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Оглавление2 Animals and Plants, Great and Small
The Lake Tahoe area has a tremendous variety of interesting flora and fauna. You will enhance your enjoyment and experience of this beautiful region by getting to know some of them. This chapter gives a quick summary of what you may encounter as you journey along the Tahoe Rim Trail.
While many of these animals are a rare treat to encounter, the smaller animals such as squirrels and birds are found in abundance. Among the highlights of traveling in the Tahoe woods are the fascinating trees and wildflowers that you pass along the way. This book provides a quick, easily understood introduction to the most common animals and plants in the Tahoe Basin area; it is not intended to substitute for a good field guide.
The Largest Animals in the Tahoe Region
Black Bear The largest omnivores in the Sierra are black bears, but often their fur is cinnamon brown, dark brown, reddish, and sometimes even off-white. Bears are common on the west shore of the lake, where numerous garbage cans provide a tempting place to scavenge a free meal on garbage collection days. Whether you live in the Tahoe area or are just visiting, you can do your part to protect bears—and yourself—by keeping your garbage away from where they can get to it. If you are camping or backpacking in bear country, follow these simple rules:
Don’t leave any food or clothes that smell like food in your tent. When they come to get it, you don’t want to be sleeping in the path of a hungry and determined bear.
Put your food (all your food!) in a safe place at night and when you are not in camp. If a campground has a bearproof container use it. In the backcountry you are not only advised to put your food in a bearproof canister, but in some areas, including several wilderness areas in the central and southern Sierra, you are required to do so. The next two best methods are to hang your food high in a tree, suspended from a rope, or to put it on a 15-foot-high rocky ledge where bears can’t reach it.
Keep a clean camp so that bears or other animals won’t be attracted to the site. Put food, cleaning, and fragrant hygiene supplies such as shampoo, toothpaste, and soap away soon after you are done with them.
If you see a bear, make lots of noise. Bang pots and pans together, stand up and shout, and throw your arms around to scare it away. (Note that this approach doesn’t always work!)
Be smart. If a bear is chomping down on your food, it has already won, so don’t try to take the food away from it.
Never get between a mother bear and her cub.
If you startle a bear, make eye contact, but do not stare at it. Instead, slowly back away and wait for the bear to amble off. Be sure not to block its escape route.
Don’t forget that bears are good runners and can climb trees.
Treat bears with respect. Remember that you are in their territory.
While it is important to be cautious, bear attacks are extremely rare. In those very unusual circumstances where black bears have injured people, it was usually the result of human error. Be careful and enjoy them from a safe distance.
Deer The most common deer in the Sierra are named “mule deer” for their large, floppy ears that resemble those of a mule. Mule deer also sport a small white bob of a tail. Deep snow and lack of forage keep them away from the area during winter months. At that time, you are more likely to find them in the warmer climes of the Carson Valley, a short jaunt over the Carson Range from the east shore. As the season warms up, these animals are commonly spotted on the east slopes and in other areas of the Tahoe Basin.
Mountain Lion or Cougar The rare and elusive mountain lion or cougar has been seen occasionally in the Tahoe area, especially in lower elevation open areas such as the east shore and around Truckee. While I have not personally seen one on the TRT, I have seen tracks, which were following close behind a set of deer tracks. These large cats range in size from 6.5 to 8 feet long, including their tail, and can weigh up to 200 pounds. Each animal has a vast range and can cover many miles of territory in one night. Mountain lions hunt deer primarily, although they also prey on raccoons, birds, mice, and even skunks and porcupines. Porcupine?! That would have to be one hungry mountain lion.
Someone once brought a pet mountain lion to my office; its power and grace were awe-inspiring. We had the feeling that it could dispose of any one of us in half a minute. Mountain lions can jump 12 feet up a tree from a standstill. If you do encounter one, experts recommend that you do not run. Instead try to look as big as possible by standing tall, opening up your jacket, and waving your arms. Once the cat perceives that you don’t behave like prey, it will probably back off. Also, a mountain lion leaves the remains of a kill and returns later to eat; needless to say, it is not wise to hang around a lion kill.
Medium-Sized Animals
Bobcat You are more likely to hear the loud scream or howl of this elusive member of the cat family than to see it With an average weight of about 20 pounds in adulthood, it is a good deal larger than an average-sized domestic cat. A bobcat has a short stubby tail that is black toward the end and tipped with white. A nocturnal predator, the bobcat likes to dine on squirrels and mice. Bobcats have been sighted rarely in Tahoe Meadows, above Tahoe City, and along the west shore.
