise, July 23.
Beautiful clouds over my mountain and Desolation Wilderness.
And of course the rising sun reflected on the mountain tops.
July 23.
Dead, and live, trees at the Overlook.
Aren't these impressive clouds? July 25.
Sunrise, July 26.
Pretty clouds over Desolation Wilderness, July 26.
The sun about to appear, July 26.
More of the pretty clouds on July 26.
Sunrise, July 29.
Sunrise, July 30.
Tree silhouettes, July 30.
What a view of the sky over the mountains and bay, July 30.
Looking to the East on July 30.
Most mornings at the Overlook I face the west with the rising sun to my back, but occasionally I have faced the rising sun, but then I find myself wanting to turn around to see what the mountains to the south west look like.
Wow! More color in the South West on July 30 about 6:00 AM.
Heading down the Overlook Trail to go to "work" on July 30 after the sunrise.
Evening sky over South Shore, July 30.
Clouds over Mt. Tallac, evening of July 30.
Zoomed in on Vikingsholm, early on July 31.
I have to say, July was a much calmer, more routine month at Lake Tahoe than June was, but that was easy considering how eventful June was! On a personal note, on July 16, Rob and I became great grandparents for the first time! Now, we are "officially" old! John Samuel Dunning was born to Kyle and Hale in Maine. Kyle is our oldest grandchild and Scott and Kristy's oldest child. We will get to meet John for the first time in person in September when we travel to Maine for a visit.
Grandson Kyle and Great Grandson John.
Both weighed 8 lbs. 13 ounces at birth!
An "exciting" event in the campground was lightening strikes one afternoon. I don't have any picture proof, but lightening struck at least twice within a few minutes of each other. Our entrance kiosk staff were all out dancing in the rain when lightening struck not too many feet away from one of the Park Aides. It happened just before I returned from escorting some ADA folks down to Vikingsholm. The Park Aide was quite excited about the event that had just happened. Fortunately no one was hurt. Then as I parked my car by our site I heard someone yelling, "Fire!" I looked across the part of the campground near us and on a hillside opposite us I saw flames on a fallen tree. The fire had been caused by a lightening strike. I immediately called 911 and described what I could see. While talking to the dispatcher I could see campers who had climbed up to the fire throwing water on the flames, and while it looked at first like the fire was increasing in size and intensity, it was soon extinguished and by the time the fire department arrived there was only smoke visible. Rob of course went down, and up, to see what was going on up close. He said there were probably 12 campers involved in carrying water up the hill to put the fire out. A fire crew did stay around for an hour or two cutting apart the downed tree to make sure the fire was completely out. That was the first time we have ever been that close to a lightening caused fire! One of the state park rangers sternly told the kiosk staff to stay inside the building until the thunder and lightening storm passed by.
We had a couple of series of thunder storms that caused sufficient rain to create a "lake" near some of our campsites, making the need to close two due to the flooding. It took several days for the "lake" to dry out, and then Rob cleaned up the site driveways. He had to do that twice during July - he got some good exercise sweeping and shoveling!
Flooded campsite parking pads after rain.
On July 1, when I did an ADA escort to Vikingsholm I walked down the Rubicon Trail toward Boat Camp and saw the always transforming "Whale" rock, and a duck family.
Same "Whale" rock as last month, but with more rock teeth!
Duck Family July 1.
I escorted another family down to Vikingsholm at Emerald Bay on July 11. The people I escort are always very appreciative. For some it is there first time to Emerald Bay, and for others it is a return to a place of their youth that once they lost mobility they thought they could never experience again. I can lead one or two cars at a time with ADA placards down the 1 1/2 mile long, narrow, switchbacked road. It's a service that people who qualify for can reserve ahead of time. While the guests tour Vikingsholm or enjoy the beach and surroundings, I find plenty to do - sometimes walking to the waterfall or boat camp, or using my computer, drawing or reading.
The family I escorted on July 11.
Definitely can tell the water flow is going down!
As seen on July 18 when I did another ADA escort.
I walked up here once again after escorting an ADA group.
Also on July 24.
The MS Dixie making one of three daily round trips through the bay.
I asked the owner if he were a Jurassic Park fan - not particularly he said. He said he needed to replace his former Jeep in a hurry and this was the only one the dealer had in stock and he wasn't interested. When he called his wife to tell her about it, she thought it might be fun to get this one, so they did. It's apparently quite the conversation piece. Folks are always asking to take pictures of it, and sometimes the owners have to ask a crowd to clear to so they can get to the door.
An exquisite flower by Vikingsholm, July 25.
A whole stand of those flowers.
July 2 reflections on Emerald Bay as I begin a morning paddle.
I did a few early morning kayak paddles in July, including this one on July 2 when you can see the water was quite calm when I started out.
The beach where I landed just around the corner from Emerald Point.
Beginning a day off paddle on July 10.
Heading to the mouth of Emerald Bay.
More beautiful reflections in the bay.
Some wavy tree reflections.
A Great Blue Heron standing in Tahoe water.
Swimming Hole #28
At one of my favorite beaches - a cove just outside Emerald Bay on the Emerald Point side.
The ever changing patterns of water and light.
And a duck.
I truly enjoy my little kayak excursions and contemplative beach time.
