July 25, 2015

Less than 24 hours!  Hard to believe this adventure is almost here.  I thought I'd post some fun facts about Lake Tahoe and the trail around it.  First the Trail.

The idea of the Tahoe Rim Trail was proposed in 1978 and the trail itself was completed in 2001.  It is 165 miles long (some places say it's 170 miles long).  The lowest point of the trail crosses the Truckee River at an altitude of 6225 feet above sea level.  The highest point of the trail is Relay Peak at 10,338 feet.  Hiking all 165 miles means a total of 24,400 feet elevation gain/loss.

At 6225 feet elevation, Lake Tahoe is the highest alpine lake in North America and has some of the purest water in the world.  It is a big lake, 21 x 12 miles, with a depth of 1645 ft.  It is the 2nd deepest lake in the U.S. behind Crater Lake in Oregon.  It is the 6th largest lake (after the five Great Lakes) and if its water was spread out, it would cover the entire state of California 14 inches deep.  There are 63 streams flowing into it and only one river flowing out, the Truckee River by Tahoe City on the northwest edge of the lake.

Greg and I are going to camp in the Donner Memorial State Park on Monday, July 27, just outside of Truckee, CA.  Present day Truckee is near where the Donner-Reed Party, a group of Morman emigrants heading west tried to cross the Sierra Nevada Mountains late in the fall of 1846.  A blizzard left them stranded for much of the winter in 1846-47.  It was not a pretty story.  Of the original 87 members, only 48 reached California with many of those who died being eaten by the others to stay alive.  

It's not surprising they were caught in a blizzard.  The average annual snow fall in Truckee is 205 inches, with the single season record being 444 inches!  We will see several ski resorts along the trail.  Squaw Valley, CA (home of the 1960 Winter Olympics) is probably the most well known.

I'm leaving after church tomorrow and picking up Greg in North Platte.  On the way west, we're going to drive clear to the top of the highest point in Nebraska.  At 5424 feet, Panorama Point, southwest of Kimball, is a breath-taking vista.  Ok, as you can see from the picture, it's not really all that breath taking, but it IS almost 200 feet higher then Denver.  Pretty cool huh?  Stay tuned for many more interesting little tidbits to numb your brain in the days ahead!  Thanks for checking in today.

Mike