Lake Tahoe 16 miles (7/12/08)

When we arrived to Lake Tahoe on friday morning the smoke had settled across the Tahoe basin and it was difficult to even see the water from the road. After suffering through a week of central valley heat with temperatures over 110 and thick smoke in the air, I was starting to feel like I would never again have a breath of cool clean air. We went for a 2 hr swim and both Kate and I felt our lungs burn and got out of the water with a headache. By then I was seriously doubting that we would be able to do our long swim that weekend as planned. Luckily, when we woke up Saturday morning an overnight wind had cleaned up the smoke a bit and you could actually see across the lake (far from normal air quality but a vast improvement). We decided to give it a go and if the smoke settled in again we would quit early. My dad dropped us off at a private beach in front of the Hyatt at Incline beach. The man standing guard kindly let us in (which he was not supposed to do) but told us to hurry. My dad drove to the end of the road and Kate and I hopped out barefoot and in our swimsuits, passed the groups of excited hotel guests and down to the water. While we fussed with our caps I measured the water temp at 66 degrees. Starting out the swim we had to navigate around boats, boat anchors, and piers, until we cleared the private docks of incline beach. We both decided in our head at that point that we did not want to have to return that way. After 2 hrs we arrived at Sand Harbor. We came up near the shore and looked around for my dad who was there to meet us with his kayak. Kate spotted a man that had a hat like my dads and we took of following him for a bit but then stopped at some rocks to look around. Finally we saw my mother atop a rock near shore waving to us and pointing to the spot on the beach where my dad was getting in the water. I was starting to shiver (which is really silly in 66 degrees - and not a real confidence boost) and was relieved that we found each other and were on our way. My dad stayed with Kate for a while and I followed the contour of the shoreline. I would swim into over and around beautiful rocks and schools of tiny fish. The water tasted wonderful, although not as clear as normal lake tahoe (because of the ash build-up in the water) and was an amazing color. When we got to the mansion at the water's edge (apparently the home of an eccentric whose land is now managed by the state) Kate swam ahead and I followed my dad in the kayak for a while. He guided me on a little loop out away from shore where the water color turned darker and a richer blue and then looped me back to shore where Kate was swimming. By that point my dad had been on the kayak for 2 hrs and nature was calling and I imagine his back and butt were getting tired. So, he boated into secret harbor (not a very big secret on a Saturday - but still a beautiful place) and took a rest. Kate and I continued on towards skunk harbor. I made it to the point that juts out from the cove of the harbor and could see the house where we had started our 3 hr swim a few weeks back. Satisfied that at that point a return trip to sand harbor would equal 16 miles I turned around to find Kate and my dad. Passing secret harbor, my dad kayak up along side me and we chatted for a minute and he gave me another stash of food and drink. He kayaked back with us until the mansion and then after replenishing our supplies for the last time he boated back to sand harbor. Kate and I really wanted to swim all the way until 6pm so we decided that may mean passing the sand harbor beach or doing a short out and back along the beach. I chose to swim out to the rock point at the end of the beach - say hello to a seagull perched on a rock - and then head back to shore. When I got to the end of the buoy line in front of the beach I looked around and saw my dad on the shore. I was very excited, actually thrilled, and swam up to the beach to meet him. About 6 minutes (and at exactly 6pm - Kate was exact with time) Kate came up onto shore. I measured the water again and the late afternoon temperatures were in the low 70's (70-72). Even though the conditions were pretty mild, I was very excited to have accomplished a 16-mile swim and we were both very lucky to have the support of my family and the cooperation of the weather.