We’re Keeping A Low Profile This Summer

Our short spring shoulder season is about to come to an end. With the arrival of Memorial Day weekend, the summer season will be starting in earnest. That means that some of our favorite places to hangout will once again be overrun, and so will some of those lesser known places where we used to be able to hide out from the crowds.

Back in the day, it was usually Sunset magazine that ruined everything. Once your favorite summer spot was covered in Sunset magazine, it was ruined forever. I had to cancel my subscription when they chose to shine their bright spotlight on the Lakes Basin area in the Lost Sierra back in the 1990’s. If you want to hike to Long Lake or Mount Elwell on a weekend now, plan on parking in Graeagle!

There’s no shortage of information available on the interwebz these days. Between e-zines, bloggers, Instagram, Strava, AllTrails and a hundred other examples, just about every “secret” hotspot has now been outed. If you don’t believe it, just try parking at the Jackass biking area, the east shore of Tahoe, or Emerald Pools these days. Better yet, try to get a legal camping spot anywhere near Lake Tahoe this summer. It’s ridiculous.

The lesser known camping areas are no longer lesser known. Our favorite “out of the way” area sold out of camping in less than 6 hours when reservations opened this spring…all between the hours of midnight and 6AM. Not just for the busy weekends, for the entire season until they close in mid-October. It’s nutty.

That’s why we’re starting to see hashtags like #nogeotags, #nevertagtahoe, #keepitquiet appearing in social media posts. We have to agree. There is no need for promotion of anything in the outdoors these days. The demand for outdoor experiences is far above what those areas can support.

This brings up the obvious question. Aren’t we making matters worse at Alpine Meadows during the winter season? Are we giving away big secrets? I don’t think that is the case. Yes, we occasionally talk about some “off the map spots”. But we certainly don’t talk about all of them. If they’re in plain view, they will be discovered anyways. But there’s some areas of the mountain that we never talk about. Nor will I lead people to those spots on a powder day. Most days, I just tell people that the skiing is far better at the Valley That Still Has No Name.

In years past we’ve actively posted thought the summer. It was a way to keep our readers engaged, and keep our site traffic up during the off season. That seemed like an important goal, since we carried some paid advertising. But I know I am in a different space now. I no longer feel a need to have this site pay its own way. I’ve been doing some side work to pay those bills. Hopefully most of our readers will rejoin us next season.

So this summer, I’m taking a break. Posts will be less frequent. Maybe I’ll take some time to report on the progress on that big construction project, maybe not. Sure, we’ll probably have some cheeky commentary when a new name is announced for the other side of the mountain. When it’s time to start looking at weather patterns for next season, I’ll do that. That time is not now. I can’t answer for Andy, he may choose to post a thing or two.

Hopefully, with more people returning to “in person” employment, the return of other distractions like kids sports, summer camps and amusements parks will be a good thing. The Tahoe region cannot stand many more summers of being completely overrun by visitors.