From Yosemite we traveled to South Lake Tahoe, where we stayed for a couple of nights before hitting the road for the long drive back home. The drive to Lake Tahoe was a scenic one with the first part a long drive through the western portion of Yosemite that we had not yet seen; although, that portion of Yosemite is not nearly as scenic as the eastern portion.
My GPS changed our route after we exited the park, supposedly due to a road closure on the original route. Maybe this was a good change, since I had seen portions of the original route during a visit to that area earlier in the year. So I got to see some backroad areas that I would not have seen, otherwise and a long portion of the drive, coming down from a higher elevation, was on a steep, curvy road where the road was visible for a good distance ahead and the steep hills with the roadway winding through was a scenic, if slow drive.
I had done a little online research of the Lake Tahoe area and had a few places in mind for photography. My first plan was to photograph sunrise at a site referred to as “Bonsai Rocks”, because of the little trees growing on big boulders in the edge of Lake Tahoe. I only had indications on a map of where these rocks were located and some descriptions of where to park and follow a trail to the “beach”. So I got up early in the morning intent on going out to find these big rocks with the little trees. But I suddenly realized that I would be wandering around in the dark trying to find a place that I was not sure how to find and I decided that might not be the safest thing to do, so I went back to bed.
After breakfast, my wife and I headed out to drive around Lake Tahoe and I planned to find those rocks along the way. I used my GPS directions on my phone to navigate to the place marked as “Bonsai Rocks”, finding that the destination was a pullout along the highway that skirted around the lake. I had visualized the roadway being adjacent to a beach area, where one could see those rocks from the roadway. That is not what I found. There was no sign at the pull out designating it as an access point for Bonsai Rocks, although I saw numerous trails going down the steep bank of the lake. So I grabbed my camera and began working my way down one of the trails. There were crisscrossing trails going down towards the lake, but no markings. Maybe these trails have been created over the years by people like me wandering around in this area trying to find those Bonsai Rocks. Not only were the Bonsai Rocks not visible from the roadway, they were mostly not visible from the trails, until one lucked upon the correct one and got close to the lake. I initially went the wrong way, finding some big boulders in the edge of the lake, but not the ones I was looking for. So I kept exploring the trails until I spotted the Bonsai Rocks.
All this wandering around these trails in the daylight made me realize I made the right decision not to try this in the dark. Had I had time to scout the area first, I could have marked a trail digitally and followed that digital route or I could have probably had enough early morning pre-sunrise light to navigate by, if I had known where to go.
Not sure that I would actually find the Bonsai Rocks, I made photos of the lake, whenever I could do so along the maze of trails. I even came upon a young couple preparing to swim or sun on some of the near shore boulders and they could not tell me where the Bonsai Rocks were located.
Finally, after much wandering around and working my way northward, I spotted the Bonsai Rocks, which were covered by people, as I had expected from seeing so many kayakers and boaters on the lake.
To be continued,
Ken