Baldwin Beach to DL Bliss

This was my first time back to Baldwin Beach since paddling from Baldwin to Tahoe Keys in September 2012.  What a beautiful spot, golden marshy, not at all like the west shore. The water is turquoise and you can see that the beaches toward South Lake are beautiful too. But not recommended for a weekend.

When we drove past Emerald Bay at 8:00 am there was one car in the parking lot. Baldwin was fairly empty, so we put our boards in and paddled back toward Emerald Bay. A few houses on the left, then wild land. There was not a lot of boat traffic so we crossed the opening to Emerald Bay easily. Everything is a lot more shallow this year!  We paddled up DL Bliss for a couple of miles. There were a few water skiers, but all in all not bad. Saw a couple of paddlers, a couple of kayakers, and a couple of osprey. There was very little wind and waves. I don't really like to paddle here, though. The water is so very deep and dark and CREEPY.

The way back was a little scary. The channel to Emerald Bay is narrow and of course four different boats were going through as we were trying to cross, including one asshole who darted quickly in front of us and gave us huge waves.

When we drove back toward Emerald Bay there were thousands of cars and an officer was ticketing everyone parked on the street. Avoid this on the weekends!

Julia paddling back to Baldwin after the opening to Emerald Bay.

Baldwin looking toward South Lake.