Coyote These adaptable creatures are common in the Tahoe area. While I’ve seen them in many locations, they seem to prefer woodlands and meadows. They can often be heard yipping and howling at night in Ward and Blackwood Canyons, Squaw Valley, Alpine Meadows, and other places. Though coyotes resemble medium-sized dogs, they are much more graceful and lissome when they run, a sight to behold. It is not uncommon for a dog to chase a single coyote, only to discover that the coyote is leading him back to his teammates. Although many people believe that coyotes do not hunt in packs, I have seen them several times in groups of three or four adults. If you live in the mountains, take care with your domesticated animals, even around your home. Many a lost cat or small dog has become a coyote dinner.
Marten It is a rare treat to spot a marten, also called a pine marten. At about 1.5 to 3 feet long, including its tail, the marten is about the size of a housecat but longer and sleeker. Martens have beautiful lush brown fur and long bushy tails. They are agile climbers and sometimes live in a cavity high up in a tree. They are elusive animals, but can occasionally be seen in pursuit of squirrels or chipmunks, their favorite dinner. Several years ago I saw one in nearby trees around my Tahoe area house for about two weeks. The grace and stealth of the marten is unmatched.
Marmot
Marmot If you hear a high-pitched squeak when you are walking by a big rock pile, there is a good chance that it harbors a yellow-bellied marmot. Also known as woodchuck, the marmot is about the size of a housecat. Related to squirrels, marmots are dark brown and cinnamon in color, live in groups and love to sun themselves on rocks. I have often seen them in Desolation Wilderness, on the Pacific Crest Trail near Twin Peaks, and in the Mt. Rose area.
Porcupine These large rodents can often be seen on roads or sitting up in a tree. About 2 to 3 feet long, they are large and round with short legs. They have light brown to yellowish fur and numerous hollow but sharp quills of up to 3 inches long. The porcupine walks in a slow, lumbering fashion—if no one wants to eat you, why hurry?—and enjoys a diet of succulent bark and herbaceous plants. No animals, except cougars perhaps, want to have anything to do with these quill-covered critters, and although their quills can cause others a great deal of pain, especially to overzealous dogs, it is a myth that they can “shoot” their quills.
Raccoon These carnivorous little burglars are one of the most interesting animal species in the Sierra. Their distinctive face looks like a burglar’s mask, with a black band across the eyes and a mostly white face. They range in size, but can get as big as a medium-sized dog. Raccoons are nocturnal—all the better to wake you in the middle of the night while they are knocking over garbage cans in pursuit of food. It is common to see them on house decks but rare to see them in the wild. Often the best evidence of a raccoon is the very distinctive handlike tracks they leave.
Small Animals
These ubiquitous rodents inhabit the ground, the trees, perhaps even your attic, and represent a fair percentage of local roadkill. A recent squirrel census reported 178 million squirrels in the Tahoe Basin.
California Ground Squirrel These squirrels have large bodies like the gray squirrels but have much smaller tails. They have a mottled brown coat and a silver saddle over the shoulder. They spend most of their time on the ground and are very busy all summer getting fattened up to hibernate through the winter.
Chickaree or Douglas Squirrel This medium-sized dark brown squirrel has a reddish tinge on its back, a white belly, and a bushy tail with a silver tip. Chickarees stay active all winter and make a short explosive quer-o sound.
If you hear fir cones crashing down to the ground, and see the mangled remnants of the soft cones sitting on a stump, you will know you are in chickaree country. These squirrels love to climb trees and drop the cones for later, when they remove the entire cone, piece by piece, in order to get to the tasty seeds inside.
Golden-mantled Ground Squirrel and Chipmunk What is the difference between a chipmunk and the golden-mantled ground squirrel? A chipmunk is smaller and has lines on its back that go all the way over its head. The Tahoe area’s most common squirrel, the golden-mantled, has a lovely white band bordered by black running up each side of its back and ending at its shoulders. To complicate matters there are a number of different chipmunk species with minor differences in appearance. Both chipmunks and ground squirrels eat seeds, grasses, and fruit.
Golden-mantled ground squirrel
Western Flying Squirrel These small brown squirrels (smaller than a chickaree) are very friendly and social, but since they are nocturnal most people will not have the opportunity to see one. They don’t fly but rather glide through the air from tree branch to branch. Like the western gray squirrel, the flying squirrel remains active all winter.
