Anyone who camped as a child remembers it well—the crackle of the campfire, the smells of the woods, the sense of freedom and adventure. These are the memories that stick to the subconscious, and have uplifting powers that last a lifetime. It’s why we love...
Placer miners continue to pan Sierra streams, gripped by the same gold fever that shaped California James Dee and Keith Mullenix are sitting on the steep bank of the North Fork American River at Mineral Bar, just outside of Colfax. It’s late afternoon, and though James...
Tracing the rise and fall of one of Tahoe's most talented and charismatic athletes Dan Osman attacks Slayer with meticulous fluidity. Slayer is the hardest rock climbing route at Cave Rock, the once-thriving climbing destination teeming with some of the most difficult sport routes in...
The Lake Tahoe region is home to five spectacular wilderness areas Identifying the dizzying array of federal public land in the United States can be difficult. You may think you know what a national park looks like—snapshots of the dawn of creation, like Yosemite’s towering granite monoliths...
Mt. Whitney tests the mettle of a rag-tag group of hikers with weather, elevation and steep granite The darkening clouds clustered above us on the shoulders of Mt. Whitney were starting to look angry. It was a bad portent for our eclectic band of eight adventurers. For...
The waves crashed over the edge of my raft, rolling it hard onto its side. The wind howled across The Lake. Whitecaps foamed over the surface. The chilly water seemed alive and threatened to tip my yellow and blue one-person inflatable. I laughed and pulled...
Conservation efforts seek to return Donner Summit wetland to its original biologically rich state Randy Westmoreland is walking across uneven ground, striding through the brown blades of dormant winter grass. His eyes are trained on the rise and fall of the earth, picking up the course...
The healing powers of altitude, as explained by science, religion and local experts Earth’s mountains have stood for eons, far outlasting human existence. Perhaps because of their longevity, and the knowledge that can be gleaned from it, the peaks have been sought out by mystics in...
How gardens can help us become attuned to nature—and rejuvenate our spirits Why do you garden? Is it for the peace and serenity? Maybe it’s your refuge from other parts of life. Or maybe your garden gives you an innate sense of well-being. Just being outside...
The pros and cons of a future Reno–Tahoe Winter Games It’s a local myth that Tahoe’s development boom of the 1960s and ’70s—which radically reshaped the area landscape, endangered The Lake’s clarity and led to the creation of the Tahoe Regional Planning Agency—was due to the...