Or perhaps you will just wear out earlier in the day than last year or the year before. These lurking signals say it's time for you to try a yoga class.

In many ways yoga is the yin to skiing's yang (or is it the other way around?). Skiing tends to make muscles stronger and tighter; yoga can help stretch muscles and make them more subtle and less prone to injury. You often ski with cold muscles; doing yoga will warm them. You work muscles hard when skiing; they need to be stretched afterwards. Yoga is the ultimate cross training for skiers.

Emigrant Trail is probably Truckee's most popular mountain biking trail, and with good reason. It is fun for everyone from beginner to expert, and since it runs through a scattered forest at a low elevation, it is out of the snow sooner in the spring and it stays out of the snow later in the fall, then most trails.

There are two trailheads, both located north of Truckee on Highway 89. The first is at the Donner Camp Picnic Area 3.5 miles north of the junction of Highway 89 and Interstate 80.

I stopped to gaze up at the smooth, lenticular clouds passing over Lake Tahoe and down at my mud spattered legs. Shaking the slop off my freezing feet I said to myself: "Hey, the season's changing." After six months of hiking, mountain biking, kayaking, and running, suddenly I knew it was time to change course, to get excited about skiing and snowshoeing--and of course, carrying firewood, shoveling snow, and blowing driveways. But I digress.

Tree Carvings
The carvings at Spooner Summit (7,100') on highway 50 to Carson City were put there by Basque sheepherders at the turn of the 20th century. The art, on the white trunks of aspens, is an early example of graffiti. Look high on the trees; time has passed!

Kokonee Salmon
During October and November 20,000-50,000 salmon spawn in Taylor Creek at the US Forest Service Station--Camp Richardson, near South Lake Tahoe. Visitors may descend beneath the stream to the Profile Chamber and view the underwater activities.

Palisades Tahoe opened as a ski area in 1949. Mt. Shasta opened in 1958. Alpine Meadows opened in 1961. It was a major new resort located in the next valley south of Palisades Tahoe. Alpine Meadows was the dream of John Reily, then the treasurer of the Carnation Company, and later a full-time resident of Tahoe City. Reily hired Peter Klaussen to build and operate the resort.

I have been to the trailhead in August and found no cars there, and I have done the entire trail without seeing anyone. While the trail has no lakes alongside and it starts at the end of a remote dirt road, it makes for a wonderful day trip, especially if you start from the Truckee area, only 20 miles away down highway 89. (Driving instructions are below.)

While the Sierra is not New England when it comes to fall colors, our aspen groves in the fall can be quite spectacular. One of my favorite places for beautiful trees is Page Meadows, right in Tahoe City’s backyard. (Some people spell it “Paige” incorrectly, according to the authoritative book Tahoe Place Names, by Barbara Lekisch.)

The finished trail will provide spectacular views of the Sierra Crest, Donner Lake, and Mt. Rose as well as wonderful walking, mountain biking, or horseback riding through a diversity of ecosystems.

Like the Tahoe Rim Trail, the purpose of the Donner Lake Rim Trail is to provide a complete circle of Donner Lake on its surrounding ridge tops. Visitors will be able to hike the entire trail without backtracking or shuttling automobiles.
Starting at Donner Memorial State Park and hiking clockwise, the tentative route is as follows:

The sport is soaring and your wings come in the form of a sailplane, a modern-day pterodactyl that is made of aluminum, fiberglass, carbon composites and specially treated fabrics.

Sailplanes vary in size from under 40 feet to over 80 and are designed to withstand G forces more than that of an airplane. They’ve also been known to fly at altitudes that jetliners cruise.

Sailplanes have a glide ratio from 35:1 up to 50:1. Glide ratio is the horizontal distance covered divided by the amount of descent.