Western Gray Squirrel Larger than either the chickaree or ground squirrel, the gray squirrel also lives in the area but in smaller numbers. It has a uniform gray body and a long, broad tail. Like the chickaree and unlike the ground squirrels and chipmunks, the gray squirrel is active all winter. It loves to sit in trees and “laugh” at cats and dogs, which stare at it with evil intent.
Pika or Cony The pika is smaller than a chipmunk, light brown in color, and lives primarily in high rocky areas. It looks like a cross between a chipmunk and a small rabbit (and is in the same animal order as the latter) with shorter ears. It makes a peeping noise.
Birds
American Robin Slightly smaller than the Steller’s jay, the robin has a similar physique and is a frequent summer visitor to Lake Tahoe. With its brick-red breast, yellow bill, and gray back, the robin cheerily hops through the understory of local woods or meadows, looking for insects or worms.
Bald Eagle A very large, majestic black bird with white head, the bald eagle occasionally is spotted flying near water, perched on a large tree, or riding the updrafts. I remember watching an eagle fly along the lakeshore, when suddenly two ospreys began to chase it; the three completed some incredible acrobatic stunts before the ospreys gave up. Perhaps the eagle had ventured too near the osprey nest. Count yourself lucky if you see one of these rarer raptors.
Blue Grouse You are more likely to hear a blue grouse than to see one. Males vocalize a very low, bass-drum brrrmmmmmm, brrrmmmmm, brrrmmmmm sound. Females are large, plump birds about the size of a pheasant or chicken. Their plumage is brownish gray with some white feathers near their neck. They can sometimes be seen in trees or brush. Breaking cover, they startle you as they suddenly take flight with a loud wap, wap, wap of wings. This bird can commonly be seen or heard in heavily wooded sections on the west shore, including Desolation Wilderness and areas north of Tahoe City.
Canada Goose Commonly seen along Tahoe beaches and in parks, this large grayish-tan goose has a black head and neck and a prominent white chin. Though geese are known to steal food from unsuspecting small children, they are beautiful when flying in their A-line formations. Less beautiful are the copious amounts of droppings they leave, making a trip to many a Tahoe beach akin to walking through the room of a teenager (messy but not dangerous). Similar to the Canada geese, but rarer are snow geese, which occasionally can be seen flying in large groups above the Sierra. It is a site to behold, but you will hear their raucous cries long before you see them.
Clark’s Nutcracker With a shape and sound similar to the Steller’s jay, this light gray bird has black wings with white patches. Seen at treeline along high ridgetops, very much Tahoe Rim Trail country, Clark’s nutcracker makes a loud and slow flap, flap, flap with its wings as it flies from tree to tree. It prefers whitebark pines; a single bird can bury thousands of pine seeds in a summer season.
Mountain Bluebird A rare and beautiful treat, the mountain bluebird is sky blue and startling in its soft beauty. About the size of a robin, it is a lighter blue than the much more common Steller’s jay. Look for it in grassy meadows or at the edge of the forest hunting insects. I have seen it in Ward Canyon and near Truckee.
Mountain Chickadee Perhaps the most common bird in the Tahoe woods, the small chickadee (about 5 inches long) is light gray with a black cap and white line over each eye. Usually quiet, this active bird may be best known for its call, which many people say sounds like cheese, burrr, gerrrr; others claim its call sounds more like tsick-a-dee-dee-dee. You be the judge. Maybe it just sounds like the voice of a chickadee.
Mountain Quail California’s state bird is small to medium-sized and slightly chunky. You can identify it by the little standard issuing from the top of its head, its gray to brown coloring, and the way it scurries away into nearby brush. It stays close to the ground under bushes near sunny open areas and water sources. Since quail convene in coveys, once you spot one, you will likely hear and see others.
Osprey Another rare bird, the osprey is best known for its ability to swoop down and catch fish in its talons. The osprey is a little smaller than an eagle, with brown feathers on its back and white feathers on its breast. When flying above you, it appears mostly white, but while sitting in a nest with wings tucked, it can appear mostly brown. The osprey makes a high-pitched squeak and can be seen along the lakeshore or high up in large nests it has built out of sticks at the top of dead trees. I have watched an osprey dive into Dicks Lake and remove fish that were feeding in the evening.
