Needing to bond with nature and go somewhere we hadn't been before, we headed to Cascade Falls... The Cascade Falls hike is perhaps the best short hike on the South and West Shores of Lake Tahoe. It combines a short hike with little elevation gain with a real feeling of remoteness once at the falls. When not crowded, it can feel like you are miles into the wilderness with distant Tahoe views as well as grand mountain views to the west.

Note the all-important baguette protruding from my backpack.

This area is a photographers delight as the dark rock contrasts with the water as it slithers in the summer or roars in the spring towards the falls. It is also a good spot to see the effects of the glaciation that played such an important part in the formation of Lake Tahoe. Polished granite worn smooth from thousands of years of ice sliding slowly over it towards the valley that is now Lake Tahoe is prevalent in the area.