Discover the Euphoria of a Lake Tahoe Wilderness without the Holiday Weekend Mania

“As it lay there with the shadows of the mountains brilliantly photographed upon its still surface, I thought it must surely be the fairest picture the whole earth affords.”

-Mark Twain

Mark Twain had obviously never traveled to Lake Tahoe on a holiday weekend.

The trick to enjoying the beauty of Lake Tahoe during a holiday weekend is to try to escape from the crowds and find some zen in this alpine forest. It can be a challenge when you just drove up Interstate 50 from Carson City along with one hundred thousand other zen pilgrims. But I swear, underneath the Douglas Fir canopy of old-growth trees,  there are ways to get away from other outdoor adventures in the Tahoe National Forest.

We can thank Theodore Roosevelt for forming the United States Forest Service in 1908. And we can thank social media for making Lake Tahoe far more popular on a holiday weekend than I would like. That’s the thing here in 2024 about the most scenic secret places; There are no secrets anymore. Thanks TikTok! Now every Karin in the 96150 knows that Monkey Rock is the place for an easy hike and all those Insta-Worthy pics. Even your tiny little purse dog named Taylor can manage the trek up to Eagle Falls’s Lake.

But saying that, I was definitely the only dendrophile who was skinny dipping in Eagle Lake this Labor Day Monday at eight a.m! Nothing says Happy Labor Day like a cold plunge on a sixty-degree mountain morning in a remote alpine lagoon. If you want to have the stunning beauty of Lake Tahoe all to yourself this Labor Day holiday, and yes maybe go for a bare-assed swim, the trick is to hit the trails at six a.m. as the sun is just rising above Meek’s Bay.

So can we talk about the trash?

I thought we had Snow Pigs here in southern California. Then I traveled to Lake Tahoe for two weeks and yes that summertime road trip just happened to fall over the Labor Day holiday in 2024. The trash and crowds of Lake Tahoe during a holiday weekend were overwhelming. I knew, being that 2.7 million travelers make Lake Tahoe their destination each summer, I was in for a royal shit-show of garbage, angry untrained rabid labra-doodle mixes and Karin’s in Teslas throwing their cigarette buttes into the national forest. Even being prepared for the Lake Tahoe madness can not prepare you for the dumpster fire of backcountry nomads all trying to take a selfie with that Western Mantle Ground Squirrel over yonder.

On my sunrise hike this morning, I had to wade through bag after bag of green and blue, yes sometimes neon pink bags of doggy doo-doo. As the sun rose above Eagle Lake, I filled my day pack with other people’s shit. Because my forest loving family raised me to leave Mother Nature cleaner than you found her, is it really that difficult? It takes some serious planning to have a fun holiday weekend in Lake Tahoe without letting the carnage of other travelers who “Love nature” bring down your outdoor euphoria.

Zen and tequila; Secrets to a Lake Tahoe holiday weekend

It takes some deep breathing techniques and maybe a margarita or two at happy hour to keep other vacationers from destroying my outdoor vibe. I go to the mountains to find euphoria, not some hippie named Meadow in a Pruis who just threw her soiled kid’s dirty diaper on the side of a once picturesque trailhead.

In 2023, after the Fourth of July holiday weekend, amazing volunteers picked up over eight thousand pounds of discarded trash from Lake Tahoe beaches. We live in a first-world country here in California, how can we not pick up our discarded dog poo bags? What kind of parent thinks it’s okay to leave a poo-filled diaper on a Lake Tahoe beach? I never quite understood all those Keep Tahoe Blue bumper stickers until I started researching all the cigarette butts, dog poops and so much worse that vacationers bury in that beautiful Lake Tahoe sand. It’s literally disgusting. Sometimes I am ashamed to be from California because this is how we treat one of the most gorgeous areas of this golden State. This isn’t India. We should do better.

Now just how the hell do you holiday at Lake Tahoe without wanting to bitch smack ten thousand other hikers? You may not be a morning person, but I’ll tell you that the secret is hitting the hiking trails at dawn!

