Adventure Camera - Kayaking Lake Tahoe - Day 4

The final day of our Lake Tahoe circumnavigation was probably my favorite.  Since our base camp was Zephyr Cove, we paddled the last section between Sand Harbor and Zephyr Cove in reverse, and once again hired Joe at Shuttle Around Tahoe to drive us and our gear back up to Sand Harbor early in the morning.  As was the norm for the week, the water was serene as we launched, and we took a little more time to play in the rock gardens along the shore than we had on previous days.  Most of the shoreline along this section isn't developed, and that made for some wonderful wilderness-like paddling and great scenery.

The locals also enjoy the rock gardens...

Josh usually leads when we paddle, at least when I'm in photo-mode.  This allows me to take photos of him without his knowledge....

Because the water in the lake is so clear, you can see every detail of the bottom of the lake (at least when the water is calm).  A lot of what would normally be beach was underwater due to the high lake level, and we were fascinated by the ripples left in the sand.  Luckily, I carry a waterproof camera, so I spent at least some portion of each day floating along with my hand and camera stuck in the water beside my boat to capture the bottom of the lake.

While we were planning out this trip, we kept talking about the prospect of pulling up on a beach and going for a swim whenever we got too warm.  With all the development along the north shore, and the relatively chilly water temperature, it just hadn't happened, and I pretty much gave up on that.  Then, we pulled up to a completely deserted, gorgeously sandy cove for lunch, and Josh suddenly said that we needed to swim out to the rock garden 100 or so yards off shore.  And off we went!  The water was chilly, as expected, though the neoprene helped quite a bit, and we luxuriously sunned ourselves out on the rocks for 15 minutes before heading back to the boats.

As we paddled closer and closer to Zephyr Cove and the conclusion of our trip, buildings popped up on the shore, including the Thunderbird Lodge, and the community of Glenbrook.  Glenbrook used to be a large lumber settlement, and piles from the old docks still poke up through the water in strange, jagged lines all over the bay.

A short time later, after hitting some of the largest (and very fun!) chop we had seen on the lake, we were back at Zephyr Cove, and celebrated our 72-mile accomplishment with prime rib (yum!) and banana splits.

Overall, a great trip, and I'd love to paddle in Lake Tahoe again!  We'll be back to our regularly scheduled, wedding-related programming next week with more gorgeous shoots and beautiful brides, so stay tuned!

Happy Thursday!