Off the Beaten Path in Tahoe - Gold Country Families E-Magazine

Off-The-Beaten-Path Excursions Expand Tahoe Horizons

by Pettit Gilwee

North Lake Tahoe has been an adventure haven for skiers since the late 1800s when the first winter carnivals were held in Truckee and the state’s first ski lift soon followed. The frenzy continued as Squaw Valley captured the world’s attention with the 1960 Winter Olympics.

Today, while the destination evolves and wanders off the slopes, a resurgence of some of the original snow sports is taking place.

Dog Sledding is quickly becoming a must-do-off-slope winter excursion for all travelers. Tours are offered in Olympic Valley, Sugar Bowl Ski Resort and off Highway 89 north of Truckee. Guests can get an exclusive glimpse of spectacular Sierra Nevada back country via beautiful Alaskan huskies led by an experienced musher. Four-to-20 mile tours are available, as are moonlight expeditions.

If horse-drawn carriages are preferred, sleigh rides through the meadows of Squaw Valley carry passengers by way of Belgian horses on elegant, handcrafted open sleighs.

Skijoring, a Norwegian sport, is a cross between cross-country skiing and dog sledding. Leaning more toward cross-country, skijoring is defined, by the American Heritage College Dictionary as “a sport in which a skier is drawn over ice or snow by a horse or vehicle.” In Lake Tahoe, it’s generally a dog that’s involved. According to Skijor Now, one of the sport’s professional organizations, any breed of dog can learn to skijor, but should be energetic and weigh more than 50 pounds. First-time skijorers should have some cross-country skiing experience and set aside the notion that the dog is towing the skier. Though all dogs instinctively pull, the skier does everything possible to unburden the dog. Skijor.com recommends Page Meadows in Tahoe City, Mt. Rose north of Incline Village and Brockway Summit between Truckee and Kings Beach as popular spots for skijoring.

Ambitious skiers, boarders and snowshoers can explore the Sierra Crest without having to snow camp by taking rustic refuge in Sierra Club huts. The huts (Peter Grubb, Benson, Bradley, Ludlow) are about a day’s ski apart or about a day’s journey from various trailheads.A pair of secluded wilderness cabins can also be found on Spooner Lake’s 9,000-acre trail system outside Incline Village. The Wild Cat and Spooner Lake cabins are accessible by ski or snowshoe and don’t require as much trekking as the Sierra Club huts (2.25 and 2/3 miles above Spooner Lake, respectively).

Experienced and first-time ice fisherman (and women) can head to Boca, Prosser and Stampede Reservoirs outside Truckee. There are also frozen lakes to be found off Highway 89 towards

Sierraville and off Highway 88 near Kirkwood. For maps, tips and equipment, head to Mountain Hardware in Truckee. To cast a line on the waters of Lake Tahoe, check out Mickey’s Big Mack Charters out of Carnelian Bay or Reel Deal Sportfishing out Tahoe City for year-round charters.

A bit of turn-of-the-century nightlife includes moonlight snowshoe tours, which are offered by Northstar-at-Tahoe, Squaw Valley USA and Sugar Pine Point State Park on the West Shore that give unique and incomparable views of the Sierra skyline.

North Lake Tahoe is a 45-minute drive from the Reno Tahoe International Airport, two hours from Sacramento International Airport and just over three hours from San Francisco International Airport. For lodging reservations, recreation and event details, call North Lake Tahoe at 1-877-949-3296 or visit http://www.GoTahoeNorth.com.

Visitor information centers are located at 380 North Lake Boulevard in Tahoe City and 969 Tahoe Boulevard in Incline Village. The North Lake Tahoe Visitors Bureaus, Incline Village Crystal Bay Visitors Bureau and the North Lake Tahoe Resort Association, work together to promote North Lake Tahoe as a premier, year-round destination.