I am reminded of all the mountain lakes I ever knew as if this were a kind of water heaven to which they all had come.

I think John Muir had a lot more patience than I do. John Muir never flipped off a bro in a Tesla for throwing a Redbull can out of his open window. Lake Tahoe underneath the majestic white firs, ponderosas and cedar trees sees an average of 15 million visitors seasonably. I would like to think some percentage of them are responsible adults like myself.

Last time we visited Lake Tahoe during the pandemic we did almost get evacuated from our campsite one evening (As we packed up our rig, brought in our slideouts and watched the hoarder campers across the way smoking weed and relaxing instead of packing up their filthy crowded campsite.)  There was a nearby forest fire that was looking pretty intense for a while. Most of the other campers left Lake Tahoe that week. (But not the Willie Nelson hippies across the way. They were way too stoned to care!) Then the wind changed direction and everything was fine! We were blessed on that trip to get to have a unique perspective on Lake Tahoe; A Lake Tahoe with hardly any tourists! It was amazing! Yeah, I expected the opposite this September first weekend under the sugar pines.

Shop til you drop (On Thursday!)

For the love of God make sure you pick up those short ribs and lamb shanks from Whole Foods or Nevada family-owned grocer of choice, Raley’s well before the holiday weekend. This Labor Day weekend when we traveled to Lake Tahoe we stocked up at Trader Joe’s in Reno before we headed up the hill (Colloquially how we refer to driving into the mountain towns) Small mountain towns like Lake Tahoe may have a few different grocers options but these small town grocery stores sell out on everything important before holiday weekends. Expect the Safeway in Tahoe City to be out of ice cream, smores goodies and hotdogs by early Friday afternoon. It’s also a great idea to stock up in Fresno, Sacramento or Reno before even hitting the highway for Lake Tahoe as mountain town employees are just overwhelmed and it’s relentless for them to keep the shelves stocked.

Enjoy the days before and after the big weekends

Perhaps you have a full week in Lake Tahoe and you plan to just chill at camp on Saturday and Sunday.  Our group of happy campers was blessed to have almost two weeks in north Lake Tahoe. We choose to do our big hikes to the most popular trails before and after the holiday weekend. On Saturday and Sunday, we slept in. We went for a relaxing bike ride from the Truckee River Bike Tail across the street from William Kent Campground, where we stayed. We relaxed in the hammock and read our books. Some of us wrote a blog! I even did some kitchen prep for our vacation’s next week-long journey. And yes, I did do some cleaning in the motorhome. And I got caught up on our dirty camper laundry.

Oh shit!

Before the big weekend, we did dump our tanks on Thursday before the holiday weekend to avoid those long dump station lines over the holiday! Whatever you do, try not to get in the line to dump over the holiday weekend. We filled the water on the motorhome. I put stupid expensive Lake Tahoe gas in the Jeep. I bought extra ice and filled our freezer. I inventoried all the food to make sure we had enough breakfast, lunch dinner and margarita makings to get us to Tuesday morning. I was not driving back to Whole Foods no matter how on sale their wild-caught lobster tails were!

So your motorhome is all clean, and your tanks and fridge are full; Is it finally time to enjoy the wilderness of Lake Tahoe away from other outdoor adventurers now? My biggest tip is to try to do an off-the-beaten-path kind of hike. On the Friday before Labor Day we trekked to Lake Aloha the long and not popular way. What an amazing scenic hike through the Desolation Wilderness!  We hit the trail right after eight a.m. and were basically the only wanderers on the trail. We spied bald eagles fishing at Susie Lake. My pup was able to run amok in the backcountry without being attacked by a Bernapoodle named Fifi. By the time we had caught our limit of huge Brookie trout at Lake Aloha, we said mahalo to this nine-thousand-foot beauty of a swimming hole and made our way past historic vintage cabins that had once had John Muir sleeping under their roofs. We saw a bunch of backpackers making their way into the wilderness as mid-day approached and we were so thankful we hit the trail early morning.

