A Snowy Lake Tahoe and Off to Yosemite!

Once we got up and moving, it was time for us to head into California. Michael and I wanted to go to Lake Tahoe since we both have heard great things about it. I’m sure it truly is a beautiful sight to see, but we’ll get to that in a second. The route we took to get to Incline Village at Lake Tahoe followed Mt. Rose highway. As we climbed up and up towards the 8,911 foot summit of Mount Rose, we realized how important those “chains required” signs were back in a nice, dry Reno. The drive across the icy, snow covered road was pretty sketchy, but also amazing. We even drove past a nice herd of motorcycles that had been abandoned by their owners. A little disappointed upon our arrival at Lake Tahoe, we saw that the snow storm completely blocked out our view (I guess we’ll just have to go back.) However it did make for a quaint drive through the town.

We got gas, switched drivers, and started driving through Inyo National Forest on our way to Yosemite! Remember that snow storm we were talking about? Well after driving up some windy roads and arriving at the entrance to the park, we saw that everyone was turning around. The lady in the entrance booth said that chains were required on vehicles to drive into the valley, but the park actually wasn’t letting anyone in at all. We were a little bummed since we had half of our day left to kill still. Luckily we only had to backtrack a few miles down the road to get back into the National Forest to find a camp spot. Taking a few turns here and there down random forest roads we came to a little pull off and decided it was good enough to park at for the evening/night.

One thing I’ll say, you would think living in a tiny space gets boring, but anytime we had to call it an early night on the trip, we never had a problem keeping ourselves occupied and having a good time. We ended up making tacos, playing cards, and just hanging out until we fell asleep. The next morning is where the fun picks up again as we head into Yosemite National Park. I’ll leave you with that for now because I think Yosemite needs its own dedicated post to get all the details in and do our time there justice. Stay tuned!