Sugar Pine Point State Park

July 9-11, 2007

Description
The largest of the state parks at Lake Tahoe, Sugar Pine Point is 2,000 acres of sugar pine, fir, aspen and juniper forests set behind nearly two miles of lake frontage. Located ten miles south of Tahoe City on the west side of Lake Tahoe, the park's acreage extends three-and-a-half miles into the U.S. Forest Service's Desolation Wilderness Area. The park's showpiece is the elegant but rustic 11,000 square foot Pine Lodge, also called the Ehrman Mansion. (excerpted from the Sugar Pine Point State Park brochure)

Location
Located in Tahoma, CA just ten miles south of Tahoe City on Hwy 89.

Activities
Bike trails, hiking, camping, picnicking, tennis, cross-country skiing and snowshoeing in the winter, tours of Ehrman Mansion/Pine Lodge, Jr. Ranger programs in the summer, and swimming and boating (no boat launches).

State Park Review

Although Sugar Pine State Park is touted as the largest of the state parks in Lake Tahoe, it is a small, quiet park compared to others in the state park system. There are only a few trails within the park itself, although the General Creek Trail can be rather long depending on your destination.

Sugar Pine Point is a great place to camp. The General Creek Campground contains 175 family campsites. Included in that number are 10 Group sites located towards the front of the park. The campsites are large and generally flat as well as shaded by beautiful pines. Most campsites in the campground are standard sites that will allow for an RV, and there are a few tent-only sites scattered among them. A dump station is available.

Our campsite was site 155 towards the back of the park. It was a nice spot. Although not listed as a tent-only site it had a nice area for one or two tents and the parking spot was sized for a very small trailer. We had a site on each side of us as well as across the road, but we had a nice distance from all of them. It felt quite private. The weather during our stay was nice. It was cool through most of the day. We also experienced some thunderstorms but the rain was more tropical in that it was light and would disappear as quickly as it appeared. It wasn't until we were breaking down our site that it began to pour.

Amenities for the campgrounds include fire ring, picnic table, bear locker and restrooms with flush toilets, electrical outlets and sinks but no soap or paper towels. Hot showers are located in the middle of the park.

A camp host is present and is available to answer any questions about the park as well as provide firewood for a fee.

Sugar Pine Point does have a campfire center but no program was scheduled while we were there.

Bears live in the area, so it is wise to put all food and fragrant items in the bear locker provided. Do not leave food in your vehicle or bring it into your tent. Trash should be placed in the provided bear-proof bins. A bear sighting was made the last night we stayed in the park; too many campers were not heeding the warnings.

Hiking:
Although there are several hiking trails in Sugar Pine, be sure to print the Park map provided on the State Parks website. There were no efforts made by the staff, especially at the park entrance, to inform you of the trails available for hiking. As such, we missed quite a few of the hiking trails available to us and didn't know how far Lily Pond was from our campsite.

Rod Beaudry Trail is a 1/2 mile, paved hiking trail that travels between the Nature Center and park office, through the forest. Be careful, although clearly on the park brochure map it says that bikes are not allowed, a sign at the beginning of the trail indicates otherwise. It is also quite hilly.

The Lakefront Interpretive Trail is a flat, paved 1/4 mile long trail. There are several stops along the trail including North and South Boathouses.

The General Creek trail is a 6-1/2 mile loop, dirt trail.

The Lily Pond trail is a trail off the General Creek trail that is four miles long. This trail can also lead to the Desolation Wildernes but hikers to these areas must obtain permits.

There are other hikes within Lake Tahoe that are more spectacular than the ones at Sugar Pine. One is the Rubicon/Lighthouse Trail at D.L. Bliss State Park; a fabulous dirt trail that is an approximately 2 mile loop and has beautiful views of the Lake. It is fairly easy for children around 5-6 years old although portions of the trail have only small railings that are between you and a cliff. The campgrounds at Sugar Pine seem nicer than those at DL Bliss, so I recommend staying at Sugar Pine while hiking at DL Bliss (day-use fees are waived for campers at a nearby state park).