On Saturday I awoke before dawn to catch that epic Lake Tahoe sunrise. I was honestly shocked there were so many other travelers out that early! I noticed multiple SUVs trying to fill fuel before six a.m. All the gas stations in Tahoe City were still closed. I said a silent prayer I had filled up the evening before as I cruised back towards Meek’s Bay and the Eagle Lake Trailhead. I had to stop at an empty vista point and get a few snaps as the sun rose over the lake. The view was just stunning. Parking at the tiny Eagle Lake parking area was a breeze as the sun just began to rise over south Lake Tahoe. My pup and I trekked up towards Maggie’s Peak and I didn’t even spy another hiker until almost nine am. as we made our way back down the trail. As we reached the parking area, there were cars everywhere and I swear other holidaygoers almost got in a fistfight over my coveted parking spot.

Our camp host had told me that Kaspian Beach was one of the best dog-friendly beaches around and I drove the short distance to the doggo-friendly beach, parking just off the highway. Although I saw tons of early morning joggers and cyclists all over Tahoma and Tahoe Pines, every one of them clutching a fist full of Tahoe’s finest lattes, there was literally no one else at Kaspian Beach! My pup and I had a chance to swim in Lake Tahoe at nine a.m. on this Saturday of a holiday weekend in Lake Tahoe like it was our private beach! It was incredible!

Talk to the locals!

I know, I know, you are on vacation but try not to be a dick! Our camp hosts were so pleasant and they gave me some great info on where to go with my pup to not be surrounded by the insane Tahoe crowds. On Saturday of the busy Labor Day weekend, the pup and I hiked through the Paige Meadows on the Tahoe Rim Trail. We barely saw another person, even getting a late start and starting our hike at nine a.m. We had a lovely morning hike away from the crowds and were back at camp, relaxing in the hammock by noon.

Another (rather rocky) hike would be the Rubicone Trail out og Tahoma. This whole area is just so gorgeous and mid week in Tahoe you are more likely to see deeper on this trail up to Miller Lake or Lilly Lake then other hikers.

Fishing off the beaten path

Yes, everyone wants to go fishing in Lake Tahoe over a holiday weekend. Sure, you could spend nine hundred dollars for a half day rental for a pontoon boat. But that just seems like an exorbitant amount of money to me! If you really want to get a fish on the line this holiday weekend in Lake Tahoe without the crowds, check out a scenic backcountry hike where you have to off-road for miles such as scenic Loon Lake off the Rubicon Trail. It’s so worth it to go deep into the backcountry or hike for half the day to get a trout on the line.

This holiday weekend we tried so very hard to escape the Lake Tahoe hordes and we found some tranquility fishing on the shores of Lake Aloha. We trekked to Lake Ahola the hard way. It was almost a twelve-mile hike and it was worth it for trophy trout fishing and mainly just being away from the crowds.

The second time we went fishing in Lake Tahoe we drove part of the way up the Rubicon Trail to Miller Lake and Lily Lake. These backcountry lakes did not disappoint. Even on a busy Lake Tahoe holiday weekend, they were not fished out.

Lily Lake is only a five-mile out-and-back hike along the Rubicon Trail if you don’t have a hardcore Jeep with you and you want to just hike along the Rubicon Trail and enjoy early morning fishing at the lake. The dirt road/trail is rocky and yes you will pass some off-roaders, Jeeps and side by sides but everyone is going slow on the rocky canyon road and very friendly. Honestly, the Rubicon Trail was so less crowded on this holiday weekend than the rest of Tahoe was! Loon Lake is larger and just gorgeous but that is a half-day Jeep ride to get to it or hike up part way.

Also on the Rubicon Trail out of Tahoma, there is a trailhead nearby to Buck Lake and you can continue up further to the Ellis Pass if you are looking for a longer off-the-beaten-path adventure.

Lake Tahoe is such a gorgeous alpine area to explore but man is it complicated to find a way to love Tahoe without the other tourists around! Planning your trip out ahead of time and checking out these off-the-beaten-path options, is the best advice I can give.