Recreation

When California ordered property owners to provide beach access for all, Hollister Ranch made the case that the pristine coastline west of Santa Barbara deserved an exception. With 14,500 acres connected only by private roads, ranchers argued it was impossible for each of them, as required by law, to provide a public route to the beach every time they sought a permit to build.

Having been hauled thousands of miles from across the country, a pontoon boat bound for a weekend on Lake Tahoe pulls into the Alpine Meadows Watercraft Inspection Station. It’s one of roughly 8,000 motorized vessels that were inspected during this past boating season, and one of more than 5,000 that did not meet Lake Tahoe’s Water Inspection Program’s standards of being clean, drained and dry.

For those of you who’ve managed to hike every California State Park trail at Lake Tahoe there’s a new adventure — only this one you’ll need a dive mask to explore. On Monday, the state opened the Emerald Bay Maritime Heritage Trail — an underwater showcase of Lake Tahoe’s historic sunken watercraft and barges.

From The Sacramento Bee:

The American River Parkway is the crown jewel of Sacramento … It is also bone dry, and causing unprecedented headaches for area firefighters this year.

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From the San Francisco Chronicle, in a commentary by Jerry Cadagan and Mondy Lariz:

San Francisco taxpayers and water ratepayers once again have been fleeced of millions of dollars as a result of mismanagement at the city’s once highly regarded Lake Merced.

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From the San Francisco Chronicle, in Tom Stienstra’s Outdoors column:

Every week this summer in California, drought has brought new recreation shutdowns and deviations in nature rarely seen before. But there’s a place that seems untouched.

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