Tahoe City Meadows,
originally uploaded by Gate-Way.

This is very close to the cabin in Tahoe City, in fact its about 25 min walk from the cabin. Each Year this meadow changes from snow, to a swamp, to a nice field. Just thought I would share this picture from Lake Tahoe. It’s been a while since I had a chance to update my blog.

Of course this was during Memorial Day weekend, usually this time of year its in the 70′s and shorts weather, but we ran into snow this time around.

Where Am I,
originally uploaded by Gate-Way.

I was lost for days and I finally saw the light at the end of the tunnel, luckily my trusty head lamp didn’t give out after being stuck in this coal mine for what seemed like 20 minutes

This picture was taken in the Prospect Tunnel in Somersville, CA a coal mine community back in the 1860′s.

“From the 1860s through the turn of the last century, five coal mining towns thrived in the Black Diamond area: Nortonville, Somersville, Stewartville, West Hartley and Judsonville. As the location of California’s largest coal mining operation, nearly four million tons of coal (“black diamonds”) were removed from the earth. The residents of the mining towns were from all over the world, and their life was characterized by hard work and long hours. Occasional celebrations and a variety of organizations and social activities served to alleviate the drudgery of daily existence.

The coal mines had a significant impact on California’s economy. By the time operations ceased due to rising production costs and the exploitation of new energy sources, much of California’s economy had been transformed from a rural to an industrial base.” – ebparks.com

The Stewartville Hike goes by this section and the whole hike is about 7 miles long. If your in the East Bay I would defiantly recommend this hike but in the fall because it would be way to hot in the summer.  You can download a pdf map from here.

A few weeks back, a few friends and I went up to our regular place in the mountains for some nice R&R, Hiking, Drinking and a game of Mensch argere Dich nicht (The Board game “Sorry” for US folks). While we did our battle of Sorry the guy who never seems to loose that game won again. Oh well we all know he cheated.

We did some really nice Hikes both days in Tahoe. The first one was a 6-7 mile hike to Ellis Peak and the other one Barker Pass into Tahoe city where we ended right up at the bridge tender for a few pints of beer before catching a cab back to the cabin.

If you would like to see the trails we did and pictures taken load these files into the Free Google Earth viewer.

• Ellis Peak Trail Tahoe
• Barker Pass to Tahoe City

If you don’t have Google Earth Installed check out the hikes in Google Maps.

• Barker Pass to Tahoe City
• Ellis Park Trail Tahoe

Enjoy…. Can’t wait till the snow starts falling for some snowboarding.