Lake Tahoe Clothing Optional Beaches

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Lake Tahoe Clothing Optional Beaches (Nevada)

Summer 2005

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Some of the most beautiful beaches in the world are land-locked. That’s certainly true with the clothing optional (C/O) beaches on the eastern shore of Lake Tahoe. In August ’05, we visited 6 of the 7 C/O beaches listed in the San Francisco Bay Guardian’s 2005 guide on a Monday and a Wednesday. All are located along Highway 28 on the east (Nevada) side of the lake, and within an hour’s drive from Reno Int’l Airport. On a Sunday evening, I met up with a Reno resident I had met hiking at Arizona Hot Springs a few years ago. The following morning, we picked up LV Bare Hiker at the airport and met a 4th hiker at the trailhead, who gained interest in joining us from a message board invite I’d posted. Beaches visited, in succession from north to south, were Chimney Beach, Secret Cove (sometimes called Paradise Cove), Boater’s Beach, Secret Creek Beach, Whale Beach, and Little Beach (also called South Whale Beach).

1. View of Lake Tahoe from a northeast overlook on Hwy 431, above Incline Village.
Nevada is on the left side and California is on the right.

2. Closer view of the eastern shore. C/O beaches are just beyond the small peninsula near the center.

The only listed C/O beach we didn’t visit was Hidden Beach, located just south of Incline Village and north of Sand Harbor. All the other beaches are accessible from a parking lot on the lake side of Hwy 28, 5 miles (8km) south of the intersection of Lakeshore Blvd at Incline Village, or 5 miles north of the intersection of Hwy 28 and Hwy 50. On pleasant summer days, the parking area fills up fast, so it’s best to arrive before 10 a.m. or even sooner on weekends. The lakeside trail system and a forest service road begin here. There are outhouses at the parking lot and porta-johns about 1.2 miles down the service road. It’s about a 2-mile walk from Chimney Beach to Little Beach.

3. Heading down the trail.

This area is all part of the Toiyabe National Forest. The rangers are very tolerant of clothing optional use of this area, but please don’t push your naturist lifestyle on textiles by overtly parading the trails nude, or intruding on a family gathering at one of the beaches. The favorable policy of nude use will only continue if there’s mutual respect between naturists and textiles….be mindful that many people visit there just to walk the trails or enjoy an outing at the beach, and are otherwise totally disinterested in that all-over tan (there’s and yours).

4. Nudist’s Welcome Sign.

5. “They’re not kidding!” Flintstone’s split-rock recliner

Our first stop was Chimney Beach, which is the only C/O beach north of the parking area. There were a couple of textile families there who had boated in. We picked up some trash (popular spot with the partying, inconsiderate types). This beach doesn’t get much use by nudists lately, probably because it’s closest to the parking lot and textiles are usually there first. We returned at sunset, and were the only nudists among about a dozen textiles.

6. Chimney Beach and the object of its namesake.

7. Chimney Beach in the early evening.

8. A golden sunset on Chimney Beach.

Our next stop was my favorite, and the most popular for nudists, Secret Cove. Visitors here were usually at least 80% nudists, and sometimes 100%! Lake Tahoe is by far the clearest natural body of water I’ve ever seen. It’s said to be 99.99% pure, and that a white dinner plate can be seen at a depth of 67 feet. At an altitude of 6,225ft, the sky is also a clear, deep blue on sunny days, and the strong rays of the sun makes the air temperature seem much warmer than it actually is.

9. Secret Cove from the bypass trail above.

10. Secret Cove from the log stairway access.

11. Another view of the beach from the north side of Secret Cove.

12. LV Bare Hiker enjoying the scenery.

13. Nevada Naturist holding down a boulder.

14. Nude bookends.

15. Taking the plunge. Tahoe’s high temp is about 70F/21C

The next beach to the south is Boater’s Beach….as you may have guessed, a common destination for boaters. Once in a while, the boaters will clear out and naturists will prevail here.

16. Boater’s Beach, viewed from the north.

17. Boater’s Beach, viewed from the south.

An outcropping of boulders separates Boater’s Beach from the next nudist’s spot to the south, Secret Creek Beach. This beach was also occupied mostly by naturists when we visited. It’s a small beach, but wide enough for Frisbee tossing and beach volleyball. The creek flowing across the beach was considerably colder than the lake water.

18. Secret Creek Beach.

Further to the south is Whale Beach. It’s visited by a mix of nude and textile hikers and boaters. This beach gets its name from the rock formations off shore.

19. Whale Beach.

20. Another view of Whale Beach.

21. This "Humpback Whale" makes a good sunbathing spot.

22. Baby Whale.

The southernmost stop on our beach tour was Little Beach, or South Whale Beach. It’s just around the cove from Whale Beach. This is a small, quiet beach that doesn’t get as many visitors as the others. However, I think we managed to offend a couple of textile guys during our visit, and they promptly departed. From Little Beach, it’s about a 1.5-mile hike back to the parking lot.

23. Little Beach.

A parting shot of Lake Tahoe from the parking lot……..

24. Sunset and a crescent moon over Lake Tahoe.