Journeys›Photograph

Clear Skies and Cold Water on Tahoe

·Placer County, California·#boating#lake tahoe#spring#sierra nevada#river
A landscape with rolling hills, pine trees, and sagebrush under a clear blue sky, with snow-capped mountains in the distance.

Started the morning along the river outside town, where the sagebrush is still winter-gray but the willows along the banks have gone green at the base. The water is running fast and clear over the boulders — snowmelt cold, the kind you don't wade into for long. Snow is still holding on the high ridges to the west.

Then down to the lake for the afternoon. Clear skies, cold water — the boat traffic was thin, mostly empty buoys at the marina, with the ski runs above it down to a last stripe of snow near the top. We ran south along the west shore toward Emerald Bay. The peaks behind the bay are mostly bare rock now, snow only in the chutes. The lake itself was that deep May blue, barely a ripple most of the way, and nobody was swimming.

A clear river with large rocks flows past brushy riverbanks and a pine-forested hill under a blue sky.A wide river with rapids and large rocks flows through a valley with pine trees and bushes under a clear blue sky.A river with many rocks flows through a tree-lined valley with distant snow-capped mountains under a clear sky.A river flows over rocks, bordered by brush and a pine forest, with distant snowy mountains under a clear blue sky.A deep blue lake with boats and a shoreline with buildings and trees, backed by a forested mountain with a ski slope.A view from a boat showing a vast blue lake, distant mountains with some snow, and a clear blue sky.A wide blue lake fronts tree-covered mountains with rocky areas and snow patches under a clear sky.Blue lake with a forested shoreline, a small boat, and snow-capped mountains under a clear blue sky.

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