Tahoe on Film

Note: This post was originally published on Exposure about a month ago. It can be found at https://cwcapella.exposure.co/tahoe-on-film.

Before I Begin, Let Me Say…

A couple photo buddies and I recently went exploring around Lake Tahoe. These photos might look a little different than what most are used to when thinking of Tahoe for two reasons, the first being the drought. For those who are unaware, there is currently a pretty extensive drought gripping California. These photos were taken of and around the lake before the start of summer in the first stages of what has become one of the driest summer seasons in recent years. The second is the fact that these are entirely shot on black and white film; the only post-processing I’ve done beyond scanning them in is cropping them to remove the fuzzy edges from the scanner.

With that, let’s explore.

The opposite side of the lake from the Sugar Pine dock

Sugar Pine

When we first arrived, we parked and piled out of the car at Sugar Pine Point State Park. Small fee to get in but home to an excellent beach and a couple trails as well. We walked out on the dock first.

Close up on the boards of the dock

View from the shoreline to the right as seen from the dock

And then we explored along the beach. A little ways farther to the left of the dock, there was a creek that flowed into the lake with an old, smooth bleached tree trunk laying next to it. We walked a ways farther along before turning around and heading out on the trail.

Some visitors along the shore

The creek flowing from the park out into the lake

A view of the rocky ground and the creek, with some buildings from the park seen behind it

A top-down view of the fallen tree

Brush and pines standing near the creek

Looking up the trunk of one of the trees along the trail on the way out

That ended my roll of Ilford HP5 Plus 400 and sent us on our way to our next stop…

Looking out at Emerald Bay

Emerald Bay and Eagle Falls

Our next stop on our drive around the lake was Emerald Bay State Park, with incredible views of Emerald Bay (as seen above) as well as access to the Eagle Falls Trailhead that provides access into Desolation Wilderness. From the road, you can walk down a short ways to get access to some awesome views of the waterfall.

The waterfall coming out from the other side of the road through a tunnel and settling in pools

The waterfall as seen from the side

Walking up from the road, you gain access to the trailhead, which gives you a short mile and a half or so climb to the bridge that leads across the falls and into Desolation Wilderness.

View from the trail hiking up to the bridge

Some of the awesome rock formations along the trail; these ones are near the top

View from the bridge at Upper Eagle Falls before the entrance to Desolation Wilderness

Looking out at the lake from the bridge; the water in the river is flowing from the Upper Falls to the Lower, mentioned earlier

Looking back from the car along the road, it’s clearly a popular place, but well worth the struggle for parking.

View of the road from the car

After hiking back down the trail, it was back to the car and on to our third stop…

One of the fields the trails at Taylor Creek go along on the way to the beach

Taylor Creek

Taylor Creek gets its popularity because of the fact that people can go and look at massive numbers of salmon during the spawning season in autumn. Even though we were there in the off season, the park still had a beautiful beach and some great views, along with several trails to take you to them.

A view of the lake from the beach

A little statue of sticks found on the beach (pardon the majorly crooked horizon)

A post out in the lake (note how low the water level is compared to the stains on the post)

Off in the distance

All of the rocks on the beach that used to be covered by water before the drought

Looking down

A bleached piece of driftwood on the shore

A view of the water (those splotches are developing chemicals that didn’t quite get all washed off)

After our visit to Taylor Creek, we stopped for ice cream at Camp Richardson and drove the rest of the way around the lake. Even being locals, there’s just something about Tahoe that is amazing, something surprising or new to be discovered with each visit. And, of course, it’s an awesome place to explore.

Footnotes: All photos in this post were shot on film with my Canon A2e, the first portion being taken on Ilford HP5 Plus 400 and the second batch being taken on Rollei Superpan 200. Thanks for reading.