I went for another early morning paddle on July16. Typically on Kayak days I ride my bicycle to the lower campground about 6:00 AM, park my bike in the woodshed there, pick up my paddle, kayak seat and life jacket and then walk down to the beach. I don't kayak too far to some more or less secluded beach where I set up my portable chair and spend an hour or so writing in my journal, reading, maybe do some drawing, eat my breakfast, which I bring along, and occasionally go for a swim. It is a little mini retreat.
Before I got in the water with my kayak I saw this.
It must have been an otter!
I couldn't get into the water fast enough to pursue it.
Heading to Eagle Point where I would turn right toward the south end of the lake.
Watching a sea gull landing.
Here the baby ducklings are leading the mother.
And now they are following.
My kayak on Baldwin Beach, while I sit in the shade of a tree.
Heading out in my kayak on July 22.
This day I crossed the bay and then paddled around counterclockwise.
The water was quite rough when I began.
In front of Vikingsholm.
Reflective pool where Eagle Creek enters the bay.
The rough waters had calmed by now.
Silhouette of the island.
My beach landing, looking to the mouth of the bay.
Stellar Jay on the beach.
Hoping to get some of my breakfast.
No such luck for this Jay.
Beautiful Emerald Bay water.
On our days off we do a variety of things: I often start with an early morning kayak paddle or a long hike, sometimes we go to our house in Colfax because of appointments in the area and/or to visit Ruth and family and/or to continue sorting and purging things we have stored there.
Swimming Hole #26.
Upper Eagle Falls, July 8.
This was the beginning of my first longer hike of the season into Desolation Wilderness.
Destination - Upper Velma Lake.
A log to walk under, with "my" mountain above.
And the trail going forward.
I stopped at Eagle Lake before continuing up the steep trail.
Pretty pink flowers next to the trail.
A precarious looking boulder above the trail.
More pretty pink flowers - these are Mountain Penstemon, my favorite.
A peak view of Lake Tahoe from the ridge I would now descend from to the Velmas.
More pretty pink.
Upper Velma Lake, July 8.
Swimming Hole # 27, East Shore of Upper Velma.
Another view of the lake.
More pink rock garden on the way back.
The trail was steep going up, and going back down!
Between 9 and 10 miles round trip.
Wednesday, July 9, we headed to Sparks to visit the Sparks Museum to hopefully find some history from when Rob's ancestors settled in the Spanish Springs area in the 1860s, but though the history was interesting, it was mainly about the time of the railroad coming later and the founding of Sparks.
The little Sparks Museum.
June 14 and 15 we were in the Colfax area for appointments.
Turkeys near our house
On Sunday, afternoon, July 20, Rob and I headed over to Donner State Park to visit the excellent museum there and to go for a swim.
Swimming hole #29.
On July 26 we headed to Colfax once again, stopping for a short walk at the PCT trailhead at Donner Summit.
Bear sightings in July were pretty rare, especially compared to June! There were a few reports by campers of seeing them, but the bears were easily scared off, and rarely got into anything. I kind of wondered how I would react when I once again saw a bear. As I've said before I am not afraid of our American Black Bears, but I respect them. The RESPECT level has naturally increased since my claw scratch on June 22. I was sitting on a bench overlooking Emerald Bay on the morning of July 5 when I heard noise across the road behind me. When I turned to look it was a bear doing appropriate "wild" bear behavior tearing apart a log. There were no campsites nearby, and so I just watched for awhile. Then a coyote walked down the road between us and the bear alerted to it. It was obvious the bear did not like the coyote who had paid no attention to it, so the bear moved on away from the direction the coyote was going - I could hear the bear huffing as it left. I admit to feeling a bit nervous, but mostly I was just happy to see a bear doing what a bear should be doing - foraging natural bear food.
Bear in the bushes, July 5.
We did hear periodic stories about bears being seen in the campground, but not a lot of reports of them getting into things. On July 18, I did report a bear that had damaged two unoccupied tents during the night. Also on the evening of July 17 while Erin and Avi were sitting by their campsite by the campfire they watched a bear walk through their campsite. The strangest occurrence was reported two days in a row by a camper whose bicycle derailer had been damaged by a bear apparently trying to eat off the chain lubricant - that was a first for us.
This picture was taken by a camper on July 23.
The bear had apparently gotten some food on their table earlier.
July 24, my bear scratch scar is fading.
About 3:00 AM on July 28, we heard some commotion next to our RV, including a clunk and a banging sound. Rob investigated by shining a flash light out the window, but by then the apparent bear was gone. In the morning I found an overturned storage box with no food related items in it turned over. But during the month of July I only personally saw one bear! Quite a difference from June!
Osprey in a nest, July 12.
Woodpeckers on on a tree, July 21, at Emerald Bay State Park.
A squirrel and its pinecone.
The squirrels manage to drag cones bigger than themselves across the road.
We've seen more of this behavior this year than in the past.
Mermaid Avi relaxing on the floating chicken.
Rob blowing out his birthday candles.
Just where is this bullfrog?
It's actually in the water at Taylor Creek along the Rainbow Trail.
While Avi played with new found friends at the campground on July 19,
Ruth and I headed to Taylor Creek.
Rob's birthday bear.
Our campground beach the afternoon of July 19.
Grandson Jacob came for a visit July 27-28, so he and I went hiking.
And here we are at Lower Eagle Falls - definitely diminished flows.
July 28.
Domestic Animals on the other side of the mountains:
Daphne enjoying a fort Avi made.
Joy getting groomed.
Comments
Post a Comment