The Wild West

Wednesday 8th October

It started out as a wild ride from Yosemite being chased by the wild fires that started yesterday afternoon.  They burned brightly and out of control all night and were very close to our accommodation in Yosemite View Lodge.  I had our bags packed just in case we got the knock on the door during the night.  We woke to the sound of helicopters and planes this morning and watched as the chopper crews water bombed and the aeroplanes dumped fire retardant onto the flames.  We had to change our plans and travel west (the way we came in) to go around the fires.

We drove north on Route 49 to Lake Tahoe.  We passed through some really interesting little mining towns (and certainly some of them had that Wild West feel to them) along the way – Mariposa, Coulterville, Moccasin, Chinese Camp, Jamestown, Sonora, Angels Camp, San Andreas, Jackson, El Dorado and Placerville.

We have a great place to stay right on the shores of Lake Tahoe,  Dipping our toes in the sand will be one thing, but the lake is a whole different story.  At 1900 mts above sea level and the largest alpine lake in North America it is a tad cool – in fact they had snowfalls on the peaks around here last week, which is a sharp contrast to the hot temperatures in Yosemite yesterday.CoultervilleFire fighting in Yosemite