View from Dicks Pass
Owl Various species of owl inhabit the Tahoe area. Primarily nocturnal, they live in the deep woods and are more likely to be heard than seen. While the calls of owls vary with the species, in general you can hear a deep who, who, who. Owls have large, round faces with piercing front-facing eyes perfect for late night hunting. Some species have catlike ear tufts that stick straight up.
Steller’s Jay The seemingly ubiquitous Steller’s jay is most often found at lake-level elevations and in campgrounds. It is medium-sized with a dark blue body and a black mantle, throat, and crest. Its aggressive raucous cry or squawk is distinctive. It will eat your potato chips and raid your snack packs, yet many Eastern birders delight in seeing this bird for the first time.
Western Tanager Though somewhat uncommon, the tanager is one of the most colorful birds in the Tahoe area. The male has a red head, a bright yellow body, and black wings. The female is also bright yellow but has a less dramatic greenish-yellow head. Try to spot this small to medium-sized bird (bigger than a chickadee, smaller than a Steller’s jay) flitting from tree to tree.
Amphibians and Reptiles
Pacific Tree Frog These tiny frogs can be heard in many Sierra locales. They are especially common in the grassy area around Twin Lakes, so if you’re walking to these lakes be careful not to step on them. About 1 inch long, the frogs are brown or green with black eye stripes. Though called tree frogs, they have no special preference for trees and are just as comfortable on the ground or in the grass.
Snakes Several snakes live in the Tahoe area. Happily for area hikers, the rattlesnake is not common among them. The most common snake in the Tahoe area is the garter snake. It is about 2 feet long or less and slender with a tail tapered to a sharp tip. The garter snake has a black or gray upper surface with a yellow line along its back. While for the most part it is harmless, if handled it may discharge a foul-smelling liquid. Less common to this area is the rubber boa. A wonder to behold, this docile, harmless small brown snake is usually less than 2 feet long. With its smooth skin, it looks like a worm on steroids.
Western Fence Lizard This 6- to 9-inch lizard is often found in dry areas lounging on a rock or running to escape your big feet. The scaly skin of the lizard is gray, and they are often seen doing “push-ups” on the rocks, exposing their blue bellies.
Insects
Bees, Yellow Jackets, and Wasps Honeybees and bumblebees quietly go about their business of pollinating flowers and rarely sting people. Yellow jackets, even though they look like a bee, are actually a form of wasp. After an above-average winter snowfall, especially in a season with a lot of spring moisture and cold temperatures, yellow jackets are found in small numbers. In drought conditions, however, yellow jackets multiply, and by late summer and fall they can be a nuisance. They are ferocious predators and carnivores, and their stings can be painful and cause swelling. These wasps can nest in the ground or in a trailside log. If you get too close to their nests, they will come out in force to sting you. Wasps are most active from midday to just after sunset.
Mosquitoes These pesky little critters are usually a problem from mid-June through mid-July throughout the Tahoe area. The timing of their emergence from the shadows of spring, however, depends on the quantity of precipitation that arrived during winter and how quickly the snowpack melts. Mosquitoes are active at dusk and dawn and are prevalent in shady forest areas, as well as in and near meadows, along a lakeshore, near creeks, and near any body of standing water or moist area. They especially like small, shallow bodies of water where they breed. To avoid mosquitoes, either pack a lot of insect repellent (or lemon eucalyptus), take to a granite mountain or ridgetop area, or pray for wind.
Fish
Fish have not been seen recently on the Tahoe Rim Trail, but there are some in the streams and lakes that you might pass. Here are the few to look out for:
Brook Trout Not a true trout, but a char, its lighter colored spots on a dark green-gray background distinguish the brook. It also has a yellow- to ruddy-colored underbelly. It can be found in any Sierra water source, but is especially common in small creeks and streams.
Brown Trout Hugging river bottoms, the brown trout sports an olive-green to cinnamon-brown coloring with reddish spots along their sides. These fish were imported into the Sierra from Germany and Scotland.
Cutthroat Trout The most common fish in the mountain lakes and streams, the cutthroat can be identified by its red, orange, or yellow “slash” marks under each jaw. It is sometimes called the spotted trout.
Kokanee Salmon Introduced in the 1940s into the Tahoe area lakes, the kokanee can be found here still. It has a robust body and dusky olive to bluish coloring. It is silvery on its underside and nests in bottom gravel like the rainbow trout. During their fall spawning run, they turn bright red and can be found in large numbers in Taylor Creek, on Lake Tahoe’s South Shore. Sometimes they are also found in smaller numbers spawning up Eagle Creek, right next to Vikingsholm Castle near Emerald Bay.
