Tahoe SUP!

It’s funny, the title of this blog post is actually the brand of hard SUP boards momma has, but ironically we took a different SUP to Tahoe to paddle on the lake on Saturday!

When we came home from our mountain and lake adventure on Friday night and momma was gushing about how pretty the lake side is on the east shore in Nevada, daddy decided he wanted to go see it since there aren’t nearly as many people out on the lake because it is wintertime right now. Well, it isn’t super winter-y in Tahoe because they are getting skunked on snow out there right now, so what I mean is that it isn’t the summer crowds. When we were at the lake for lunch on Friday we saw a group of people also having lunch with their kids two coves over from us, and saw one dude and his dog and that was IT. Unheard of in summer time, let me tell you!

Anyways, while we walked to the far park for me to do my business before we left for Tahoe, momma had the bright idea to put her inflatable NRS SUP in the car to bring along. She wasn’t sure if it would be busier at the lake being the weekend and the forecast for sunny, calm weather, but figured we could hike the inflatable SUP a few miles to put in if the water was calm. So she snuck it into the car (much to daddy’s surprise!).

She told him about her plan as she drove us to Tahoe, and he was keen to try (which is good because he doesn’t always find our kind of adventures to be very fun!!!) 😂

Lots of parking areas for the national forest are closed for winter, so you have to very carefully find a parking spot on the side of the road in a place where it is legal to park on the side of the road! But we lucked out and were early enough to find a spot with no trouble. We then hiked back down to Chimney Beach because it is long enough and wide enough for momma to inflate the SUP and give us enough room to stay away from the scary noise it makes when she is done putting air in it!

Daddy took us on a walk along the beach while momma got everything ready to go. By then Lolo had already gone back to momma because he can’t be more than 10 feet away from her so they paddled over to where daddy and I were hanging out in the sun on the rocks.

Momma paddled with Lolo and I for a while but thought Loki seemed like he was getting a bit restless, so she dropped him back off with daddy so he could play “Chuck-it” with Lolo on the beach. When we dropped Lolo off he was very upset and did not want us to leave without him so he swam out after us! Momma put him on the board and brought him back to shore so he could hang out with daddy for a bit. She said she wanted to make sure I got some solo paddle time with her too, since it used to be just OUR thing to do together. And with Lolo on the board for my own safety I have to stay on the back of the board or he will totally dump me in the water!!

Momma and I had a nice paddle up to Secret Harbor where we turned around and went back to Chimney Beach. Lolo was very happy to see us and we played with him while daddy took a turn on the SUP. He doesn’t do it as much as momma so we were happy to see that he was still dry when he got back to us!

We had lunch on the beach (again) but suddenly a lot more people were arriving at the beach to hang out and enjoy the day. Momma had the idea that the three of us could paddle up to Secret Harbor and daddy could take the trail with the bag and we could deflate the SUP there and do some more hiking. Daddy thought that was a good idea so off we went. He was hiking the trail just right next to us almost the whole time! It was kind of funny because we heard some dogs barking at him, and he heard the lady who wanted to ask momma for directions and also how she was able to keep us on the SUP without jumping in. Momma said “they stay on because they don’t want to get wet!” and they thought that was a good enough reason to stay on the board because that water is FREEZING.

When we got to Secret Harbor there were quite a few people there, including several nude sunbathers. Remember I told you about this beach before on my “Naked in Nevada” blog post?!?!

Daddy was way up high on a cliff and we were hanging out on the SUP in the water and momma found an isolated stretch of sand we could pull onto. We then climbed up the boulders to meet daddy and she said we should keep traveling south along the shore because there were more beaches to the south that would likely not have as many people on them for us to deflate the SUP. She worries about deflating it because the initial HISSSSSSSS of air can be VERY loud and VERY scary for dogs, and there are always lots of dogs out in Tahoe so she wants to make sure we don’t’ freak anyone out!

Daddy agreed this was a good idea so we kept paddling south. At the next big beach we pulled onto the shore next to a couple with a Border Collie. Momma and I went and made friends with them, although their pup, Bandit was far more interested in digging in the sand. Which was fine with me because his momma spent all her time petting ME!

Daddy decided to take the SUP out to explore even further south again, and he took me along while momma played “Chuck-it” with Lolo on the shore. When me and daddy got back she took both of us over to the next beach to the south where there were dogs swimming and Lolo was SO JEALOUS because he was just sitting on the SUP.

When we went back to the beach we decided it was time to deflate the SUP for the day and got all packed up. Momma then said “since we are here, you may as well see the end of this stretch of public shoreline” to daddy, who agreed to carry the big bag the SUP is in as we hiked further south exploring the gorgeous beaches of the national forest. We met lots of friendly people and dogs, some of which were naked, but hey, it’s nature, right?! That’s what momma says.

Now, momma was certain she could figure out how to connect a trail that was higher up in the woods with the one just on top of the cliffs above the lake so that was what we were searching for. It was taking a bit longer than expected so she had to check a map, but she was right and we made our way back to the car. It was a full day lake adventure which was the first time we had ever done it with an SUP! Momma was very happy that Lolo and I are so well behaved on the SUP because she did NOT want to get dumped into the water and the inflatable board is super lightweight so any moving around we do on it is amplified. The next day she said she could feel all of her muscles that were working so hard on just staying balanced! I can’t imagine what would have happened if momma fell in because I’m sure the water is colder than it was when she had to dive down for her phone in December and the cold water was taking her breath away.

And would you believe she took these videos (and some of the pictures in this blog) from the SUP without losing her phone in the lake?!?!

Momma is more determined than ever now to figure out the logistics to getting us on an SUP – and preferably for all of us the big TAHOE SUP (like the one we used for our overnight Tomales Bay adventure) we are used to paddling on for the rest of the time we get to live so close to Tahoe. Because if you haven’t noticed by now in all of these pictures it is pretty freaking amazing how clear and blue that water is! And how there are gigantic boulders that suddenly pop out and peek through the surface!