Tuesday 10-3-23 Fallen Leaf Campground

 

Camping in a National Forest

What an awesome day we had. 

I woke up at 7:00 and because we had power I made mini waffles. After breakfast we got the Minnie ready to go. We're moving on down the road 105 miles to the Lake Tahoe area. Before leaving I walked around to find a dumpster to get rid of our trash, I couldn't find one so we took our trash with us. There was a small drainage dip in front of the sites where we were so Larry had me watch as he pulled out to ensure we didn't drag the step. The step cleared with no problem. Nevada County Campground was a beautiful campground. I would recommend it to anyone in the neighborhood. We were on the road at 8:30.

We started driving through a couple of small cities and their neighborhoods. The cities were busy because it was rush hour. Then we got on I80 and took it to the Truckee exit. I80 was a very rough mountain pass. They were working on it at places. It had deep groves, Larry thinks maybe the damage was caused by vehicles using chains in the winter snow. The places where they were working on the interstate it went to one lane in each directions. At Truckee we got on California 89 to Lake Tahoe.  Tahoe City was very busy with a lot of traffic but it was beautiful because you get great views of Lake Tahoe. They had a great bicycle trail that went through town. We saw a lot of tall pine trees. The road around Lake Tahoe is a curvy two lane highway. Some turns are very tight, you have to go 10mph. An eighteen-wheeler got stuck trying to make it around one of the tight corners so traffic was at a complete stop going both ways. People were trying to help the driver out, including a police officer. They finally had the driver park his rig and the police officer directed traffic around the truck. Our direction was first. We only were stopped about ten minutes. People were saying the truck driver shouldn't have been on this highway but we didn't see any signs indicating that. We felt for him because he probably didn't know the road and was now stuck on the highway. I have no idea how he would get through the corner nor was there anywhere near for him to turn around. I wish him luck. While we were stopped we had a beautiful view of the lake and the mountains, on the peaks there was snow and some places looked like glaciers. 

Lake Tahoe

 

Mountain range with snow

 

18-wheeler stuck

Once we left the trucker we drove by a few state parks and forest campgrounds. We drove past the turn to our campground, we wanted to fill the Minnie with gas. The town we drove to was very busy and had some road construction going on. After filling the Minnie we parked it in a parking lot to get internet because we weren't sure if we would have it in the campground. After Larry checked his e-mail we went to the campground.

We arrived at Fallen Leaf Campground in the National Forest of Lake Tahoe Basin at 12:00. The lady checked us in, the people in the site last night had just left. Larry asked me to back him in the site. He wanted to make sure we could get the motorcycle off the carrier, just in case we wanted to go for a ride. He had to block the back up. It wasn't perfectly leveled but it was ok. Once the Minnie was on its blocks we were setup for three nights. Then we had lunch.

After lunch we relaxed for a little while. While relaxing I looked out the front window and saw a black bear walking through the campground. When we were checking in the lady did tell us they had bears living in the campground. Larry took my camera and we walked around taking pictures. The host said there are 20 bears living in the area. 

Bear sitting at the host site

 

A yurt in the campground

 

Tall beautiful pine trees

Riding through the forest

At 2:00 we went on a 2 mile hike/walk to find the trailhead for tomorrow. We hiked down to Fallen Leaf Lake. It's a beautiful mountain lake. We saw an old ski boat with a skier skiing. They were skiing a slalom course. We also saw a canoe, kayaker and a guy finishing up his paddle boarding. The lady, who was finishing up her skiing was wearing a wet suit. We continued hiking the trail. We walked over the dam to where there were a couple of trails. Larry looked at the trail maps on his phone to see where they went. We turned around and headed back. On the way back we stopped at a creek and watched a few salmon swimming. During our hike we said hi to a bunch of people and met a few dogs. It was starting to get busy. In town you can rent bicycles and a lot of people were riding rentals. The trails here you have to share with bicycles. Some of the trails allow horses. We saw a lady riding a horses on the trail. We were almost back to the Minnie when we saw another bear walking around. We had a great hike/walk.

Fallen Leaf Lake

 

Boating on the lake

 

At dinnertime Larry barbecued sausage links on the grill. After dinner we walked around the campground. We saw the hosts on their golf cart and asked them if they had any hiking trail maps. She said there's a big map by the campground store. We walked to the store and took pictures of the trail maps. We walked around for about a half hour. When we got back we put the grill in the bear box. Then Larry went inside and I went to the restroom. When I was coming back I saw a beautiful big coyote. I couldn't get a picture because he walked too fast. We had a super day.