Our Mission The mission of California State Parks is Ed Z’berg to provide for the health, inspiration and ahoe, called Da ow a ga education of the people of California by helping T to preserve the state’s extraordinary biological Sugar Pine Point diversity, protecting its most valued natural and by native Washoe people, cultural resources, and creating opportunities State Park for high-quality outdoor recreation. is termed “Lake of the Sky” for its elevation, depth and exceptional clarity. California State Parks supports equal access. Prior to arrival, visitors with disabilities who need assistance should contact the park at (530) 525-7982. This publication can be made available in alternate formats. Contact [email protected] or call (916) 654-2249. CALIFORNIA STATE PARKS P.O. Box 942896 Sacramento, CA 94296-0001 For information call: (800) 777-0369 (916) 653-6995, outside the U.S. 711, TTY relay service www.parks.ca.gov Discover the many states of California.™ Ed Z’berg Sugar Pine Point State Park State Park Road at Hwy. 89 Mail: P.O. Box 266 Tahoma, CA 96142-0266 (530) 525-7982 © 2002 California State Parks (Rev. 2013) ake Tahoe, at 6,229 feet above sea white and red firs, incense cedars, Jeffrey and The bird population includes ospreys, L level, is known for its great depth and ponderosa pines and the park’s namesake, Steller’s jays, juncos, nuthatches, mountain clear, exquisitely blue waters. The natural, the sugar pine. chickadees, flycatchers, goshawks, cultural and recreational diversity of Lake Lodgepole pines, woodpeckers and western tanagers. Canada Tahoe rests on a fragile balance, and quaking aspens, geese, mergansers, mallards and kingfishers its ecosystem is aggressively protected black cottonwood can usually be by a number of agencies, conservation and mountain spotted near organizations, state and federal alders thrive along streams and the legislatures, and concerned citizens. General Creek. lake. A fortunate The largest of the state parks at Lake Wildflowers bloom winter visitor might Tahoe, Ed Z’berg Sugar Pine Point is 2,000 during spring and be rewarded with acres of dense pine, fir, aspen and cedar summer, with the sight of a bald forests set behind nearly two miles of lake Indian paintbrush, eagle perched in frontage. This is the only Tahoe-area park Sugar pine cone lupine, columbine, a tree overlooking where camping in the snow (conditions penstemon, the lake. permitting) is part of the lake’s winter several kinds of buckwheat and snowplant experience. Located ten miles south of Tahoe among the showiest. The thick shrubbery PRESERVATION City on the west side of Lake Tahoe, the is mainly composed of green-leaf and pine- As the beauty and Black bear park’s acreage extends three-and-a-half miles mat manzanita, squaw carpet, mountain grandeur of Lake into the U.S. Forest Service’s Desolation whitethorn, chinquapin and huckleberry oak. Tahoe came to the world’s attention, so too Wilderness area. did the fragility of its ecosystem. Scientists The park’s showpiece is the elegant but WILDLIFE are continually learning about the lake’s rustic 11,000-square-foot Pine Lodge —also The Tahoe area is home to many large uniqueness and sensitivity. called the Ehrman Mansion. It is a fine and small animals. California black bears, In the face of decades of development, example of the grand, turn-of-the-century tree squirrels, chipmunks, Beechey and the Lake Tahoe history being written in the summer homes of the well-to-do who began golden-mantled ground squirrels, raccoons 21st century is one of protection and, in some to settle the lake shore in the early 1900s. and coyotes are frequently cases, restoration. Ed Z’berg Sugar Pine Point Here, they could escape their bustling city seen in the campgrounds State Park plays a part in recording this lives and reconnect, if only temporarily, to and other developed important aspect of human history as well. the serenity and recreation of the outdoors. areas. Porcupines, pine One example is the creation of the Edwin L. martens, beavers, Z’berg Natural Preserve. PLANT COMMUNITIES bobcats and deer are During your visit, you may also see The canyon floor’s rocky debris was occasionally spotted in evidence of various ongoing natural resource deposited approximately 10,000 years ago more remote areas of management programs. Erosion control, by glacier melt. The dense forests consist of the park. thinning of overcrowded forests, removal of Mallards dead trees in high-use areas, prescribed the first permanent non-native resident on Creek. Following burning, and habitat improvement are a few Tahoe’s West Shore. He staked a homestead the Olympics, life of the many projects being undertaken claim on Sugar Pine Point in the spring of around the “Jewel to maintain, restore and preserve natural 1860. His first cabin was lost to fire, but his of