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The park is located 17 miles south of Tahoe City on Highway 89, a couple of miles north of Emerald Bay.
Must go early in busy Summer season, before 9am for good parking. Otherwise you'll be forced to park on the busy road and walk about a mile to the trail head.
Excellent hike with lots of amazing views. We only did about 30 minutes in and 30 minutes out, not the whole trail. Bring lots of water if its hot, really heats up after 1PM. $8 for parking, but if you park on the road its free.
This tops my list of state parks followed by Custer in South Dakota. The water is truly amazing and the opportunity for photos never ends. We hiked to emerald bay and back....took a good chunk of day. But the beautiful trail through the park was awesome the whole time. If you see the pictures of this park they are legit and worth a view in person. $10 to get in on a day pass which is good for all CA State Parks according to the guy we paid. One of the beaches had very few boulders in the water so that's the best for swimming but all of it is beautiful!!
Was a nice hiking spot along the lake and to see the lighthouse. Wish I would have been open to drive into. We wanted to hike then have lunch and swim on the beach.
Great state park on the west coast of Lake Tahoe. If you can actually get reservations it is an amazing place to stay. We we fortunate enough to get prime real estate campsite right by Leater Beach. People start coming in at 645am to grab spots at the beach. So we felt privileged to be easy walking distance. We had sites 157 and 159. Tahoe 's water clear and cold as usual. But during a heat wave you are not complaining. Bathrooms were somewhat clean. Fresh water access at each site. Bear lockers, picnic bench ,and fire pit at each site. Sites are kinda small so if you like privacy you won't get that here. On one last note the yellow jackets are outa control. We weren't stung all weekend but definitely makes cooking a pain.
Wonderful place for quick day hikes. Lots of views along the trail. There's an old lighthouse which is cool. There's campgrounds and a beach as well but I didn't visit them. I went in mid May and the park was closed to cars and was seemingly unattended. There's a small parking lot at the gate and more parking along 89. It's about 2 miles from the gate to the end of the road. Bring water, there's none. Pack it in, pack it out.
