On a recent plein-air trip to Lake Tahoe several of us artists were fortunate to paint at Sugar Pine Point State Park.

Sugar Pine Point State Park sports almost two miles of gorgeous beachfront along the western shore Lake Tahoe, no rx as well as the bigger inland portion  of the park packed with hiking trails and camping – even in the snow!  With 2000 acres this is the largest state park in the Tahoe area, with glorious forests of sugar pine, fir, juniper and aspen.

General Creek runs through the park, and creates a gorgeous s-shaped estuary and bird sanctuary, where this clear stream flows into Lake Tahoe.

When we painted there, flocks of Canadian geese with their chicks graced the waters.  We even spotted Common Mergansers.

The numerous trails lead along the creek through a forested valley to the state park boundary, as well as into the El Dorado National Forest.  You can also reach the northern part Desolation Wilderness from this park, as well as the Paci?c Crest Trail and other paths leading into the High Sierra backcountry.

In addition, Sugar Pine Point State Park is home to the Edwin L. Z’berg Natural Preserve. This preserve is an unmanaged sub-alpine meadow habitat allowed to evolve with as little human intervention as possible.

Scouting around this beautiful California park, we were amazed by the many improvements in progress ~ habitat restoration, path improvements… and even brandnew picnic tables in various stages of unwrap! Given the shortage of state park funding, I was curious about how this park is able to do these great improvements.

In my conversation with one of the friendly park rangers, I discovered how creative Sugar Pine Point State Park has been in funding improvements:  In addtion to generous donations from patrons and visitors, this gorgeous park hosts events and even weddings ~ right there overlooking Lake Tahoe, at the elegant, 11,000 square foot Hellman-Ehrman Mansion. What a beautiful place to get married!  And a great way to support the parks…

Congratulations Sugar Pine Point State Park for being so inventive in creating funds, and thank you for making such great improvements to this beautiful California State Park!

Read more about geting married in a California State Park.