Journeys›Photograph

Snow and Sun Around Lake Tahoe

·Placer County, California·#winter#skiing#snow#lake tahoe#dogs#landscape-photography
Snowy mountain landscape with pine trees, ski slopes, a ski lift, and a large lake under a clear blue sky.

Skied Palisades in the morning, two days into the year. From the ridge you can see straight across to Tahoe — the lake surface sits around 6,225 feet and the snow station up top reads 8,010, so there's nearly two thousand feet of drop between your skis and the largest alpine lake in North America. Off the back side it's the opposite view, ridge after ridge running west, dark timber in the valleys and snow on everything above it.

Came down midday and took the dogs to the water. Whatever ice had been on the sand was gone, and the little one waded straight in while the other stood at the edge, tail up, not committing past the wet gravel.

Then the long way home around the lake, pulling off wherever the shoulder allowed. No wind at all, so the surface went flat and the far mountains sat doubled in it. At one stop you could look straight down through the water to the boulders, that turquoise band before the bottom drops away — the clarity everyone cites, actually visible from a guardrail. The dogs slept the whole loop.

Expansive view of snowy mountains with pine trees, a valley, and ski slopes with people and a chairlift.A large blue lake in the foreground, with snow-covered mountains and pine forests under a clear blue sky.A black and white dog drinks from a clear lake while a tan dog stands on the sandy shore.A large blue lake with snow-capped mountains under a bright blue sky with wispy clouds, framed by foreground trees and a guardrail.Blue lake bordered by dark evergreen trees in the foreground, with snow-capped mountains under a blue sky in the distance.Tall pine trees frame a clear blue lake with snow-capped mountains under a bright blue sky.A vast lake with evergreen trees framing the foreground, distant snow-capped mountains, and a blue sky with wispy clouds.A scenic view of a vast blue lake with snow-capped mountains and pine trees in the foreground.

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