Mackinaw or Lake Trout Incorrectly blamed for eliminating the cutthroat from Lake Tahoe, the mackinaw trout is also a char family member like the brooky mentioned above. It is gray with some yellow speckles that brighten during spawning season, the least colorful of all the Sierra fish. It grows to a large size; every year 20- to 30-pound mackinaws are caught in Lake Tahoe and Donner Lake, and 10-pound fish are common.
Rainbow Trout With a bluish-gray to gray-green back, silvery belly, and dark black speckles, the rainbow’s most distinctive mark is a red streak down each side. Mountain men and prospectors introduced rainbows into the Sierra in the 1800s.
Trees
Aspen or Quaking Aspen The Sierra’s most colorful deciduous tree derives its name from the appearance it has when its leaves quake in gentle breezes or windstorms. With white bark and oval-shaped leaves, aspens are common in wet and moist areas, along creek beds, near springs, and in meadows. Their presence can indicate a groundwater source. Aspen trees spread by cloning themselves by means of root suckers, which grow up into more aspens around the base of their trunks; a single tree may put out dozens of shooters and thus a whole grove may have started with one tree. This tree provides most of the Sierra’s fall yellow and gold color.
Incense Cedar These trees can grow to a height of 150 feet. Incense cedar is commonly found near the lake (6200 feet) with an upper elevation of around 6500 feet, a little higher in sunny locations. Incense cedars have red to cinnamon-brown flaky bark, and dark green short needles, which lie in flat feathery groupings.
Cedar tree
Jeffrey Pine Jeffrey pine is the dominant pine tree in much of the Tahoe Sierra and, though it is especially prevalent near lake level, it can grow at elevations up to 8000 feet. The Jeffrey pine can reach a height of 180 feet. It has thick gray to reddish bark, which turns redder as the tree matures, and smells like butterscotch, vanilla, or pineapple, depending on what kind of nose you have. It also has large roundish cones with upturned prickles and long needles of three.
Lodgepole Pine This usually straight tree (hence its value as a lodge pole for Native Americans) is very common in a variety of soil conditions from below 6000 feet to higher than 9000 feet in elevation. It has thin, scaly, light gray, sappy bark and small cones. The needles are in bunches of two and can be made into an “L” for lodgepole. The tree prefers wet areas, and its presence often signals mosquito territory.
Mountain Hemlock Mountain hemlock prefers high snow areas above 7000 feet and are common above 8000 feet in many north-facing areas along the Tahoe Rim Trail, generally in areas of maximum snowpack. A beautiful and majestic tree reaching heights of 25 to 100 feet, with smaller trees at the highest elevations, mountain hemlock has short, dark green needles on branches that cover the tree from bottom to top. The branches have a gentle sloping appearance; the cones are small and dark brown. What makes the mountain hemlock especially magical is the way the top of the tree droops over like a wizard’s hat.
Ponderosa or Western Yellow Pine Similar to the Jeffrey, the ponderosa prefers lower elevations, usually below 6500 feet, and grows in smaller numbers near Lake Tahoe. It has yellowish to reddish-brown bark and often reaches heights of 100 feet. Like Jeffrey pine, ponderosa also has long needles of three. Ponderosa pine cone prickles stick up and out, while the Jeffrey’s turn up and in (remember “gentle Jeffrey” or “prickly ponderosa”). Some areas have a hybridized combination of Jeffrey and ponderosa, making identification difficult.
Trees and Altitude
Trees in the Sierra tend to find their niche at a particular altitude. By knowing your altitude, you might be able to identify the tree; conversely if you can identify a tree, it might help you determine your altitude. The one exception to the rule is the lodgepole pine, which seems to be found at nearly any mountain elevation. The chart below details where trees are dominant. Be aware that you may find a few stragglers above and below the listed ranges. But if, for example, you see lots of western white pines and no sugar pines, you will know that you are above 7000 feet in elevation.
6000–6500 feet White fir, Jeffrey pine, ponderosa pine, sugar pine, lodgepole pine, aspen, and incense cedar
6500–7000 feet Red fir, Jeffrey pine, lodgepole pine, and aspen
7000–8000 feet Hemlock, western white pine, red fir, mountain juniper, and lodgepole pine
8000–9000 feet Hemlock, western white pine, juniper, lodgepole pine, and whitebark pine
Above 9000 feet Whitebark pine
Red Fir White firs’ red cousin dominates the landscape in some areas above 6500 feet, often living in dense stands. The red fir needle bunches are tighter than those of the white fir, curve inward, and grow to longer than an inch. The bark is reddish-brown to gray, and the tree sprouts medium-sized cones of 6 to 9 inches as compared to the shorter ones of white fir (3 to 5 inches).
Sugar Pine These beautiful, majestic trees can reach a height of 250 feet. They are rarely seen above 6500 feet and only occasionally seen in lower elevations since most were cut down for lumber at the end of the 19th century. The sugar pine has long cylindrical cones that grow 10 to 16 inches downward from the tips of long graceful branches. John Muir said of the sugar pine that it “is the noblest pine yet discovered, surpassing all others not merely in size but also in kingly beauty and majesty.”
Western (Sierra) Juniper Often junipers are found in dry, rocky areas at higher elevations—particularly in the Desolation Wilderness. Junipers more than 1,000 years old have been found in the Tahoe area. They have an appearance similar to incense cedars with reddish, brown bark. They rarely exceed 50 feet in height. Those growing in windy, exposed areas may be twisted and gnarled. The best way to tell the difference between juniper and incense cedar is that juniper has blueberrylike berries and is usually found at higher elevations. Scratch and smell one of these blue berries, and you will quickly discover that they are used to make gin.
Western White Pine These trees grow at elevations of 7000 feet to 9000 feet and can reach 150 feet in height although they are usually much smaller because of the harsh conditions in which they live. Like the whitebark pine, the western white pine has needles that come in clusters of five. Its cone resembles that of the sugar pine though it is shorter (6 to 8 inches) and narrower. The upper branches of a western white pine, also known as silver pine, turn upward at their tips. Mature trees have a distinctive checkerboard pattern on their bark.
White Fir Probably the most common tree in the Tahoe Basin, white fir typically grows below 6500 feet in elevation (although they are sometimes seen up to 7500 feet). They have gray bark and short, bunched needles that have an average length of 1.5 to 2 inches and a flat appearance. The bark of younger trees is somewhat smooth; as the trees age, the bark gets rougher and more like that of other pine and fir trees. The light green upright cones are soft and found scattered about the woods—the work of chickarees.
Whitebark Pine This high-elevation tree is usually found near mountaintops and is easily mistaken for a lodgepole pine. The tree has short stiff needles clustered in groups of five (while the lodgepole needles are in groups of two). The bark is gray-white, and the cones are small and dark brown. It is also common to see them near the tops of peaks in a shrublike formation called krummholz, where they may only stand a foot or so high.
Wonderful Wildflowers
Wet Areas: Meadows, Stream Banks, and Springs
Corn Lily This poisonous plant looks somewhat like a stalk of corn, but smells like cabbage. Not only is its poison deadly, but it has been reported to turn its victims green. The corn lily starts out like a big cigar popping out of the moist meadows in the spring, which by late summer grows to 3 to 6 feet tall. At the top of its broad-leaf stalk, it shows a large grouping of cream-white flowers.
Corn lilies
Cow Parsnip A large wildflower with huge maple-shaped leaves, cow parsnip stalks can reach up to 10 feet tall but average 4 to 5 feet. It is often found in meadows, along creeks, or in other moist areas. It has several tall stalks with tight white button flowers that look like miniature cauliflower heads at the top.
Crimson Columbine The most commonly seen columbine of the Tahoe area has numerous bright red-orange flowers that look like miniature Chinese lanterns hanging off tall, thin stalks. It grows to about 3 feet high in moist meadow areas and along streambeds.
Delphinium or Larkspur Towering larkspur or larkspur delphinium have tall narrow stalks with beautiful small purple flowers that bloom all along the stalks. They are found in large numbers in some meadow and stream areas and provide a dramatic display, especially when they reach their maximum height of 6 to 8 feet. Nuttall’s larkspur is a smaller variety at only about 1 foot high; it is found in limited numbers in dry or wet areas.
Elephant Heads Sprouting off the foot-tall green stalks are numerous tiny pink flowers shaped like elephant trunks and ears. While not as showy as other meadow plants like columbine and tiger lilies, elephant heads are often seen in spring and early summer in Tahoe Meadows and especially in Meiss Meadows.
