Gene found the description for this hike to Skunk Harbor in a little book he purchased when we first arrived in Carson City--Best Easy Day Hikes for Lake Tahoe by Tracy Salcedo. Many of the hikes described in this book have some feature or another as the highlight of the hike. For Skunk Harbor, it was the wedding gift. How appropriate on this special day.
The hike was an easy 3 miles (round trip) down a forest service road to a beautiful, secluded cove on the east side of Lake Tahoe. The Newhall House is located in this cove. The house, which was built in 1923 during the Resort era at Lake Tahoe, was a wedding gift from George to his new bride. George, one of the rich, if not rich and famous, already had a very nice home on the western shore of the lake. Apparently, it wasn’t secluded enough for those special occasions, so he built this little “picnic house” for his beloved. All the construction materials were brought in by boat “at great expense”. I bet it was a great expense. Upon completion, the Newhall’s could just scoot across the lake in their boat for a picnic and fun in the sun at their own private beach house.
Today, the land falls within the National Forest holdings and the beach is now public. It is, however, still pretty secluded because there is very limited parking at the trailhead and, though the walk down the dirt road is easy, what goes down much come up. The only other access is by boat.
We have no other plans for today. We are staying in for dinner. We have a nice steak in the refrigerator which will be accompanied by a baked potato and steamed fresh asparagus and let’s not forget the bottle of Two Buck Chuck. Who says we don’t live it up every once in a while?
We don’t have a clue what we will do tomorrow.
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