the Sierra” never conditions within the park. second residence may be visited near the returned to its former North Boathouse. idyllic serenity. HUMAN HISTORY Settlement of the Tahoe region continued Rampant unchecked For thousands of years, Lake Tahoe was into the 20th century. In 1899 a railway development ensued brimming with fish, its forests rich with linked Tahoe City with Truckee and San in the 1960s and game and edible plants. Drawn to this Francisco; by 1915 a road connected all ‘70s, threatening the incredible bounty, the Wa she shu (Washoe) the lakeside communities. Fashionable fragile ecosystem automobile travel made Tahoe a more of the high Some Nordic events in the people came to Da ow a ga (edge of the 1960 Winter Olympics were lake) each spring to spend their summers accessible destination. During World War II, mountain lake. held here. hunting, fishing, feasting, trading, socializing a lull disrupted the basin economy. Post­ and preparing food for the coming winter. war, development resumed while Nevada PINE LODGE (THE EHRMAN MANSION) Bedrock mortars and other evidence of casinos offered new forms of entertainment In the late 1800s, internationally known the Washoe presence can be found in the 1950s. West Coast banker Isaias Hellman visited near the lake. The 1960 the area on a business trip. The forested The 1859 Comstock Lode Winter Olympics mountains reminded him of his native silver discovery in nearby were showcased Bavaria, so Hellman purchased property on Virginia City, Nevada, brought at Squaw Valley, the promontory known as Sugar Pine Point. a boom in development and and many of the Walter Danforth Bliss, a well-known architect a demand for lumber. By Nordic events of the time, was hired to design a three-story the late 1800s, logging had were based summer home for Hellman. Completed in removed most of the old- around General 1903, Pine Lodge — built largely of native growth forests from the Tahoe materials —seems basin, leaving barren hillsides. to grow out of the The logging era gave rise to landscape itself. It is a elegant hotels and family Shingle Style California resorts around the lake, Craftsman home, which including the Bellevue Hotel refers to the design of and Sunshine Post Office, here enclosed porches and at Sugar Pine Point. organic expression, “General” William Phipps, with overlapping wood a Kentucky frontiersman, was Above: Pine Lodge (Erhman Mansion); shingles that wrap Right: Phipps Cabin delicately around the curves and corners of the back staircase, and through what was RECREATION the home’s exterior. Pine Lodge is one of the once a modern and very busy kitchen. Shady lawns gently slope to the shoreline, finer expressions of this uniquely American providing perfect picnic sites. A pier and style of architecture. DISCOVER THE PARK miles of beachfront offer swimming and Hellman’s youngest daughter Florence Nature Center and Gift Shop fishing. The Ehrmans’ tennis court is open to managed the home for her father and The Nature Center and gift shop are located the public first-come, first-served. Boats can inherited it after his death. After Florence in the Tank House. Interpretive displays, briefly tie up at the pier to visit the park. married Sidney Ehrman, an attorney and hands-on exhibits and a theater help to In Pine Lodge’s two boathouses, you can see sports enthusiast, she maintained summer explain the region’s geology and natural original boats that helped launch early Lake traditions of Pine Lodge. The lodge and its history. The Nature Center’s highlight is a Tahoe boating competitions—from racing estate were sold to the State of California floor-to-ceiling diorama of native wildlife. regattas to rowing — that continue today. in 1965. First named Sugar Pine Point State Natural and cultural history publications, Trails Park, the park was renamed Ed Z’berg Sugar recreational guides, and books are for sale. Pine Point State Park in 2004. Lakefront Interpretive Trail — Starting at the The center and gift shop are open daily You may enjoy many of the same North Boathouse and following the shoreline from June through August and on weekends leisure activities as the Pine Lodge guests to the South Boathouse, this flat, paved trail in September. of yesteryear. While seated on the mansion’s is a quarter-mile long. massive front porch overlooking the jewel- Edwin L. Z’berg Rod Beaudry Trail — Beginning east of the blue lake, imagine yourself a pampered guest Natural Preserve Nature Center and the park office (Carriage House) and leading through the forest, of Florence Ehrman. Tours of the home are The Dolder Nature Trail circles the preserve this paved trail is 1/2 mile long. Interpretive offered daily from Memorial Day weekend named for Edwin L. Z’berg, who served in the markers along the way describe the area and through late September.