Biking:
The cycling in Sugar Pine is spotty. Portions of the paved trails allow cyclists but then will end abruptly and you have to turn around. Many families tend to ride their bikes along the paved roads through the campgrounds which is a nice distraction for the kids.

There is a great bike trail that runs parallel to Hwy 89 just outside Sugar Pine. The West Shore Trail runs from Tahoe City to Meeks Bay, but then ends abruptly. It's a nicely maintained trail but is a bit tough for small children as there are plenty of inclines not easily negotiated without multiple gears.

Day Use Features:
Aside from the hiking, Sugar Pine has some other great little day-use features. If visiting Sugar Pine for the day, I recommend visiting the portion of the park just off the lake. Sugar Pine has both a Nature Center and Gift Shop. The Nature Center is small but provides a glimpse of the wildlife present in the area as well as a history of the park. The gift shop is just off the Nature Center and is quaint. Since you are not allowed to take any "souvenirs" from the park (ie. rocks, sticks, pine cones, etc.), I like state parks that have a gift shop. It's a nice stop to take and pick up a little something for the kids.

Also in this area is the Ehrman Mansion/Pine Lodge. Tours are given throughout the day during the summer (tickets may be obtained at the gift shop).

The Lakefront Interpretive Trail is a nice, self-guided hike especially good for the disabled since it is paved (the access to this trail, however, is a bit steep, so proceed with caution). Guides may be picked up at the gift shop. This trail has a beautiful view of the lake and easy access to the beach as well. You may also view the lake from the pier located off the trail.

A tennis court is also available at Sugar Pine. Use is first-come, first-served.


Prepackaged Backpacker Food Review:
Mountain House Beef Stroganoff (3 out of 5 stars) Serves 2
This prepackaged, freeze-dried backpacker meal was good for beef stroganoff (I'm not a big fan of beef stroganoff, so that accounts for one star being removed). But the noodles were al dente, beef chunks were a little small, but overall the meal was tasty and creamy. We paired it with a nice pre-bagged salad mix: Fresh Express Pacifica! Veggie Supreme.

Samuel P.Taylor State Park

June 8-10, 2007

Description:
Samuel P. Taylor State Park is located just north of San Francisco in the steep rolling hills of central Marin County. It is just seven miles east of spectacular Point Reyes National Seashore. It is also close to Mount Tamalpais State Park, the Marin headlands and Muir Woods National Monument. (excerpt from Samuel P. Taylor State Park brochure)

Directions:
From Sacramento, take I-80 West towards San Francisco. Just before Vallejo, take Hwy 37 West to Hwy 101 in Novato. Take Hwy 101 South to Sir Francis Drake Blvd. Exit at Sir Francis Drake Blvd. and head west several miles to the park entrance (note: the sign will say Camp Taylor, it's former name from the 1880s.)

Activities:
Bike Trails, Camping, Picnicking, Hiking, Equestrian Trails and Horse Camp

Experience:
We chose Samuel Taylor Park because of its proximity to Sacramento (less than two hours away), its probability of cool weather since it's near the coast (we had just endured our first 100 degree days of summer in Sacramento), and the fact that it had paved bike trails. The latter was the most important to us. My five-year-old son Sam recently learned to ride a bicycle without training wheels. I knew that if we were to keep him happy on this trip, he had to be able to bike ride. Samuel Taylor Park did not disappoint.

Friday, June 8, 2007: We arrived in the afternoon (2:00 pm check-in time) to our campsite in the Creekside Campground. Sites in the Creekside Campground are tent-only sites (Small trailers can reserve sites in the Orchard Hill Campground, but electricity, water and sewage hookups are not available.) Our site was camp 23. I was a bit late in planning our camping trips this year, so I had slim pickings for a weekend trip. The only spot left was site 23. Our site was across the street from Papermill Creek and surrounded by four other campsites. These campsites were a bit secluded among the redwoods. Ours seemed to be in the middle of the parking lot. Two parking spots for a different campsite were right outside our tent, and there was no other place to set up the tent. We felt on display. Our spot also got a lot of sunlight during the day, but luckily the nice bay area weather kept us cool. Note: Sir Francis Drake Blvd goes through the middle of the State Park and is about 200 yards away from the campgrounds. Traffic noise is highly audible at all times.

