Question on Lake Tahoe

[Sigarms]

Some of you know we were out in Northern California last year with our boy before he shipped off for the Air Force as a family vacation.

Loved the area and although we did day trip to Virginia City for the tourist trap thing, didn't get to Lake Tahoe although we drove by I guess the exit coming over Carsons pass into Nevada.

Wife just asked me about going there first week in November (Lake Tahoe).

Is November to cold in the area for non skiing? Is there skiing in the area first week in November?

Not being familiar the seasons, overall a good month to visit that particular area? What kind of weather? How far it it to Donner's pass? (area I wanted to visited, but even with 2 weeks still didn't make the time with Rout 1 and Yosemite).

 

[Torvy]

Like anywhere with that kind of elevation, I think the answer is...it depends.

Go to Reno and get to Tahoe from the Nevada side. If the weather doesn't cooperate, call an audible and enjoy a show in Reno.

 

[ning]

November would probably be one of the least touristy times to go. The lake will still be beautiful, but it'll be anywhere from cool to chilly.

Question is basically, what do you want to do there?

 

[Sigarms]

Question is basically, what do you want to do there?

Honestly, just drive around, get lost, and experience the area.

We kind of fell in love with Northern California last year kind of doing the same thing. That said, we had goals last year of hitting Yosemite and Big Sur.

Wife said we should go on vacation this year and I said OK. Walked in the house and she's like "how about Tahoe in November". I'm like sure! LOL

That said, I remember getting snow in Utah in May, so I'm liking thinking at that elevation out west, what the heck is the weather like in early November LOL.

I'm used to weather from around the lake placid NY area in November. That said, lived in NC for the last 25 years and I forgot what weathers like in NY in November. What's your definition of "chilly"? LOL

 

[Sigarms]

Go to Reno and get to Tahoe from the Nevada side. If the weather doesn't cooperate, call an audible and enjoy a show in Reno.

Apparently we are flying into Reno...

Rental SUV for $350 for the week.

 

[ericm979]

The first storms of the season are usually in October. Sometimes September or November. I don't know how much snow they drop at lake level but they can close the high passes. Looks like Tahoe City (on the north side of the lake) sees an average of 15 inches of snow in November.

I think the ski areas try to be open by Thanksgiving as that's a big ski weekend.

 

[Hughman]

I assume when you say "skiing", you mean snow, not water. It's always too cold for water skiing on Tahoe in my opinion. Probably too early for snow, but you never know when that first storm will hit.

We were just there two weeks ago on our way up 89 to Lassen. Donner is a little way north of the lake. Beautiful time of the year, but your mileage may vary.

 

[Sigarms]

I assume when you say "skiing", you mean snow, not water. It's always too cold for water skiing on Tahoe in my opinion. Probably too early for snow, but you never know when that first storm will hit.

We were just there two weeks ago on our way up 89 to Lassen. Donner is a little way north of the lake. Beautiful time of the year, but your mileage may vary.

I'm never water skied in my life. Skiing or snowboarding. That said, replacing the shoulder never has happened yet, so perhaps snow tubing if there is any snow LOL

I was hoping you'd chime in (among some others). You're gave us some pretty good ideas last year and we weren't disappointed.

If we just wanted to drive and get lost somewhere, any recommendations would be appreciated.

Donner has always held my interest, but didn't get there last year. How long of a drive from Tahoe?

 

[Hughman]

Drive the loop around the lake

 

[Hughman]

I could recommend some good jeep trails like the Rubicon, but that would require a good jeep.

 

[ericm979]

Donner Lake is a short ways past the north west end of the lake next to Truckee. What's marked Donner on the map is the ski area(s) and the houses around them. They're up Donner Pass road and significantly higher elevation than Donner Lake. Donner Lake has some monument for the Donner Party and I think that's closer to where they stayed than the ski area is.

It snows a TON there... that's how they got trapped in November.

The loop around the lake has some nice parts. Emerald Bay is especially scenic.

 

[Sigarms]

I could recommend some good jeep trails like the Rubicon, but that would require a good jeep.

It seems rental companies are now making disclaimers for off trail riding. Never did that in the 90's when I went out to Utah, go figure. So anything "hard" would probably be out. My T-100 I would try it, but with the gas milage that V6 gets, it could cost me more than the airfare LOL

 

[RobertN]

Fall is so variable... When I was volunteering at the fire station outside Placerville, there were time we kept our wildland gear ready clear thru December.

Other years, I've skied the Tahoe area before Thanksgiving.

