Chambers Landing to Sugar Pine Point

Today I finished the last little bit of west shore that I needed to connect from Crystal Bay to Meeks. I started from Chambers Landing. At 9:45 am there was only one car in the parking lot, but if you have to pee beware, because the port-a-potties were still locked.

It turned out to be one of the best paddling spots. After paddling a mile or so past some beautiful Tahoma houses, you round the corner to the completely wild shore of Sugar Pine Point. I even saw baby Mergansers. There are a lot of big rocks close to the surface, though, so be careful not to run into one.  You catch the wind and all the boat traffic at Sugar Pine Point, so it seems like this paddle would be best to do early on a weekday. Definitely not on a weekend.

The view of Homewood on the way back.

And, a lovely Tahoma home with raised Chris-Craft that I would love to own!

The details....

Kayaking at Sugar Pine Point

This doesn't count for paddleboarding but the pictures were so lovely that I wanted to post. It's a long walk from the car to the beach at Sugar Pine Point so we rented kayaks and paddled around with the kids. I think this is the most beautiful spot on the lake. We went several times this summer when it was very calm, but sometimes - like today - it can get very wavy from all the boat traffic going by the point. The south side is almost always deserted...

Here's Phil, doing a flip off of the end of the pier. 

Commons Beach toward Sunnyside

Before I bought a paddleboard, I always rented at the Tahoe City marina. Once I had my own board I moved on to other locations, so it's been a long time since I paddled out of Commons Beach. I didn't have much time today, though, so I went back to my old haunt. I'd forgotten what a great place it is to paddle from.  Just ten feet from parking to the water. Nice, clean bathroom. Green lawn to dry your board on at the end (if you can avoid the goose poop).

If you make a right out of the beach, the water is very shallow so all the boats are anchored a long way from shore. It makes a great little alley that you can paddle in without any boats--which was great on the holiday. I paddled to where I could see Sunnyside and then turned around.

Here's looking back at Commons Beach. The Tahoe City kayaks kiosk is on the left. And a very long Chris Craft that I saw close to Sunnyside.

Chambers Landing south with bad weather

Even though it is a holiday week, I decided to drive down the west shore and see how easy it would be to launch from Chamber's Landing. Although there's a private beach club, there's also a little public beach (no grass, only port-a-potties) that its fairly easy to launch from. The water was very choppy and there were dark clouds but I found a great parking spot so I decided to give it a try.

Before I'd even gone a mile it started to look really dark so I turned around. The lake got smoother because all of the boats went in.

 

But for the last 1/4 mile it was raining.  (You can see some drops on the water.) I heard thunder just as I was pulling back into the beach.  Will have to check this out again.

Carnelian Bay to Kings Beach

Another amazing day. Hot, no wind, very little boat traffic. (Which is surprising given that next week is 4th of July).  We launched from the same place as yesterday but went in the opposite direction.

The water was very calm so we cut across Agate Bay toward Kings Beach and then followed the shoreline back. A lot of people were out on boards and kayaks (including a trip of 20 yellow kayaks).  There were also a bunch of divers out of Waterman's.

Here's a picture taken around 9:30 am - the water was amazingly flat until the last half mile.

We saw some pretty homes and Chris-Crafts, including this one that was raised by the dock. 

Not as far as yesterday but still a nice workout.

Carnelian Bay to Skylandia

A wonderful day.  Hot. Warm water. No wind. Very little boat traffic. 

We went in at the little beach by Garwoods, which is a great place to launch. Easy parking, a bathroom, and a little grassy area for drying your board at the end (if you can avoid the goose poop).

First day of 2013 - Obexers toward Sugar Pine

It was bad news when ski season ended early, but it was great news that summer would be off to a fast start. Unfortunately although it was in the '70s in Tahoe City all week, by the time we arrived for Memorial Day weekend it had dropped down to the '50s.

Jenn and I went out on Saturday. We decided to go out of Obexer's since there would be too much boat traffic to paddle there later in the year. This was the first time I've ever worn a wet suit paddling, but the air temperature was just over 50 and the water was COLD.  Even in a wet suit I never broke into a sweat.

With no boat traffic, the water was totally flat, even though it was a little windy. We did about two miles toward Sugar Pine Point but the wind picked up a little and we (I) was a little nervous about having to fight the wind back so we turned around.