Summer has been busy as I’m doing school, an internship, and trying to keep it all together. I went to Tahoe in the middle of June, right after finishing the Spring term at BYU. Different from all the trips before, I didn’t plan anything until I was there. That was certainly a bit uncomfortable because I don’t like wasting time on the trip doing that, but I also didn’t have time to plan for it before. But it was good to have done things this way, and I learned that doing nothing is also doing something. So I allowed myself to woke up and just be. I didn’t need to have a full schedule while at Tahoe. I just needed a break from the crazy life, and it was all so good and refreshing.

I did tons of research on Google to find information about the locations. Often, the information I found was unclear if the place was a hike, by a parking lot, or something else. I decided then to make this post as clear as possible so you can plan accordingly to your mood on the day. After all, we aren’t always in the hard-hiking-mood, ammright?

There are different places that you can see Emerald Bay Island. This was one of my favorites, and it’s a must-to-go location. The best of it all? All these pictures were taken by the parking lot! Not hiking required. From the parking lot, you can spot the island with a prime view.

If you are feeling in the hiking mood, go down the Vikingsholm Trail, that’s also accessible from the same parking lot. I have made only half of the trail, but if you decide to go all the way down, it’s a relatively easy 1.7 hike that will take you to the Vikingsholm Castle.

I like soft light images, so we sat on the rocks and waited for that perfect light that’s an hour before the golden hour. You can see that the light in these pictures doesn’t look the same, as they were taken at different times. If you don’t care much about how your pictures will look, any time should be good to go! Emerald Bay is always blue and beautiful.

It’s a good spot to have a picnic or just chill.

How to get there: Search on Google Maps for Emerald Bay State Park or paste these coordinates: 38.95434742509013, -120.10966981711792

Wearing Lovestitch dress.