Monkeyflower There are 11 species of this plant in the Tahoe area, all having flowers that supposedly resemble little monkey faces. The most common are the pink Lewis’s monkeyflower and the yellow common monkeyflower. They favor the banks of small streams or seeps throughout the Tahoe area.
Monkshood This relatively uncommon plant is found in moist areas. Its large deep purple flower resembles a monk’s cowl. A tall plant that can reach 6 feet, monkshood grows among the tremendous variety of flowers found near Marlette Lake as well as in the Page Meadows area.
Shooting Stars Found in moist meadow areas, shooting stars have delicate petals that bend back to expose their darker stamens, thus making them like stars streaking across the night sky. The alpine shooting star has pink flowers, while the Jeffrey’s has a purple to pink flower with a black point and a small band of yellow just above the black.
Tiger lily
Tiger (Alpine) Lily Often found with columbine in wet or marshy areas, the tiger lily can grow 4 to 6 feet tall and is a wonderful visual treat with bright orange flowers speckled with brown.
Dry and Sunny Areas
Checkermallow Along with mules ears, this is perhaps the commonest flower in dry, volcanic areas. It is found at lake level and up to more than 9000 feet and is a low-lying flower with small pinkish-purple cups threaded by white veins.
Deep Forest Pinedrops The pinedrop is a saprophyte, which means that the plant obtains its nutrients from decaying vegetation in the ground rather than through photosynthesis. Pinedrops grow to 4 feet tall and have orange-red to reddish-brown stalks with numerous little curlicues coming off the sides of each narrow stalk. After they die they often remain standing for years, turning darker as years go by.
Douglas or Sierra Wallflower This bright-yellow flowered plant is common in dry areas and on rocky slopes. A member of the mustard family, it has a big cluster of little yellow petals forming a ball atop a straight green stem. It reaches a height of 1 to 3 feet.
Fireweed Fireweed grows in profusion along old road cuts and areas that were recently burned, disturbed, or where most of the plant cover has been removed. It seems to be most prolific after drier-than-normal winters. The plants are 3 to 4 feet high and covered with bright pink flowers.
Horsemint Horsemint is found in abundance in dry meadows and on rocky flats (Tahoe Meadows is one example). It is identifiable by its purple corn-cone group of flowers situated on top of a green stem with many green leaves. It is related to pennyroyal.
Mariposa Lily The beautiful round white flowers of the Mariposa lily have a purple to black center and a delicate appearance. Three cream-white petals form a small bowl. This plant is usually shorter than 6 inches and prefers dry or sandy soil on sunny open slopes.
Mariposa lilies
Mountain Pennyroyal or Coyote Mint This common flower grows in open forests and along volcanic slopes. A member of the mint family, pennyroyal has white or pink flower clusters atop upright stalks. It provides a strong mint smell as you walk by.
Mules Ears In areas with open, south-facing slopes, and particularly with volcanic soils, the mules ears are often the dominant flower species. They can cover acres of land with very few other plants in view. When you see a field of mules ears, you will also smell them as they have a strong odor. Big yellow sunflowers and large leaves that resemble the ears of a mule lend the plant its name. In the fall, the leaves dry up and turn brown, and make a rustling noise in the wind.
Prettyface These relatively common flowers grow close to the ground and have 6 light yellow petals at the end of each flower stem. Each petal has a small dark purple line extending toward its tip. Large groups of “pretty faces” can be found looking at you from dry soil.
Scarlet Gilia The bright red-orange beauty of scarlet gilia is startling to behold when it appears in the dry sandy forest and on open slopes. It can get up to 3 feet tall and has many bright trumpet-shaped flowers.
Snowplant
Snowplant Snowplants are also saprophytes and do not require sunlight to grow; they appear near trees or in dense forest areas. They are long and cylindrical (from 6 inches to 1 foot high) and a bright red color. Snowplant shoots straight out of the ground like a huge asparagus stalk, adding a splash of red color to the shade of the forest. They get their name because they pop up just after the snow melts.
Mixed Wet or Dry Areas
Asters and Daisies There are several species of these sunflowers that have pale purple petals circling a disk of yellow or gold. The western aster and wandering daisy are both quite common in the Tahoe area. Both plants grow up to 2 feet tall, although they are usually shorter, and occur up to 9000 feet. They prefer moist over dry settings.
