Page 148 - 2014 Travel Guide to California

SPECIAL
»
EVENTS 2014
The Great Outdoors
Just a few hours’ drive from San Francisco
or Los Angeles, the Sierra Nevada has been
California’s outdoor playground almost
since the original 49ers arrived. In
Yosemite Valley, spectators with tele-
scopes watch the progress of climbers
inching their way up the impossibly sheer
granite walls. Tempted to try it? Sign up for
an introductory class at the Yosemite
Mountaineering School—or at least treat
yourself to a “Go Climb a Rock” T-shirt.
With some of the most reliably sunny
summer weather of any major mountain
range, the High Sierra is a hiker’s paradise,
from easy day walks in the Desolation
Wilderness to challenging, multi-week jour-
neys through Kings Canyon and Sequoia
national parks. Skiers have their choice of
world-class venues, from beginner-friendly
Granlibakken to the double-diamond
chutes of Squaw Valley and Heavenly. In
summer, many of the resorts—particularly
Northstar and Mammoth—convert their
lifts and gondolas to carry mountain bikes.
“LIGHTS ON THE LAKE,” held each Fourth of July at South Lake Tahoe, is the largest
synchronized fireworks show west of the Mississippi. July 4 tahoesouth.com
With participants such as Michael Jordan, Charles Barkley and John Elway, South Lake
Tahoe’s AMERICAN CENTURY GOLF CHAMPIONSHIP has been called the “Super
Bowl of Celebrity Sports.” July 15-20 tahoecelebritygolf.com
Yosemite’s BRACEBRIDGE DINNER, held in the landmark Ahwahnee Hotel, is a
3 ½-hour feast of “food and riches without measure, joining voices raised in festive
sound.” Dec. 13, 14, 16, 18, 20, 22, 24 and 25 bracebridgedinners.com
Heritage & Culture
Native Americans, pioneer emigrants and
gold miners all left their marks on the
High Sierra—often literally. At Grinding
Rock State Historic Park near the town of
Twain Harte, Miwok Indians once ground
acorns on an outcrop of marbleized lime-
stone. The 1,185 mortar holes they left
behind constitute the largest such collec-
tion in North America. In the Hope Valley,
just south of Lake Tahoe, you can still see
ruts in the rocks left by the covered
wagons of settlers on the Emigrant Trail.
The shafts of thousands of abandoned
mines pockmark the High Sierra. One of
the best places to see one is the Great Sierra
Mine, a short but steep hike from Tioga
Pass in Yosemite. You’ll find the remains
of old miners’ cabins, but exercise care
around the shafts, several of which remain
open and unfenced.
Family Fun
If the kids aren’t yet ready for full-on
camping, Lake Tahoe has two old-timey
resorts with knotty-pine cabins scattered
in the trees near the lakeshore, bike and
paddle-boat rentals and ice cream parlors.
Camp Richardson is on the west shore,
near Tahoe City; Zephyr Cove is on the
south shore, just over the border in Nevada.
camprichardson.com zephyrcove.com
A WINTER VISTA of the Minarets from Mammoth Mountain, below.
146 2014 T R AV E L G U I D E T O C A L I F O R N I A
JOEL ST. MARIE/MAMMOTH LAKES TOURISM