Category: Outdoors
Sailing the Big Blue
It’s afternoon and the powerboats begin their stuttering retreats back to buoys and trailers. What once was inviting glass for wakeboards and water skis is now darkening, beginning to move and churn as the breeze picks up. Cat’spaws and zephyrs touch the water’s surface tentatively, then move swiftly down and across the water toward the North Shore. Welcome to summer sailing […]
Greased Lightning
Lucy is a 1955 Chevy Bel Air convertible, lovingly restored by Ken Clark and his wife, Tempe, and shown for the past 16 years during Reno-Sparks’ Hot August Nights. “When I show that car, I become 18 again,” the 70-year-old says. “The thumbs up, the applause from spectators—you just feel good.” Hot August Nights is a city-wide celebration of the […]
Magic Mountain
Northstar-at-Tahoe’s Lookout Mountain is a “best” for multiple reasons. It’s undoubtedly the “Best Ski Resort Improvement” in Tahoe this century. Now featuring steep and varied terrain served by a speedy lift, the Lookout expansion added teeth to Northstar’s otherwise intermediate fare, as well as enough vert for even the deepest Tahoe powder days. Although it […]
Funding Martis Valley’s Future
Rarely does deverlopment lead to conservation. But such is the case with the Martis Fund, established in 2006 by DMB/Highlands Group (developers of Martis Camp), Sierra Watch and the Mountain Area Preservation Foundation with the goal of preserving several thousand acres of biologically and culturally rich meadow, forest and mountain lands. Martic Valley is the […]
On the Road to Find Jack Wilson
It took me 35 years to close the loop between a term paper that I had written as a high school senior and the grave of Jack Wilson. That report was about the Ghost Dance, first practiced by the Northern Nevada Paiute Indians in 1889 in the Mason Valley, not far from Carson City. Its […]
Lake Tahoe’s Best Places to Stargaze
Lake Tahoe boasts up to 300 clear nights per year. The dry air and western on-shore marine airflow pattern are ideal for good “seeing,” as is the low atmospheric turbulence. I have been leading star parties at Lake Tahoe for ten years and have accumulated a list of my favorite sites (complete with exact latitude/longitude […]
Lake Tahoe’s Mark Shuey Teaches Martial Arts with a Cane
It’s hard to imagine exactly what Mark Shuey means when he says that a cane is not a crutch. That is, until he (gently) wraps the handle of said implement around your neck. A Southern Californian by birth, general contractor by trade and world-class martial artist by hobby, Shuey moved to Incline Village in 1977. […]
Fishing at South Shore’s Taylor Creek Visitor Center
Rainbow, brown and Lahontan cutthroat trout, Kokanee salmon and speckled dace. You can catch all the fish you wish at the stream profile chamber at South Shore’s Taylor Creek Visitor Center. But leave the barbs and bait at home. The only angling you’ll do at this underwater observation spot is to get a better view […]
Top Spots to get Starry-Eyed
Lake Tahoe boasts up to 300 clear nights per year. The dry air and western on-shore marine air flow pattern are ideal for good “seeing,” as is the low atmospheric turbulence. I have been leading star parties at Lake Tahoe for ten years and have accumulated a list of my favorite sites (complete with exact […]
Natural Rhythms: Spring
In the mountains, there is great potential for seasons to clash at any time of year. A few weeks of spring try to sneak in during January. Winter throws in a last storm during May or even June. Most plants are reactive to weather and can get duped by these aberrations, rendering them unreliable predictors […]
