Angora Lake, ice cube cold and beautiful

You could drive here in a car but if you're feeling adventurous you could park your car in one of Lake Tahoe, California's neighborhoods and hike over the mountain to Angora Lake.

I felt adventurous.  Several hours later I had scaled the peak.  My arms were scatched up and I was way way way out of breath!

Climbing the Lake Tahoe side of the mountain was rigorous.  It's steep and there isn't any trail.  

I wasn't even sure where I was going that day.

I just knew that I wanted to go to the top of the mountain but when I arrived I looked down the other side and there was this lake.

Oh my gosh it was so beautiful there!  It took me another 30 to 45 minutes to go down the other side to the lake, still no trail to follow.

There's a tiny little gift shop and a resort at the lake with cabins, these boats, canoes and a few guests here and there.  

You can book a cabin for you and your family or whomever for a week at a time.  

You better get on the waiting list though!  

I put myself on the waiting list and it took two years for them to call me with availability!

When they called I was not available so I had to pass.  But someday I will put myself back on that list and spend a week of solitude at Angora Lake.

Oh! You know what was shocking?  You can see that there's snow on the mountain, right? 

Well, there were people swimming across the lake.

They swam to the cliffs, climbed up and jumped off numerous times!  

I don't think I would've been able to make the swim at all, let alone climb the cliffs and jump into that ice cube cold water!