Monday Sep 11, 2023 - Twin Lakes Campground to Lake Tahoe

Deb here. After two days of clouds and some rain, it was great to wake up to bright blue skies once again. We wanted to get a better look at the Twin Lakes, so we drove up the west side of the lower lake (bumpy dirt road) and then crossed a small bridge and drove on the east side of the upper lake (lovely paved road) to Twin Lakes Resort at the dead end of the furthest lake. The term “resort” is used with a lot of these old-time fishing/camping/boating places, but unlike a glitzy resort they’re all filled with rustic cabins, a small cafe or store, and camping spots. We have loved this whole area, which feels a lot like the Adirondacks in upstate New York. We ate breakfast at the Twin Lakes Resort Cafe (right on the lake) to start our day.

We’d originally planned on driving the most direct route to Lake Tahoe, but we changed our minds after chatting with a man camping in our campground as we packed up. He was a wealth of info about the area, and highly recommended taking the slower and longer way to reach the lake, via Carson Pass. 

So we headed north, turning left on Rt. 89 and driving up and over Monitor Pass, the first pass of the day. We’d thought that maybe we were out of the big mountains, but we were wrong. Yet another stunning snow covered mountain pass. From there we drove to Markleeville, where we stopped at their local visitor’s center and gathered some intel from their exuberant and talkative employee. She let us know that we were at the county seat of Alpine County, California’s smallest county. She commented that what Alpine County had to offer is campgrounds, and wow, National Forest Service campgrounds were indeed everywhere. She also told us that there was only one cell phone tower in the whole county (Verizon), so that’s why cell service is so poor (make that non-existent!)  everywhere.

We continued north on 89, eventually turning on Rt 88 to go to the top of Carson Pass. Once there, I had to stop to see where the Pacific Crest Trail crossed. There’s a sweet visitor center at the top of the pass, with a log book and snacks for hikers, along with a hiker box of supplies out front. I chatted with the volunteer staffing the place and told her she had my dream job! 

From there it was back down the pass, and over one more pass (Luther Pass) before dropping down into the overdeveloped mess that’s South Lake Tahoe. What an assault to the senses after a week of no cell service and very little shopping to drop into an endless strip of every outdoorsy store and restaurant imagineable. The Markleeville visitor center woman had encouraged us to try the Nevada Beach campground, right on the lake over the Nevada border, so that was our destination. We crossed into the Nevada part of the city on Rt. 50 (the main drag and the Lincoln Highway) and it was sadly comical to see the casinos. California on one side with lots of development but no highrises, and bam, there’s Nevada with huge high rise casinos (think Harrah’s, Hard Rock Casino, and Lucky Beaver). I bet the Californians have lots to say about that part of the strip!

No room at Nevada Beach, so we drove another mile to Zephyr Cove Resort, a huge campground, restaurant, cabins, and hotel with beachfront. We were able to score a spot in the RV park (for $$), parked, packed some snacks, and headed over to the beach with our chairs. I was in my happy place, swimming, sitting in the sun, and listening to the water lap against the shore. I got rather teary, thinking back to all of the time spent on Lake Ontario over the years. There’s something about the sound of gentle lake waves on a beach that really get the memories flowing. John took advantage of the great cell service and spent some time catching up with his brother from further up the beach.

Post-beach it was showers, dinner at Casey’s down the street, shopping at Safeway (2, actually, since the first wasn’t stocked well), filling up with gas ($$$), and a load of laundry. Another great day and back into the wilderness tomorrow.