Trekking in Tahoe

We were planning on doing a snow picnic/walk to try out new winter jackets this weekend. John had other plans. He decided to wait until Saturday morning to share them with Shani. Once he got up (Shani had been up for a couple hours), he said we were going to South Lake Tahoe for the night.  He booked a dog-friendly motel so we could take Mochi with us. Shani, who usually has to be forced to be spontaneous, was very excited to go.  So we packed up our stuff and headed out.

We stopped for a nice brunch in Placerville and then continued to Tahoe.  We checked into our little motel around 1pm, changed for our snow hike, and were off.  John found a hike near Fallen Leaf Lake, southwest of Lake Tahoe. Before we made it to the trail head we came across a bunch of cars parked by a small side road that was closed for the winter. It looked well traveled, so we decided that we'd hike it. We had no idea how long the hike was, where it would go, or how hard it was, but we were off.  After hiking, almost entirely uphill, for 45 minutes we passed someone coming down (on cross country skis). We inconvenienced him greatly by asking him where the trail went (he had to take out his headphones...gasp!).  He said it went to Angora lookout, about 20 minutes further. So we kept on trekking.  Mochi had no problem with the snow and was running around and John was very patient with his speed.  Shani's work-out class did her good as she kept chugging along.

Mochi (the little speck in the middle) leading the pack

No prob for John

Shani holding up

Finally we made it to the lookout!  It was absolutely beautiful.  It was quite a bit more windy up at the top, but bearable.  The lake and snowy hillside were just amazing.  Shani was very happy (John was a proud husband) and wanted pictures as proof that she made it to the top.  We found out once we were home that the hike was about 3.8 miles round trip with an elevation gain of 800 feet!  Not to shabby for a 37.5 week pregnant gal!  

Angora Lake from the lookout

37.5 weeks pregnant

This was a very fun and spontaneous weekend to get away.  John is a great husband and had a brilliant idea.  We are so glad we got this time together.  We had so much fun and enjoyed doing something different than we normally get to do.  Although we hope to do similar things when we have kids (yes we plan to bring them along), it was nice to do this just the two of us!