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The trailhead for this hike is hard to find. It is a very small unmarked pull-out on the lake side of Highway 28 about two miles northwest of the intersection with U.S. Highway 50. An iron gate bars access to a dirt road leading down toward the lake. When you park, do not block the gate or you risk finding your ride has been towed away while you were off on your hike. Most of the dirt road dates from the day when this slope was logged to provide lumber for the Virginia City silver mines during the nineteenth century. It was the grade for the logging railroad that worked this part of the forest. A short way down the road there is a fork. To the left is the trail down to Prey Meadows. To the right is the trail down to Skunk Harbor. On this hike we headed down to Skunk Harbor, but I intend to go on down to the meadow some spring when the wild flowers are out. About a mile and a half from the highway one reaches Lake Tahoe and Skunk Harbor, the site of the Newhall family's lakeside retreat. I found it very easy to imagine the lavish parties that the Newhalls had here during the Roaring Twenties and wished that I could have seen one.
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