Spring Snowshoe Hike to Incline Peak

Looking back, some of our favorite memories are from when we have guests in Tahoe. No matter if the visits are 1-day or week-long, we always seem to find fun things to do that are tailored to the visitors' interests and abilities. Because we live in the mountains, we learned that we have to factor in the higher elevation, rough terrain, and dry climate most of our visitors are not accustomed to. But we also are not afraid to push some of our guests outside their comfort zones a little bit while they are here.

In this case, though, Chad and Shannon, friends of ours from Minnesota, are such unstoppable go-getters that when they come to visit, they wear us out! And we know we need to bring our A-game when planning our activities during their visit. No challenge is too big for Chad, that is for sure.

What we have learned is that when they come to visit, we must find something incredibly challenging to impress them with. How about a snowshoe hike up to Incline Peak? After all, we've hiked to it a few times during the summer/fall, and it's a challenging but not ridiculous feat, so how hard could snowshoeing it be?

It didn't take any convincing. We were doing it. It's an amazingly beautiful spring day in Tahoe. Temperatures are in the 60s, the sun is bright, and the skies are blue. In the end, we climbed and climbed and trudged through slippery spring snow for over 1100 feet of elevation gain in a little over a mile. Chad rarely takes the easy route to anything, so you can bet we climbed straight up, never mind making any switchbacks. Breaking trail as we go? No problem for Chad! He'll see you at the top!

This shot gives you some idea of 1) how steep our climb was and 2) how far ahead of us Chad was at all times.

It truly was quite the adventure and one I will not soon forget. The view of Tahoe from the peak, however, was breathtaking and made all the struggle worth it.

Here's the first peek of the lake as we approached the summit of our hike.

Lake Tahoe from Incline Peak.

The background looks fake, right?

I burned nearly 1500 calories, so it's a good thing Chad and Shannon brought homemade jerky and monster cookies from Minnesota to refuel us on this one. Even better than my usual hiking snacks.

After all of that hard work climbing, on our descent we decided it was a lot more difficult to walk down the slippery snow than to just sit on our butts and slide down. So, that is what we did, dodging tree wells along the way.

Some of our butt-sliding trails.

What a beautiful day with amazing friends and life-long memories.