Skiing has been a popular pastime for millennia, as proven by the discovery in Russia of eight-thousand year old wooden skis, along with rock carvings, and paintings of hunters on skis. Skis and skiing have changed a bit, evolving from a necessity into a leisure time activity

The word ski comes from the old Norse word 'skiõ' which meant split piece of wood or firewood, and there have been almost as many different kinds of skis and techniques as there have been years of use.

Asymmetrical skis, first described over 500 years ago, were used in northern Finland and Sweden, even up until the 1930s. On one foot, skiers wore a long straight non-arching ski for sliding, while the other foot was outfitted with a shorter ski for kicking. The bottom of the short ski was, sometimes, covered with an animal skin to aid in the kicking, while the bottom of the longer ski was treated with slippery animal fat to help with gliding.

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In 1872, the side-wheeler Governor Stanford, ushered in Lake Tahoe's golden age of steamships. Based in Tahoe city, the ship carried about 125 passengers on its eight hour trip around the Lake.

Three years later, the Governor Stanford was joined by the steamship Niagara, 83 feet of faster reliability.

Not long afterwards, the timber baron, D. L. Bliss, doubled Tahoe's fleet of steamships by adding the Meteor, capable of speeds up to 30 mph, and her sister ship the Emerald II. However, his best was yet to come.

Mr. Bliss ordered a ship to be designed and built by Union Iron Works in San Francisco. The hull was made in sections, then disassembled, packed for transport, and shipped by rail to Carson City. All 154 tons of boat pieces were then loaded onto wagons, and laboriously pulled by mule and horse teams up and over Spooner Summit to Glenbrook. There, the S.S. Tahoe was rea...

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Orchids comprise the second largest plant family on the planet, and are known for their unique flower shapes and structures. Though largely a tropical group, adaptive orchid species can be found in throughout the Tahoe region.

Unlike their tropical cousins, all of Tahoe's species have small flowers. The most conspicuous of these is the small white flowered rein orchid, also called the bog orchid.

The Lake Tahoe Basin is renowned for its beauty, crystal-clear lake waters, and diverse ecological landscape. While most tourists visit for the spectacular views and the many recreational opportunities, this region also attracts both beginning and experienced wild flower enthusiasts looking to find a unique or elusive species

Orchids make up earth's second largest plant family. Because of the high elevation, and the tough winters of the Lake Tahoe Basin, orchids found here are especially adapted to survive challenging condi...

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We kick them out of our way, we run over them with our cars, and we trip over them.  Occasionally, we appreciate their elegance, and decorate our homes with them. Mostly we just ignore them.

Big or small, on the tree, or in your driveway, the ubiquitous Tahoe pine cones are just trying to do their job. And that is to safeguard the seeds they carry until conditions are right for growth. Then the pine cones open their scales, releasing the seeds to germinate.

All pine trees are botanically classified as gymnosperms because they do not flower or fruit. Instead, they grow cones to contain their seeds. The word, gymnosperm, is derived from Greek and literally means naked seed.

Every pine cone you see is f...

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Researching the history of Marlette Lake leads to many articles and write-ups about the flume and pipeline system that was built to service Virginia City and the Comstock Lode.

Most of the online information is about the ingenuity of the engineers, the hard work and efficiency of the men, equipped with only mules and shovels, who built the water system, and the staggering amounts of water transported down mountains, across valleys, and up hills to supply the mines, the miners and their families.

Marlette Lake, named after Nevada's first Surveyor General, Seneca H. Marlette, was originally a glaciated basin, which naturally drained into Lake Tahoe. When the lake was dammed as part of the water project for the Comstock Lode, and its natural drainage wa...

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