Orienteering Trip to 1999 U.S. Championships

The U.S. Championships for 1999 were held at Spooner Lake Park in the State of Nevada near Lake Tahoe. Lake Tahoe straddles the California-Nevada border and the water in the lake is so deep that the lake never freezes in the winter. The plans were to meet Russ and Marq Bruce and share a cabin at Lake Tahoe for a few days before the Championships and do some hiking and sightseeing..

The trip to San Francisco.

We had booked our flights to arrive at the San Francisco airport at about the same time as the Bruces who were coming from Florida. Our US Airways flight to Pittsburgh left the Ottawa airport Monday morning at 6:30 am. When we arrived at the very large and very new and busy airport the thought went through my mind that it was not so very long ago that Charles Lindbergh made his historic flight to France. An hour or so later we left for San Francisco on a Boeing 757 flying at 35 000 ft. After passing Denver, Colorado, the clouds cleared so that we could see some arid hills and mountains. Further West there were desert areas with some dried river beds. Later, there were a few roads and round or rectangular bright green irrigated fields.

The trip to Lake Tahoe.

After arriving at the San Francisco airport we picked up our luggage and had some lunch while we waited for Russ and Marq arriving from Florida. We then picked up the rental car that Russ had booked and started the long drive to Lake Tahoe. Russ drove through San Francisco and Sacremento with heavy traffic all the way to Placerville where stopped to eat. After we had some food I drove to Lake Tahoe through two ranges of mountains on very twisting roads in the dusk and then in the dark. We arrived in Zepher Cove on the South shore of Lake Tahoe in Nevada where we settled into a two bedroom suite in the Zepher Cove Lodge. This was in place of the cabin that was not available. We managed however to get a refrigerator and a table put into the suite.

A morning cruise on Lake Tahoe.

he next morning Pat and I explored the boat dock near the lodge and discovered that we could take a breakfast cruise that morning at 9:00 am. When we were seated at a table for four, Russ poured our orange juice into fancy looking large wine glasses. It was then that I noticed one of the waiters with a champagne bottle and that we were on a champagne breakfast cruise. The breakfast buffet was excellent, the people at the next table were impressed the large plateful of food that I brought back to the table.Later in the day we drove to Spooner Lake and walked the pleasant trail around the lake. After having supper in our suite we all drove into South Lake Tahoe to look at the sights. This included walking through some of the casinos most of which seemed to be in Nevada.

A scenic tour to Taylor Creek and Emerald Bay.

This was Wednesday morning, the first stop was the US Forest Service Visitor Centre close to Taylor Creek where the Kokanee salmon were swimming upstream from the lake to spawn. In the short stretch of the stream that we walked beside there perhaps 200 red hooked nosed salmon. After viewing the salmon we joined many others at the lookout for Emerald Bay. Far down below we could see "Vikingholm", a large old estate which included a small island out from the beach. It is now a park and we later hiked down to it along a switchback gravel road. This happy group were enjoying the view behind them.

A cable car trip at Heavenly Ski Area

The Heavenly Ski Area is not too impressive from below at South Lake Tahoe but at the top cable car station the very large ski area opens up to your view. There are many trails and many lifts. Before we had lunch at the restaurant we went for a hike along the two mile long scenic hiking trail which included a few hundred feet of climb The hike was through a forest of very large trees and included some very good views of the city and lake.

The Model Event at Spooner Lake.

When we arrived at the model event at Spooner Lake we found that our meet packets were there for us to pick up. I had the first start time at 10:06 am the next day. While we were looking at one control site a familiar face appeared and asked if we needed any help. It was Jim Webster from Calgary. A few minutes later Kitty Jones arrived. There was a group of about six that came from Calgary and were staying in a rented house. They invited Pat and me to have supper with them at the house and to go to a show with them after supper. Mike Ware was one of the group and we had a good visit with all of them.

Russ and Marq were to go to Reno to pick up their son Tom who was flying out from New York. Tom's flight was delayed so that they did not arrive back at the lodge until 3:30 am.

The two days of the Championships

The first day of the event was on one side of a road, the area was large hills with small features. My run was good until near the end when I lost contact and did not bail out quickly enough. The second day was very hilly with lots of large features. Pat did very well but on the second day she was so anxious to get a drink at a water control she forgot to punch.

After the meet,Tom Bruce was able to get a drive to the Reno airport with Mike Ware which enabled us to leave directly to San Francisco. I drove back through the mountains again but it was better in the daytime. After a quick stop in Placerville Russ drove all the way to San Francisco where we found our hotel. Pat and I found a small Italian restaurant just around the corner from our Days Inn where we enjoyed a quiet late evening dinner. The very personable waiter, who was from Columbia was planning a trip to Montreal and Vancouver so Pat gave him a few suggestions of what to see in Montreal. He then treated us to a glass of desert wine

A day in SanFrancisco

This was the day to see the city and ride on the famous cable cars up and down the hilly streets. There was a beautiful church tower that we could see from our hotel location. Since the church was only a few blocks away it was a pleasant walk to get there and then to visit inside. We walked to a Museum of Modern Art and then took the cable car to the Fishermans Wharf. Since both Marq and Russ had birthdays the previous week we treated them to dinner at our favourite Italian restaurant. This time the waiter was a young man from a small town in Quebec across the border from the Upper Ottawa River.

The next day we were all up early to drive to the airport for our flights home.