Tahoe Rim Trail – Weekend in the Tahoe Basin from Big Meadow to Showers Lake

16 miles Total

Friday Night – 3 miles in to Round Lake

Saturday – 10 miles to Showers Lake and Back to base at Round Lake

Sunday – 3 miles out and a dip in Lake Tahoe just 20 minutes down 89

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About halfway to Showers Lake we came across a rustic cabin and barn; this is the original home and barn of the Meiss family, pioneers that came to the area in 1878 and in time used the property only during the summer for grazing cattle.  Eventually, through a land exchange in 1965, the Meiss family property was turned over to the Forest Service.

Evelyn Meiss Richards said of the family property,

“My father…drove his herd of cattle by horseback, taking five days, through Plymouth, Silver Lake, and Caples Lake…to our range for the summer… My three sisters and I had many a lovely summer fishing and riding horseback. Once a week some of us would ride our horses to Meyers to pick up our mail. It took us most of the day for the trip. My mother, in the meantime, would either make ice cream to be frozen in the snow bank, or bread and biscuits in the wood stove.”

The cabin and barn are still there to see in the midst of a vibrant green meadow full of wildlife just before climbing to the refreshing waters of Showers Lake.  It’s quite an experience while hiking through Meiss Meadow to reflect on a “simpler” life of subsistence vs. our hectic daily grind; are we better off with our iphones and desk jobs or are we just longing for a return to a life based on need.  To imagine what it would be like to make life in the meadow for the summer, only leaving for supplies and waking daily to the sounds of chipmunks, birds, and the strong Sierra wind blowing through the tall grasses of your very own meadow.