Having scoped out the lake from the shore and from the mountain peaks it was time to get out there. Unfortunately I did not bring the Axis with me to California so wake surfing was out. Good thing that paddle boards are everywhere so we (wife and I) grabbed two and some paddles and headed out on the water for some exploration.
Pictures do not do justice to the ridiculous clarity of the water in Lake Tahoe. We are super spoiled on Merrymeeting Lake in NH with clean, clear water but this lake is on a different level. You can cruise around on the board and without a problem look down to the bottom at 30 or 40 feet like it was right there.
We started early and the giant lake was perfect glass. The scale of the lake was hard to comprehend when we were out there. I picked a remote, isolated beach as a destination to explore and it took almost 90 minutes to paddle there in a straight line. Coming from Merrymeeting Lake in NH that is only a few miles long it is hard to imagine that just crossing a small bay in Lake Tahoe is equal to the length of our lake.
We arrived at the little beach and parked our boards for a few minutes. The view of the lake and mountains in any direction was amazing. In the corner of the beach was a little cave that looked ripe for a grizzly home but fortunately (or unfortunately) there were no bears in sight.
After the beach break it was time to get back out there. We paddled around some cool rock formations, into little coves, and generally just anywhere we thought looked interesting. SUPing is always a good time and getting out on the big lake was a new experience.
...we did see a grizzly later that day
It is kind of blurry but this was the best shot I could get on my cell phone at the time. The grizz came out of the woods in front of our car, sauntered across, and disappeared into the woods again. Bears are sweet!