Leon Turnbull Photography

So there apparently were great sunsets all week at Lake Tahoe. Except the day we were there of course.

It looked like it might be another good one when we headed up to the north shore on Thursday after work. There were plenty of clouds, the possibilities looked very good, but alas there were too many clouds. It was raining when we arrived, and it was a good drenching, even though it apparently only rained 0.1 inches. Well, we had dinner, then walked around, got ice cream, before heading back to the lupine fields.

I had seen and heard plenty about these lupine fields along the shore of Lake Tahoe, and was wanting to get a good sunset photo from here. Well, this is the most color that ever showed that night. It is not a bad photo, really, and Tara and I had a very nice date night, so it was all good. But I’ll be heading back here some day again.

Here’s some alpenglow of Mt Brokeoff in Lassen Volcanic National Park. The alpenglow only lasted a few seconds and then poof it was gone. I was really hoping those clouds over the mountain would color up a bit but they never did. C’est la vie, I guess.

Well this government shutdown has me annoyed to no end. I would not even care if the parks were closed if they still let us in there to hike the trails, but we cannot even do that. How dare the government take our land away from us. Now Utah is opening their national parks (paying the feds for it), but will California do the same? Of course not. Our governor doesn’t give a crap about our parks. He has proven that already. Oh how I would love to knock some sense into our politicians. This had all better be settled before waterfall season starts or else…

Speaking of which … when “will” it start? Who the heck knows but I sure am anxious about it. I just read one report saying that we could have an above average winter in California (about time, I say). I am hoping so, but then again I read another report we will be having a weak El Nino which is exactly what we had last year, and that makes me think it will be another below average season. How about we split the difference and have a NORMAL AVERAGE  season? After two awful years in a row, that would make me happy enough.

It has been a rough week for me due to being sick. I missed a couple days of work with something or other. Stomach flu, I guess, though I thought it was food poisoning at first. No distasteful vomiting, pleasantly enough, but it was enough horridness to keep me in bed a couple days. Now on Saturday, I have a darn awful cold. Just when I was starting to feel better. Ugh. Anyway, I did recover briefly enough on Friday such that I wanted to get out and hike on Friday evening after work.

I was hoping to catch another good sunset in Lake Tahoe, but it did not look too promising Friday afternoon. It seemed that it was getting more and more cloudy as the day progressed, and rain was moving into the area as well. It could be a total washout. Sometimes Tahoe can be amazing, and sometimes not so much. And most times you won’t know until you get up there which it will be. My alternative was to get up early Saturday and hike somewhere else, but I was starting to feel the cold coming on already and I knew I would not want to get up at the break of dawn on Saturday. Sleeping in was going to be a good option. It was Friday evening sunset at Tahoe or bust. Hopefully not a bust. A few prayers were made.

I have had in mind for a while to try some different hikes at Tahoe for sunset, rather than the usual suspects. But you cannot really decide until you get there to see what the weather is scheming. I got up to the summit, and geez Louise nothing looked too much good. There were heavy clouds everywhere and definitely rain in some spots. It did not seem like it mattered what I did or where I went. Sunset would be most bust-ful. I decided then to make headway on my initial plan and head over to the east side of the lake. I wanted to get a decent hike in anyway, even if it was raining, especially after not doing any exercise this week due to my sicko-ness. Lo and behold, when I arrived at the trailhead, there was some light over the lake. It might not be so bust-ful after all.

It is about a mile from the busy highway where I parked down to Skunk Harbor (Skunk HarboUr for my Canadian comrades). It is a simple and easy hike, except that it seemed to be a lot more descending than I expected – meaning that ascension would be coming later. I had the harbor all to myself. Not even a skunk in sight. It was gorgeous. I have not ever been down here before, but I had seen pictures and I knew I wanted to photograph the lake from here. In particular, I really wanted to see the setting sun line up nicely with this old pier, or pylons, or pile of logs sticking up out of the lake, or whatever they were. Unfortunately, the setting sun was not going to co-operate, thus I had to make do as best I could and shoot from a different angle. Perhaps later in the winter the sun will be more considerate of my needs. I may have to return at that time. And I may just do that, especially if another dry winter is on the horizon.

The sunset, as you can see, was certainly an amazing one. I unquestionably have had good fortune lately at Lake Tahoe with color. God is good. It is not the best sunset I have experienced at Tahoe, but definitely is right up near the top. The color lasted quite a bit longer after sunset this time, getting more and more intense, until finally it started to dissipate. I packed up, by now almost dark, and headed back up the hill, arriving back at the car, huffing deeply, and well after dark. It was a dazzling evening at Lake Tahoe.

No, your eyes are not deceiving you. This is *not* a waterfall. I can’t shoot waterfalls all the time, you know. Well, I could. In fact, I am not sure the last time I even posted a non-waterfall shot. Hmmm. Well there are, as you may know, three nice waterfalls within a mile of this location, and even more within a couple more miles. And yes I did see one of these waterfalls as I walked up the trail to this lake, but photograph it I did not. My primary mission, should I choose to accept it, was to photograph Eagle Lake at sunset, and photograph it I did.

I was not planning on going to any waterfalls this weekend or even to go hiking at all. I was just going to spend the weekend at home. Relax. Take it easy. Drink lots of beer. Then I heard from certain friends (thanks Karen) that Lake Tahoe was experiencing unusual amounts of smoke and clouds from the Rim Fire. It seemed to me there would be a strong possibility of a very nice, if not spectacular, sunset at Tahoe this weekend. So last minute plan change: drive up to Tahoe after work on Friday evening and find a spot to photograph the sunset. No waterfalls in this plan. Just beautiful Tahoe.

The Rim Fire … currently burning out of control just to the west of Yosemite National Park (far to the south of Lake Tahoe). It has actually now entered Yosemite and is heading rapidly towards Hetch Hetchy. By the time you read this, Hetch Hetchy may or may not in fact be burning. It is turning out to be one of the largest fires in California’s history. After two years of drought, everything is bone dry, and the fires are going nuts. It is certainly sad when people lose their home due to a forest fire, and also sad if beautiful scenic locations are burned (such as Hetch Hetchy if the fire reaches that far). On the other hand, there is much good to fires as well. One of these things is waterfalls. The Rim Fire has already burned quite a few waterfalls. How is that good? Am I nuts? Well it will be bad and ugly in some of the very scenic places (such as the Rainbow Pool area), but there are some other waterfalls that are now going to be suddenly accessible, which up until now have not been accessible due to the inordinate amount of brush surrounding them. If that brush has burned, it will possibly be much easier to reach these waterfalls. I can think of a few in this area that fall into this category, and I am already looking forward to trying to get to them (in the next two or three years).

Anyway, back to Lake Tahoe. There are so many scenic spots in Lake Tahoe for a sunset or sunrise, and any of these can be spectacular or duds. It is a long drive up to Tahoe from Sacramento to see a dud sunset. When I go there for a sunrise or sunset, I never have a specific location in mind. I wait and see what the weather is doing when I arrive there. As I drive down into Tahoe from the summit, I can see where the clouds are lining up and where the best possibility for color is going to be. At first, it seemed to me that Emerald Bay was going to be the best spot. The haze was thick over the lake, but the edge of it seemed to be at the west end of the lake, meaning that it might really color up nicely at sunset over the Bay. When I got over there, however, I changed my mind. The haze was just too thick over the Bay, and it did not look like it was going to color much, if at all (and I was right – there was zero color over Emerald Bay at sunset). I changed my plan and decided instead to hike up to Eagle Lake for sunset. This was a much better idea anyway. I wanted to get a decent hike in, and I have wanted to photograph Eagle Lake at sunset for quite awhile now. This was my ticket. It is only a mile up to Eagle Lake, but it is a bit of a huffer with some elevation gain, and I arrived at the south side of Eagle Lake about 20 minutes before sunset, and there was no one else around. Perfect.

Well I was not the only one around. I could hear noise at the far north end of the lake, splashing in the water. Some big animal? I thought I heard faint voices. Campers, I suppose, though I saw nothing. I heard what appeared to be a duck whistle. I finally came to the conclusion that it must have been those weird Duck Dynasty people trying to scare up all the ducks and other wildlife in the area.

I would not say the sunset was epic by any means, and it was not precisely what I had envisioned, but actually it was pretty darn sweet. Thank you Lord. But it did not last very long. Only minutes after sunset, the color all disappeared. It left as quickly as it had come. Ok then, I packed up and headed back down the hill, thinking I might even get back to the car well before dark. Not so much. The sunset disappeared quickly and the darkness came just as quickly. No problem. I had my headlamp so I was not concerned, in fact, I was expecting to hike back down in the dark, just not quite so early as I did. It was a beautiful evening at Lake Tahoe and definitely worth the trip up there from the valley.

All right so this one is a bit interesting. This little waterfall is not really something that I would include on my website. It is 20 ft. high, but is disqualified because it is not on a named stream. It is just a little side stream and cascade. Yet it does flow for much of the year, even in winter of all the silly things. It is not a named waterfall of course or otherwise documented elsewhere. So I believe that means I have naming rights to it. Hoo Hoo.

Thus my name for this little thing is Gladys Falls, in honour of my mother. It is, after all, in her very backyard (practically). It is found along a new little trail that begins immediately below my mother’s property in Rossland BC. And she is the first one (that I know of) that photographed it. So are there any objections? Good, I thought not.

I went down here with Tara and my dog Kaya one day. Kaya just loves Grandma’s house in Rossland in the winter, she loves the snow and loves going for walks in the snow (even if it is deep!). She did not want to leave with us when we were on our way to drive home, she wanted to stay at Grandma’s house (I am not kidding). She just abhors the car rides now (and of course, it is a 800 mile drive to my mother’s house!). This is not good for her at all. She used to be so much better when she was younger and did not mind the car rides. Not so anymore, and this was the worst year ever for her. She basically just gets so stressed in the car the entire time we are driving, and not much we can do about it. Poor old girl. I think her days of going to Grandma’s house in Rossland are over, unless we can figure out a solution. Maybe give her a couple beers before the drive. Yeah, that’s the ticket.