Lake Tahoe
We took a decision that once we moved to Folsom we should visit all the
parks in California. The trips are
planned for every weekend . On the 28th of
August we started out to Lake Tahoe , a panoramic place at about 90 miles from Folsom. We hired
the car and Hrishi drove the car along US50 E navigated (or occasionally
misdirected) by Ambu . The drive was very scenic
particularly when we were approaching the lake. There were pine and conifer trees on either
side of the expressway.
Lake Tahoe is a fresh water-glacial water- lake said
to be formed by geologic block faulting about 2
to 3 million years ago. A geologic block fault is a fracture in the
Earth's crust causing blocks of land to move up or down. Uplifted blocks became
the Carson Range
on the East and the Sierra Nevada on the West. The
blocks that dropped down formed the Lake Tahoe
Basin in between. The lake is in
two States, California and Nevada.
Since it is a glacial lake, the water is really blue. The water is also so
clear that at some points you can see underwater objects as deep as 75 feet
below. The water remains clear since most of the snow and rain fall directly
into the lake or drains through granitic soils which
are relatively sterile and create a good filtering system. 
It is the highest fresh water lake in North
America at over 6000 feet above mean sea level. It is about 1000
feet deep on an average, the actual depth varying depending on the point of
measurement. It has over 72 miles of shore line providing great spots for
hiking, camping, picnicking and sightseeing. 63 streams flow into the lake and
the only river that flows out is the Truckee flowing
past Reno and into the Pyramid
Lake. Tahoe's waters do not flow
out into the ocean. The size of the lake is so large that if the daily
evaporation could be recovered, it would meet the daily requirements of a city
the size of Los Angeles!! The
waters of Tahoe do not ever freeze since the cold water sinks to the bottom
dislodging the warmer water to reach the surface. Emerald bay is the only bay
in the lake and lies on the Western shore of the lake. Emerald
Bay is a designated National
Natural Landmark for its brilliant panorama of mountain-building processes and
glacier carved granite and the area comes under Emerald
Bay State Park.
There are a number of trails for hiking all around the lake providing
spectacular views and we did a good amount of hiking both days along different
trails. This place is about 85 miles away from Folsom. So we preferred to
return home saturday evening
and went again on Sunday to see other areas. 
There is a small island inside Emerald
Bay called Fannette Island,
the only island in the lake. Boating is possible in the lake. We went to the
boat site; but were keen on hiking only. Could see a lot of
people canoeing etc. We went to a lonely beach (there are quite a few if
you will scramble down from trails along the rim of the lake) where we spent
quite some time and also had our lunch after which we set off again. Watching
the water which was glittering with some mineral 
deposits
was a lot of fun- reminded me of the Gold Rush- Found no gold though. Reaching
the beach and hiking again meant climbing up- even scrambling at points! - The
effort was well worth it for we were able to view the lake from different
points. Vikingsholm is a 30-room castle built around
1929-30 as a summer home on the shores of Emerald
Bay at a very scenic spot. It is
said to be a fine example of 
Scandinavian architecture in the Western
Hemisphere. The original owner of the house, Mrs. Lora Josephine
Knight though of English descent, desired her summer home built in Scandinavian
style since the Emerald Bay
reminded her of the fjords in Norway.
A lot of planning and research went into the building of the structure. The
structure even has a sod roofing!! She also had a tea
house built on top of the rocks in Fannette Island
for entertaining her in-house guests. Now the Teahouse is vandalised
and not in good shape. The Vikingsholm is however
still maintained in very good condition. The trail to Vikingsholm
is just a mile long but drops down by 500 feet in that distance and quite
steep. The sight of the extent to which the rocks have been 
eroded
was awesome. We found a number of birds all around Vikingsholm
though we could not identify them. There is plenty more to see and do and if
things go according to plan, I foresee many more trips to Lake Tahoe.