Asters
Explorer’s Gentian This late-season bloomer has deep blue or purple tubular-shaped flowers. Light dots speckle the inside of the petals. Found in moist or rocky terrain, gentian provides a bit of bright color when many summertime flowers have come and gone.
Lupine One of the Tahoe region’s most common flowers, lupine is found in a number of different varieties. The common feature is that the leaves, no matter how small or big, are palmately shaped, which means they form groups like a hand. In the Sierra most lupines show off deep purple flowers. Tall large leaf lupines are found in abundance in wet areas, such as between Meiss Meadows and Showers Lake. Other large lupines include Torrey’s and Tahoe lupine. Brewers lupine is a high-altitude low-lying lupine with tiny leaves and dark purple flowers.
Paintbrush The orange Red Applegate’s paintbrush and the giant red paintbrush are the two species most commonly seen in the Tahoe area. Both have flowers that look like the brush end of a bright orange and red paintbrush. Often they are called Indian paintbrush. These and other species can be found on dry slopes to wet meadows, up to 9000 feet.
Paintbrush
Shrubs and Bushes
Buckthorn, Snowbush, or Mountain Whitethorn This plant with many names grows along disturbed areas, such as trails, and has lots of narrow white branches with spiny, thorny tips; when flattened by the snow, these branches lay down over the trail. I call it “mountain bikers’ menace” because its thorns can puncture tires. Whitethorn is about 3 to 4 feet tall and spreads out over 5 to 10 feet. It has small ovate-shaped whitish or green leaves. Often the plants are so thick that it is difficult to determine where one plant ends and another begins.
Chinquapin This common plant was named after a condominium project north of Tahoe City (or was it the other way around?). Chinquapin is a bushy shrub related to oaks that inhabits dry slopes and rocky ridges and frequently grows near manzanita bushes. The narrow leaves of this 2- to 4-foot-tall plant are up to 3 inches long, yellow-green on the top, and yellow-brown underneath. Chinquapin produces yellow-green seedpods in spring.
Huckleberry Oak One of the most common plants in this area, huckleberry oak typically gets up to about 3 feet high and grows on dry south-facing slopes. It has small leathery ovate leaves of medium to dark green. At the end of the narrow stalks you may see a light green acorn.
Manzanita While there are five species of manzanita in the Sierra, only two are commonly seen in the Tahoe area. Greenleaf manzanita is widespread in dryer areas over a wide elevation range. Its smooth bark is dark red or reddish-brown with shiny, bright green leaves, and it grows to about 3 to 5 feet tall. Manzanita has lots of rigid, crooked thick branches. In the spring they put out tiny pink flowers that supposedly look like little apples (manzanita is Spanish for “little apple”). Pinemat manzanita, with smaller leaves and stalks, is a smaller plant that grows to about a foot tall; it likes to form a carpet along the ground or over the top of granite rocks. Pinemat manzanita usually grows at a higher altitude than its greenleaf cousin. It is especially common between South Camp Peak and Kingsbury Grade.
Red Mountain Heather This dwarfish bush has dark green coniferlike needles and clusters of small bright pink or red flowers on the top of short stalks. It grows at high elevations throughout the Tahoe area, along some lakeshores, and in the Desolation Wilderness. This fragile plant is a thick ground cover running alongside the trail—take care not to step on it.
Squaw Carpet or Mahala Mat Thick patches of this plant as much as 10 to 20 feet across are made up of hollylike leaves carpeting the ground. In the spring, clusters of small blue to violet flowers grow among the sharp-edged leaves.
Thimbleberry They may not keep you from starving in the woods, but thimbleberries are edible and quite tasty when they ripen in late August and September. They are in the same family as blackberries and raspberries, and you will not be surprised to hear that the berries look like little thimbles. This bush is usually found in large groups lying close to the ground near streams and in other shady moist areas. Thimbleberry has large leaves that resemble a maple leaf with three to five pointed lobes. The showy white flowers bloom in early summer.
Tobacco Brush This plant is also called snowbrush ceanothus and curlleaf ceanothus. Some say the strong pungent aroma of tobacco brush is sensuous and aromatic; to me, it smells like tobacco. With large, shiny, dark greenish-blue leaves, the plant grows up to 5 feet tall and has numerous small white flowers. Tobacco brush likes dry disturbed areas along road cuts and trails and can become the locally dominant plant.
Islands await at Middle Velma Lake.
