Wednesday 10-4-23 Camping & Hiking at Fallen Leaf Campground

 

Fallen Leaf Lake

We had a beautiful day with the high in the low 60s. We slept with Wave3 on all night. At times it got warm but neither one of us wanted to get out of bed to turn it off. When Larry woke up it was 68 degrees in the Minnie, outside it was in the high 40s.

I got up and made cinnamon rolls. After breakfast we went on a 4.25 mile hike. We wore a light jacket and had to remove it. We hiked from the site to where we were yesterday and picked up the trail that went by the lake. The lake was very nice and you could see the slalom course better. We walked the trail to the dam and took the cat-crawl to the other side of a creek. Then we took the trail to the left. As we hiked we went through the forest of pines and other trees and along the shores of the lake. Larry had read there use to be a mill here. We think we may have see some of the remains of it's buildings. We saw a dog and a lady running on the trail. Occasionally we stopped to look at the lake. We took a loop trail that went by some lake homes. The housing area was called Fallen Leaf Lake Tahoe Basin Residents. While Larry was checking the trail map the lady and her dog came off the trail. She lived in this area and we talked a little bit. Her dog was very friendly. From there we took the road to a forest sign and picked up the trail again. Before hiking back we rested at a picnic table. It looked like a day area. Afterwards we picked up the trail where we met a group of people and three dogs. We asked one lady if her German Shepard was friendly. She said it was very friendly but the smaller dog was unpredictable so she carried it. After saying hi to the people and dogs we continued. We saw an old cabin. After crossing over the dam we took the trail that followed the creek. We had a super hike.

 

Old cabin

 

Remains of a foundation

Dam at Fallen Leaf Lake

 

Pine cone from one of the trees

 After lunch we went on a walk to the main road and to Lake Tahoe Forest Service Visitor Center. There were three busses of kids so the area was very busy. The actually visitor center was closed. It's only open on Thursdays, Fridays and Saturdays. We didn't stay long. We might go back in the morning to do our hike. By the time we got back we had walked 2 miles.

We spent much of the rest of the day relaxing with a book in our chairs outside. 

Towards sunset we walked to the lake and sat on a bench looking over the lake. There were four teenage girls who went swimming, they said the water was very cold and the rocks were hard to walk on. There is no way I would get into that cold mountain lake.

We had an outstanding day.