You're talking about the in between season. Tahoe is always pretty. It will be chilly, but still plenty to see. Drive around the lake, go to Truckee and Donner. Take the ride above Donner Lake to the old US-40 curved bridge. The view is amazing. There's old train tunnels to hike thru near the bridge. The National Car Museum in Reno is great. Summit Racing, and Sheel's Outdoor are cool too.

South Lake Tahoe in November | Visit Lake Tahoe

South Lake Tahoe in November is one of the best times to visit during the year. Read on to learn to discover why.

visitlaketahoe.com

 

[Sigarms]

Fall is so variable... When I was volunteering at the fire station outside Placerville, there were time we kept our wildland gear ready clear thru December.

Other years, I've skied the Tahoe area before Thanksgiving.

You're talking about the in between season. Tahoe is always pretty. It will be chilly, but still plenty to see. Drive around the lake, go to Truckee and Donner. Take the ride above Donner Lake to the old US-40 curved bridge. The view is amazing. There's old train tunnels to hike thru near the bridge. The National Car Museum in Reno is great. Summit Racing, and Sheel's Outdoor are cool too.

South Lake Tahoe in November | Visit Lake Tahoe

South Lake Tahoe in November is one of the best times to visit during the year. Read on to learn to discover why.

visitlaketahoe.com

Thanks for the feedback, much appreciated. Probably will go hiking a lot. Seems like the lows can be in the 20's and highs in the 50's early November.

I joked with my wife that this is coming up in about a month. First time we kind of ever decided to just take off and do something for a week in a moments notice in a VERY long time. I'm beginning to like this empty nester thing LOL

 

[ning]

I think November's not necessarily the best time for a drive-about because of the possibility of weather.
"Chilly" to me means, not freezing. It's likely to be 40-50 around then, but definitely possibly below freezing slightly - rarely does it get a lot below freezing in November. But, it can snow, and then you've got snow and/or slush on vacation, not fun to drive or walk in.
Other than the potential for weather, IMO it's a nice temperature for walking and the lack of crowds and lower traffic is nice, but I'd try to do it in October instead if you could.

 

[Hughman]

If it's not snowing and ski season yet, you can ride the gondola up into the Heavenly ski area for a really nice view of the lake.

 

[Sigarms]

Other than the potential for weather, IMO it's a nice temperature for walking and the lack of crowds and lower traffic is nice, but I'd try to do it in October instead if you could.

Perhaps October may make more sense, but next month I will be out of state for a week for work, and when I get back home, my wife has her one trip on site for her job out of state as well (she's worked remotely since she moved to NC a year before I moved here 24 years ago).

Being she is from Vermont and I'm familiar with lake effect snow, no doubt we will play it safe for the possibility of any snow, particularly with driving.

We will have a washer and dryer, so should be able to keep a range of weather clothes while still being able to carry everything without having to check in our bags.

After coming here finding out that August was the worst month to go to Yosemite, it still turned out to be a great trip to the park on a early Wednesday. I've always held to the notion that half the fun on any trip is just getting lost and just experience the geography and the people while you're there (generally less people the better LOL). Besides that, worst case if the area isn't as nice in some areas as I think it would be, didn't seem like a long drive to where I could do Ebbets pass, which I thoroughly enjoyed and had to do more than once while there. Simply blessed that we can actually make the trip on a whim of sorts, and sometimes I have to remind myself of that from time to time (wife has rubbed off on me).

 

[oosik]

We were at Tahoe in August. Surprising how very clear the water is. I'll bet you could get Sechi disk reading at 50 feet in that lake.

So we decided we would go swimming. Thank God - I first put a bare foot in the water. It was as cold as ice. No swimming for us.

 

[newbury]

I've always held to the notion that half the fun on any trip is just getting lost and just experience the geography and the people while you're there (generally less people the better LOL).

If your writing on TBN you didn't get truly lost, you were reconnoitering. I spent many work trips to foreign lands reconnoitering areas before military field exercises.

 

[etpm]

We were at Tahoe in August. Surprising how very clear the water is. I'll bet you could get Sechi disk reading at 50 feet in that lake.

So we decided we would go swimming. Thank God - I first put a bare foot in the water. It was as cold as ice. No swimming for us.

When I was 18 a friend and I took a canoe out on the lake. We had a couple 60 foot long drop lines for fishing. Curious about the visibility we tied one end of the line to a 7UP can and lowered it into the water until the line ran out and we could still see the can. So about 60 foot visibility. We were impressed.
Eric