I had seen Lake Tahoe only in winter, its shores under deep snow. So on Day 1 of my first warm-weather trip in May, I couldn't stop prowling the water's edge, scanning for hues of blue.
So how did I wind up in a subterranean blackness, stranded in a stone tunnel near a dead playboy's boathouse? Blame the rich. Or thank them.
In the late 19th and the early 20th centuries, when New York's hotshots were putting up lakeside summer retreats in the Adirondacks, some of the West's wealthiest families were putting the first necklace of summer mansions around Lake Tahoe, which lies partly in California and partly in Nevada.
Stuffy extravagance
Some of these homes were stuffy and traditional but others were extravagances — secret passages, Viking design. In the past 60 years, a half-dozen of these properties have landed in the hands of public agencies or non-profit groups. And in summer, they open for tours.
I hit all six of those old mansions. Lake Tahoe, which marks the northern end of the Sierra Nevada Mountains, sits in a basin 6,229 feet above sea level, fed by run-off from surrounding mountains that stand as tall as 10,000 feet.
The lake is 22 miles long, 10 miles wide and up to 1,685 feet deep. You can drive around the lake in about three hours.
Afoot on the 165-mile Tahoe Rim Trail, the circuit may take 15 days. I started on the northern shore, 40 miles southwest of Reno, Nevada.
I didn't linger in Crystal Bay on the Nevada side but headed south and west. I hit Commons Beach, just steps from the shops and restaurants of Tahoe City's main drag.
Fun and sand
If you can find a parking spot nearby, you can explore the pebble beach near a big playground and lawn, only a block or two from the little dam and bridge where the lake flows into the Truckee River. Biking and running paths follow the lake shore and one trail follows the river for about 5 miles to Squaw Valley USA, the all-seasons resort that hosted the 1960 Winter Olympics.
Near the Homewood area is the walled estate of Fleur du Lac. This is where Francis Ford Coppola shot much of The Godfather: Part II in the early 1970s.
About 10 southbound miles from Homewood is Ed Z'berg-Sugar Pine Point State Park, which includes hiking trails, a nature centre, a creek with seasonal fishing, a settler's cabin that dates back to 1872 and a mansion.
Relaxing getaway
The Hellman-Ehrman Mansion aka Pine Lodge was built in 1903 as a getaway for banker Isaias W. Hellman of Los Angeles and San Francisco.
The house is three storeys high, 12,000 square feet and has eight cedar columns fronting the porch. At one point, the resident staff totalled 27. The state acquired it in 1965.
Next, we come to Emerald Bay, a glittering green pool carved by a glacier and connected to the rest of the lake by a narrow passage. At the centre of this bay lies Fannette, the only island of the lake.
Absurdly wealthy people in 1928 owned vacation houses here. As did an heiress-widow-philanthropist named Lora Josephine Knight. Her father and husband were captains of industry, controlling National Biscuit, Continental Can, Diamond Match and the Union Pacific railroad.
Knight wanted a Scandinavian mansion because the bay made her think of fiords. By the time the stock market crashed in late 1929, the work was done on Vikingsholm.
Swedish architect Lennart Palme and his team chiselled boulders, carved timbers, elaborately painted walls and ceilings, planted sod roofs, devised spiked eaves to repel evil spirits, put up six fireplaces and installed European fixtures and furniture dating back centuries.
On Fannette Island, workers built a stone teahouse accessible only by boat.
This good life lasted 15 Tahoe summers. Eight years after Knight's death, at the age of 82 in 1945, the state acquired the property and made it part of Emerald Bay State Park.
Next, I spent a night at Camp Richardson, which has rented cabins and rooms since the 1920s. The US Forest Service owns the land and concessionaires run the lodgings, campground, RV village, stables, bike and water sports rentals, ice-cream parlour and restaurant.
Camp Rich, as the locals call it, is not fancy. But my room was fine and the cabin spotless and reasonably priced. With the camp's water frontage and spacious grounds, it's one of the few places where you can park the car and forget about it for days.
On a windless morning, walking on the pier was like stepping into a watercolour: no sound, glassy water and reflected evergreens.
No wonder mining millionaire E.J. “Lucky'' Baldwin built one of the lake's first resorts there in the 1880s and inspired others to raise three vacation houses after that resort was eventually torn down.
