Spring Hike

We have some friends coming out to visit over Memorial Day weekend, and they are really outdoorsy people. Which is perfect because Douglas County has TONS to do outdoors! My friend's wife is 6 months pregnant though, so we wanted to find a way to see a lot of cool stuff, but still take it easy.

Last weekend I went scouting for some good hiking trails with a guy from work. He volunteers for the Douglas County Search & Rescue unit, so he's very familiar with all the different areas that people like to explore (and subsequently get lost). He said he knew of a perfect trail that is relatively easy, but has great scenery, so I took him up on the offer.

About 30 minutes south from our house is Grover Hot Springs in Markleeville, CA. Right near the hot springs is the head of a trail leading up to Hot Springs Creek Falls (it's a mouthful). After 10 minutes of hiking I could already heard the rush of water, and within the hour we saw 4 different waterfalls. It was so cool!

Hot Springs Creek Falls

More of Hot Springs Creek Falls (sorry it is a terrible angle)

Me blocking the view of Hot Springs Creek Falls

My co-worker Eelke. It's hard to tell in the picture, but he's wearing a gigantic 40-lb backpack! He says "just in case"

I don't know the name of this one (maybe they are all considered Hot Springs Creek Falls?), but Eelke says that people like to swim below this one when the weather gets warmer

This one was a little more difficult to get to, but I think she can do it!

Another popular swimming hole

The total hike was around 3 miles round-trip and took about 90 minutes. Overall it was a pretty easy hike (Eelke says he always sees families with little kids on the trail) so I think it'll be perfect for our friends, and we can always turn back if it gets too difficult.

After the hot springs hike we went over to Lake Tahoe (another one of Mother Nature's beauties less than an hour away from our house) to see Eagle Falls and Emerald Bay.

Eagle Falls - We didn't have enough time to hike down to the bottom (the trail goes all the way around the mountain), so we just went to another area to get a nice view of the whole thing (sorry the snow kinda makes the falls blend in)

The top of Eagle Falls is right near the road though, and we had enough time to see it up close

Looking "down" Eagle Falls

Emerald Bay - Some crazy rich lady owned this bay and build a castle (Vikingsholm) at the head. She would take a boat out to Fannette Island (which she also owned) for tea every day

Fannette Island - right in the middle of Emerald Bay. They have "cruises" in Lake Tahoe that will take you near/to this island

It is truly awesome to live so close to this this kind of stuff and to literally have national forests in our backyard! Thanks again Eelke for the great hike and the perfect spot to take our friends later this month!