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El Dorado County Parks & Recreation Articles



Trails & Vistas art hikes: A Poetic Path

Imagine hiking through the forest, a light breeze rustling through the trees, pine needles crunching under your feet, the smell of dirt and granite, surrounded by nature. Trails & Vistas, possibly the best immersive art and nature experiences one can …

Tackle Tahoe’s wilder side

The sled slowly makes its way up the mountain. My nephew, Anikin Allen, fidgets in the seat in front of me giddy with excitement. As we climb up the steel tracks of Heavenly’s Ridge Rider Mountain Coaster he talks quickly …

Image caption: The newly opened Presidio Tunnel Tops provides free entertainment in pricy San Francisco.
Cheaper Thrills

California has some top-notch tourist attractions—with top-shelf prices. Here are some that won’t break the bank.

George Whittell and his Castle in the Sky

Summer at Lake Tahoe offers a virtually limitless bounty of activities to enjoy but do yourself a favor and schedule a visit to the quirky Thunderbird Lodge National Historic Site on Lake Tahoe’s East Shore. Eccentric millionaire George Whittell, Jr., …

Pioneer Monument restored

The restoration of the 104-year-old Pioneer Monument at Donner Memorial State Park in Truckee was recently completed, according to the Sierra State Parks Foundation. The Pioneer Monument was dedicated on June 6, 1918, and was erected in honor of all …

Paddling pristine Independence Lake: Agencies work to preserve lake, trout

If you have lived in Tahoe as long as I have, you know it’s always a pleasant surprise to find some new and different bit of Sierra wonderment to explore. Recently, I visited such a place. While I’ve been looking …

Tim’s Tips for life in a tourist town: Practice kindness, pass on knowledge

Those of us who have been living in Tahoe for a long time sometimes are challenged by the changes we have seen. The visitors can get on our nerves and we have been known to toss out a few choice …

Walking in Twain’s footsteps: Mark Twain Timber Claim Adventure Trail opens

One hundred fifty years ago this year, Mark Twain (Samuel L. Clemens) published this emotion-filled word-painting of Lake Tahoe in his memoir and travelogue “Roughing It.” While the beauty and serenity of the lake deeply moved Twain, his first visit …

Tahoe Beach app features beach information

Tahoe Fund and agencies that manage Lake Tahoe’s public beaches have updated tahoepublicbeaches.org to help improve the recreation experience for residents and visitors. Designed as a resource guide to more than 40 beaches that surround Lake Tahoe, the site offers …

Traveling Tahoe’s Trails: What You Need Before You Go

Our region is blessed with hundreds of miles of trails that snake through deep forests, cross mountain streams and climb over smooth granite to beautiful views of Lake Tahoe. But these trails we love are now inundated with visitors. If …

Tahoe Family Fun Guide | Summer 2022

Favorite family-friendly Tahoe beaches By Michelle Allen & Katherine E. Hill Make the most of the beach season in the Tahoe Sierra and plan to while away the summer days at one of our sandy or rocky beaches. Pack a …

Tahoe’s wildflower wonders: Favorite spots to explore this summer

The smoke from last summer’s wildfires is long gone. We put on our trail shoes and we are ready to breathe in that cool, clean mountain air that we love so much. We’re ready to surround ourselves with the endorphin-inducing …

15th Annual Ultimate Tahoe Summer Bucket List | 2022

What are your favorite things to do in Tahoe? That’s the question – posed countless times to me – that spurred my first Bucket List 15 years ago. After more than two decades covering the Tahoe Sierra for several media …

Image caption: A red-tailed hawk on a light pole overlooking downtown Santa Cruz.
Citizen Science

Sometimes making the community better manifests as a better understanding of how nature works. Local birders lead the way.

Tim’s Top 10 Spring outings

Ah, April, the in-between month. Ski season is winding down, but there is still not a lot of bare dirt popping up waiting for exploration. So, I thought I’d rack my brain to come up with 10 fun outdoor things …

Spring wine outings

Wine and wildflowers make a great spring pairing only a short drive from the shores of Lake Tahoe. Heading to Sierra Foothill wine country has long been a favorite spring outing for my friends and I that was put on …

Snowshoe treks educate, inspire

It's a sunny, crisp, cold winter morning when Tahoe Weekly Publisher Katherine Hill and I set out to learn more about lake hydrology and human’s impacts on it. The snowshoe outing is a joint partnership Tahoe Institute of Natural Science …

Truckee Springs grows to 67 acres

The California Wildlife Conservation Board recently voted to transfer 41 acres next to the 26-acre Truckee Springs parcel in downtown Truckee to Truckee Donner Land Trust to preserve as open space, according to the Trust. Truckee Springs is now 67 …

Tahoe snowmobile plans draw criticism

I wasn’t surprised when the updated over-snow vehicle (OSV) plan released by the U.S. Forest Service’s Stanislaus National Forest led to a lawsuit by several snowmobile groups. After all, it took a 2011 lawsuit to force Forest Districts around the …

Snowmobile access plan faces lawsuit: More regional OSV plans to be released

In spite of legal pushback on changes to snowmobile access, national forest districts in the Tahoe Sierra are moving forward with updated over-snow vehicle (OSV) management plans this year. The Tahoe Sierra encompasses portions of six Forest Service Districts – …

Featured

There are more than 300 community service districts in California.
Community Services Districts, Explained
Areas that the county overlooks can form their own local governments.
The Baldwin Hills area in South Los Angeles is one region where a state conservancy would keep open land accessible to the public.
California’s 10 State Conservancies: How They Protect Parks and Open Land
Starting in 1976, the legislature began creating agencies to buy up open land, and keep it open.
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