Lake Tahoe Trip: Ponderosa Ranch (Part I)

5 July 1984

On February 14, 1844, Captain John C. Fremont, aided by famed scout Kit Carson, became the first white man to discover Lake Tahoe.  Tahoe is an Indian word meaning “big water.”  History records that for 1500 years before Fremont, many Indian tribes used the shores of Tahoe as a summer retreat to escape the heat of the valleys below.  Taking a page out of their book, we headed to Lake Tahoe for the 4th of July holiday.

After a long day’s drive and an overnight stay in a Motel 8 (with vibrating beds no less), we arrived in Carson City, Nevada on July 4.  After settling into our hotel, we drove around the lake, stopping at scenic overlooks to enjoy the views.  Our photos from the drive show just glimpses of Lake Tahoe visible through the trees; certainly nothing worth scanning for the blog.  We also visited Vikingsholm, a massive stone castle built in the 1920s on the California side of the lake.  No decent photos from that stop either, so I’ll just skip along to the second day of our trip.

608 miles (973 km) and a 9-hour drive brought us from Kaysville to Carson City.
(red lines in the inset show our side trips to the Ponderosa Ranch and Virginia city.)

Bring up the name Cartwright, and the first image that will pop into the minds of most people is probably of the actors who portrayed the men — Ben, Adam, Hoss, and Little Joe — on the long-running TV show, Bonanza.  The next image will probably be of the map that bursts into flame at the beginning of each of the TV episodes, accompanied by the well-known theme song (click here if you need to refresh your memory).

Left to Right: Pernell Roberts (Adam); Michael Landon (Little Joe);
Lorne Greene (Ben); and Dan Blocker (Hoss).

The idea for the burning map originated with an unsung artist in the
Hollywood studio where the pilot for Bonanza was filmed.

Well, we spent our day at Ponderosa Ranch, or more specifically, at the “western theme ranch” developed on the set where some of the scenes for the show were filmed.  Our day started out with a horseback ride that culminated with a chuckwagon breakfast at a spot overlooking Lake Tahoe.  Following our ride back to the stables, we wandered around the old west town that was supposed to be a replica of Virginia City, and toured the Cartwright ranch house.  Yes, it was all very touristy, but we had fun nonetheless.

Here’s part I — our horseback ride into the Sierra Nevada Mountains.  (Mui rode Button and I rode My Sweetie … both were perfectly suited for novice riders.)