Saturday, June 9, 2007: You might think we didn't have a great time, but not counting Yosemite, this was the best camping trip we've had. In the morning, we rode our bikes along the Cross Marin Trail. This is an out-and-back, paved bike trail that extends from near the park entrance west to the town of Tocaloma (although we stopped at the Tocaloma bridge; the rest of the trail becomes a bike route along Sir Francis Drake Blvd). This was a great bike trail for kids. There are no cars, it was level, paved and a perfect length for my 5-year-old. The scenery was pretty and included Papermill Creek where the endangered Coho salmon spawn in the winter (there are even cute wooden, red salmon placards on the bridges along the trail). What amazed me was we completed the trail within an hour-and a half, including a break for lunch. So we got back to camp and wondered what we were going to do the rest of the day.

We decided to ride the rest of the Cross Marin Trail. The Cross Marin Trail also heads east of the park entrance; this time, on a multi-use dirt and gravel trail. We figured we would try a portion of the trail to see where it led and to see if Sam could handle riding on gravel. The first portion of the trail east was a little more populated with hikers and camp visitors because it was close to the park entrance. But once we crossed the bridge at the Irving Group Picnic Area, we only encountered a handful of hikers. We surprised ourselves by riding the entire multi-use trail to the end at Inkwells Bridge, then crossed Sir Francis Drake Blvd. (by walking the bikes) and continued on a dirt road to Peter's Dam on Kent Lake. We thought we would be level with the top of the dam but in fact, we were below the spillways. It looked like you could ride up a dirt road to the top of the dam, but it was long and very steep. (Once home we found out that our entire trip east and west on the Cross Marin Trail was about 10 miles. Our son was a trooper.)

That evening we attended the Campfire Program presented by the Parks system that included a slideshow about the history of the park and a short campfire sing-a-long. I recommend attending these presentations because it's something to do in the evening (when scheduled), it shows your appreciation of the park to the rangers, and you always learn something about the park that was not highlighted in the park brochure.

Sunday, June 10,2007: We broke down our campsite (Noon checkout time) and headed to the parking area at the Redwood Grove Picnic Area to take in some hiking. There are many hiking trails at the park. North Creek, South Creek, Ox and Pioneer Tree Trails are short hikes quite close to the campgrounds. Devil's Gulch Trail, Stairstep Falls Trail, and Bill's Trail that leads to Barnabe Peak are located in the foothills across Sir Francis Drake Blvd. Devils' Gulch looks like a short, level hike but the other two hikes are much longer with larger elevations gains (400'-800').

We decided to try the Pioneer Tree Trail, a short 2.2-mile hike. The trailhead starts at the eastern portion of the Cross Marin Trail. It's a lush trail through a redwood forest filled with ferns (as well as lots of Poison Oak). There was about a 200' elevation gain on the trail and it is not stroller or wheelchair accessible. About two-thirds of the way along the trail, we came across the trail's namesake, the Pioneer Tree. This is thought to be the oldest Redwood in the park, since most of the current redwoods are second growth trees. It's a nice place to rest and take in the beauty of the trees. We continued on and soon came to the end of the trail near the pedestrian bridge at Irving Grove Picnic Area. We walked another 1/2 mile along the Cross Marin Trail back to our car at Redwood Grove.

After a brief lunch at the picnic area near the park entrance, we got back in the car and headed home to hot, hot Sacramento. We vowed this would be a park to return to.

Prepackaged Backpacker Food Review:
Mountain House Sweet and Sour Pork with Rice (4 out of 5 stars). Serves 2

These freeze-dried backpacker foods are packaged in a resealable foil pouch. The only cooking requirements are boiling water added to the package. After about ten minutes of "cooking", the meal is ready to eat out of the pouch. The consistency was fairly good with the chicken pieces tending to be a bit small and chewy at times (longer cooking time could help). The mix did have a nice sweet and sour flavor and the rice cooked well. Pair it with a pre-bagged salad mix like Fresh Express Pacifica! Veggie Supreme (includes lettuce-veggie mix, poppy-seed salad dressing, soynuts and sunflower seeds), and you have a well-balanced dinner.