Three in a row
Between 1965 and 1971, the Forest Service picked up all three houses: the Baldwin Estate (1921), the Pope Estate (1894) and the Heller Estate (aka Valhalla, 1923) — all known as Tallac Historic Site now.
These places do not match the grandeur of Vikingsholm or Pine Lodge but to the west is a visitor centre at Taylor Creek. And east is Pope Beach, one of the lake's best for swimming.
On drives around the lake, the eastern shore seems faster.
You can stop on the Nevada side or at Zephyr Cove Resort — but north of Zephyr Cove, civilisation evaporates.
From US Route 50 and Nevada Highway 28, there are few buildings. You might wonder how it is that tree-hugging, whale-saving California has so thoroughly developed its side of Lake Tahoe while growth-loving Nevada has built so little. The answer lies beyond George Whittell Jr's old front gate.
Whittell, whose wealth dated to the Gold Rush, was a rich, spoilt kid, thrice-married, twice-divorced, inclined to excesses and with a penchant for collecting menacing pets. He named his lion Bill and his elephant Mingo.
In the months before the crash of 1929, Whittell pulled $50 million (Dh183.6 million) out of the stock market. When the chance came to buy 40,000 acres of Nevada — including 27 miles of Tahoe's shore — Whittell had the cash.
Between 1936 and 1940, he and architect Frederick DeLongchamps built the Tudor-Revival Thunderbird Lodge on the northeastern shore of the lake.
Granite grandeur
Craftsmen included an Italian ironworker, Norwegian woodcarvers and a small army of American Indian stonemasons, who worked on the 600-foot granite tunnel connecting the main house, the card house and the boathouse.
Whittell held on to most of the property until his death in 1969. After that, estate owners undertook purchases, additions and resales. At one point, mutual-funds mogul Jack Dreyfus built additions and sold the estate for about $50 million (Dh183.6 million) to Del Webb in 1998.
The Forest Service now owns most of Whittell's land. The house and the outbuildings belong to the Thunderbird Lodge Preservation Society. In 2002, the society started offering summertime tours. The tab for the 75-minute Thunderbird tour is $39 (Dh143). But the estate is a singular place — the way the house and its lighthouse are wedged among boulders and trees, the mansion's own lagoon, the hedonist history and, of course, the dark tunnel.
Darkness and light
Bill Watson, executive director of Thunderbird Lodge Preservation Society, gave me an introduction, took me down to the tunnel and let me prowl on my own. I checked out the boathouse, re-entered the tunnel, let the door close behind me and everything went black. Somebody at the other end had turned out the lights.
Then I remembered my camera. Clicking to throw red light on the walls, I inched my way to the card house, then stepped from darkness to the lakefront world.
The lesson here? It's nice to be rich but better to be above ground. And better still to be above ground, under a blue sky and at the edge of this lake.
Stay in style and grandeur
Vikingsholm is part of Emerald Bay State Park (www.vikingsholm.org). Open for guided tours from Memorial Day weekend through September 30. Adults $5 (Dh18).
Hellman-Ehrman Mansion at Sugar Pine Point State Park is open for tours daily from Memorial Day weekend through September 30. Adults $5 (Dh18).
Tallac Historic Site, US Forest Service, on Highway 89, is 2-1/2 miles north of Highway 50 (www.fs.fed.us/r5/ltbmu/recreation/tallac/). Open until September 12, from 10.30am-4.30pm daily. Includes Baldwin Estate, Pope Estate and Heller Estate. Tours $5 (Dh18) per adult.
Thunderbird Lodge (www.thunderbirdlodge.org) offers tours at $39 (Dh143) per adult (includes shuttle bus from Incline Village); no kid younger than 6 allowed. Or visit by boat from the southern shore (lunch included) at $110 (Dh404)per adult.
Go there ... Lake Tahoe ... From the UAE
Reno is one of the closest airports.
United Airlines flies via Washington and Denver. Fare from Dh5,615
Delta flies via Atlanta and Salt Lake City. Fare from Dh5,615
— Information courtesy: The Holiday Lounge by Dnata.
Ph: 04 4380454
Where to stay
Where to eat
Information
Visit Lake Tahoe Visitors Bureaus at www.visitinglaketahoe.com; www.tahoesbest.com; and www.aboutlaketahoe.com
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