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Lake Tahoe, The Lake, is the jewel of the Sierra Nevada's. At 6,226 feet above sea level Lake Tahoe is the largest alpine lake in North America. It is 12 miles wide, and 22 miles long. The Lake has a surface area of 191.6 square miles. The average depth of The Lake is 989 feet, while its deepest point is 1,645 feet. This is the third deepest lake in North America. Lake Tahoe contains about 40 trillion gallons of water. To put that number in perspective, that amount of water would cover the state of California in 14 inches of water.

LAKE TAHOE, CA

Dave
2004-02-21 14:15:23

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in the middle of the road. It is amazing to see these powerful jeeps drive right over these rocks. On my few hikes and biking trips over this section of the road I have seen 3 accidents after they happened. I saw a jeep crashed into a large tree just off the road. Another time I saw a jeep rolled over about 15 feet below the road. It happened probably an hour before I got there, people had tied a rope to its front axle and were trying to pull it up and out. Lastly, as I was hiking in an extremely large rocky section of the road, I saw lots of oil and fluid dripping off of the rocks. Then around the corner I saw a jeep on its side. Somehow the bottom of the jeep had been gashed and had partially turned over. It looked like it was temporarily abandoned.

About 2 miles before you get to Rubicon Springs you will come to a lookout high above a valley. Rubicon Springs is down in that valley. Before you descend into that valley look around and you will see great views of the snow covered Sierras. On my first trip to Rubicon Springs I tried to take a cross country shortcut to the Springs, from near Miller Lakes. Do not try this. Hiking cross country in these mountains can be downright dangerous. Instead of saving any time I lost time because of the rough terrain I had to traverse. I ended up descending a steep canyon which lost elevation probably one a half times as fast as the road that leads down into the valley. On one of my trips I talked to a "jeepster" and he told me that several years ago he had to make an emergency trip out of the area because he came upon a hiker who had gashed his knee wide open and was wandering around dazed. It turns out the guy had tried some cross country hiking and fortunately had stumbled across the road and was trying to hike out by himself.

Anyway, the road that leads down to the valley during the early to mid summer months can be basically a river running through large boulders on steep cuts ...