We're finally in California! No longer are the long stretches of shrub dotted Nevada mountains. We have arrived in the scenic lands of lakes, mountains, and massive yet slender pine trees.
Our ride a few days ago from Sparks, NV to South Lake Tahoe, CA is where things really started to change. We had 62 miles over a 7,000+ foot peak - not anything we're not used to, but the much improved scenery was quite a treat. Shortly after we started our decent, Lake Tahoe appeared between the trees. After going more than a week without seeing anything more than a small pond it was kind of shocking to see this big blue expanse in front of us.
The ride around the east side of the lake was incredibly beautiful (albeit mildly stressful - we got used to the limited cars on the loneliest road). We arrived in time to enjoy an afternoon on the beach and watch the sun set behind the mountains.
We were thankful to have a day off the next day to enjoy more of what Lake Tahoe has to offer. I spent the majority of the day lounging on the beach, wading into the surprisingly shallow water, and some of us even rented stand up paddle boards! The night ended the same as the last, watching the sun set on yet another wonderful day.
Our ride today was one of my, and many others, favorite rides. It was 90 miles with over 5,000 feet of climbing, so definitely not easy, but we had 10,000 feet of descent to make up for it. It started off a bit rough given that it was 44 degrees in the morning and the sun seemed to be trapped behind the mountains for the first hour and a half, but as soon as my digits started to thaw my mood rapidly improved.
The climbs ended up coming in the form of several short(ish) peaks and passes, which is my preferred way to climb. Not to mention there were bright blue, sparkling lakes surrounded by the impressive Sierra Nevadas around what seemed like every corner. The descent seemed to last forever, with little sporadic hills along the way that we just cruised over with our downhill momentum. It almost felt like we were riding on a roller coaster for a while.
We arrived in Jackson, CA early in the afternoon at an elevation of 1,200 feet! This is the lowest we've been since Nebraska and we won't be going up too much from here. It's crazy to be over our final major mountains, and only 160 miles from the coast!