Turn-of-the-century banker Isaias Hellman built “the finest High Sierra summer house in California” a rustic, yet elegant three-story mansion overlooking the lake. Now known as the Ehrman Mansion (for a later owner) the house is open for guided tours during the summer months. Exhibits about the natural history of the Tahoe Basin can be viewed in the nature center, located in the Ehrman Mansion’s former power-generating plant. Click here to learn more about the Hellman-Ehrman Mansion
Tours Daily Memorial Day weekend through September 30th
Daily tours from 10:30am to 3:30 pm
Reduced tour schedule in early June and in September.
Call 530-583-9911 for tour times.
Tour tickets are $10 for adults, $8 children 7-17 years. Children under 7 are free.
Telephone:
530-583-9911
Operating Hours:
Call for park hours
Example of summer programs offered at Sugar Pine Point State Park from the 2014 season:
• Full Moon Kayak Adventure ($25 per person)
• Sunrise Kayak Tour ($20 per person)
• Full Moon Hike Along Lake Tahoe Shores ($10 per person, children free)
• Hellman-Ehrman Discovery Hike (Free)
• Nature Hike Saturdays (Free)
Sugar Pine Point names a forested promontory perched above the western shore of Lake Tahoe, as well as a state park that offers ten terrific miles of trail. Please visit the Visitor Center for trail maps.
4.5 mile loop with 300-foot elevation gain; to Lily Pond is 6.5 miles round trip with 500-foot gain; to Duck Lake is 14 miles round trip and to Lost Lake is 14.5 miles with 1,300-foot gain
While the state park has about two miles of lakefront, most of the park— and the best hiking—is inland along General Creek. Trails lead along the creek through a forested valley to the state park boundary, then into the El Dorado National Forest. Long-distance hikers to gain access to the northerly part of the Desolation Wilderness, as well as to intersect the Pacific Crest Trail and other paths leading into the High Sierra backcountry west of Lake Tahoe often use the park.
Trees are one attraction of a hike through the state park. Besides the sugar pine, look for Jeffrey pine and stately white fir. In autumn, the black cottonwood and quaking aspen are something to behold.
Directions to trailhead: Once inside the park, rangers recommend that hikers park in the campground overflow lot near the entrance to General Creek Campground. The trail, a dirt road closed to vehicles, begins at Campsite 150.
The hike: The wide path leads west along the north bank of General Creek. At a signed junction you’ll spot a trail leading down to a bridge crossing the creek. This bridge and another two miles farther along General Creek Trail, allow a pleasant loop trip without getting your feet wet.
The trail meanders through well-spaced stands of Jeffrey and lodge pole pine and across meadowland seasonally sprinkled with lupine and aster. Those granite boulders you see looking so out of place in the sylvan scene were left behind ages ago by a retreating glacier. Hikers with an interest in geology will enjoy glimpses of the two large lateral moraines that border the valley of General Creek.
A bit more than two miles along, when you reach a second footbridge, you can loop back to the trailhead via a path on the opposite side of General Creek.
Soon after passing this bridge, General Creek Trail dwindles to a footpath and another half-mile’s travel brings you to a signed junction with a side trail leading to Lily Pond; it’s a 0.75-mile, heart-pounding ascent to the little pond.
General Creek Trail continues meandering above the creek. About 3.5 miles from the trailhead, you’ll exit the state park and enter El Dorado National Forest. After more meandering, the trail crosses General Creek (no bridge this time), turns south, then east, and after a mile crosses the creek fed by Lost Lake and Duck Lake.
Now the trail turns south again and climbs to shallow Duck Lake, ringed by lodge pole pine. Lost Lake, another quarter mile along the trail, is a bit more dramatic than neighboring Duck, and offers good swimming.
Sugar Pine Point State Park is comprised of conifer forests in the General Creek drainage. The waters of General Creek are among the clearest waters flowing into Lake Tahoe and the stream is open to fishing from mid July to mid September.
When you're at Ed Z'berg - Sugar Pine Point State Park, be sure to stop at the Nature Center located in the day use area by the Ehrman Mansion. There is an excellent bird display, where visitors can view several species of bird life that occur in the Tahoe Basin. In addition to birds, visitors can see most of the mammals and the four major game fish that occur here. Other exhibits include: Biology, Lake Ecology, Wildflowers, Trees, and a "Touchy-feely" table for the kids (adults also!).