Adventures in Tahoe

I went to Lake Tahoe last weekend for some rock climbing and hiking.

I climbed with friends at Lover's Leap, where there are lots of climbing routes to pick from. We did Bear's Reach, so-called for a big "bear's reach" between two holds. It's a 3-pitch climb totaling 400 feet.



It turned into an epic adventure that we were not planning on. We grossly underestimated how long it would take us to finish our climb. We started climbing in the afternoon, and at 10pm yours truly was still stuck on the rock climbing. Darkness!

All I could think was "Darwin Award".

Well, I made it and now I can say I've climbed at night...and hopefully won't have to do it again:)

Lesson learned: *always* bring a flashlight.

We went for a hike the next day, hiking over boulders, through ferns, past lakes, and even through patches of snow! We had the obligatory snowball fight, and I finished the day with a hunk of snow melting inside my shirt.




I was disappointed that we didn't see any coyotes or bears. We heard a coyote howling in the distance, and Sierra the chocolate lab could easily be mistaken for a brown bear. Here he is taking a dip: