274 



Sierra Club Bulletin 



LAKE TAHOE IN WINTER^ 

 By J. E. Church, Jr. 



Lake Tahoe is an ideal winter resort for the red-blooded ; for 

 the viking and the near viking; for the man and the woman, 

 who for the very exhilaration of it, seek the bracing air and 

 the snow-clad forests. Lake Tahoe is as charming in winter 

 as in summer, and far grander. There is the same water — in 

 the morning placid, in the afternoon foam-flecked, on days of 

 storm tempestuous. The lake never freezes ; not even a film of 

 ice fringes its edge. Sunny skies and warm noons and the 

 lake's own restlessness prevent. Emerald Bay alone is some- 

 times closed with ice, but more often it is as open as the outer 

 lake. Even the pebbles glisten on the beach as far back as 

 the wash of the waves extends. 



But beyond the reach of the waves a deep mantle of white 

 clads the forests and caps the distant peaks. The refuse of 

 the forests, the dusty roads, and the inequalities of the ground 

 are all buried deep. A smooth, gently undulating surface of 

 dazzling white has taken their place. 



The forest trees are laden with snow. Each frond bears its 

 pyramid and each needle its plume of white. The fresh green 

 of the foliage and the ruddy brown of the bark are accentuated 

 rather than subdued by their white setting. But as the eye 

 travels the long vista of ascending and retreating forest, the 

 green and the brown of the near by trees fade gradually away 

 until the forest becomes a fluffy mantle of white upon the dis- 

 tant mountainside. Above and beyond the forest's utmost 

 reaches rise the mountain crags and peaks, every angle rounded 

 into gentle contours beneath its burden of snow. 



Along the margin of the lake appear the habitations and 

 works of man deeply buried and snow-hooded until they re- 

 call the scenes in Whittier's "Snow-Bound." 



The lover of the lake and its bird life will miss the gulls 

 but will find compensation in the presence of the wild fowl — 

 the ducks and the geese — that have returned to their winter 



* By the courtesy of the Sunset Magazine. 



