Snowless Northstar Still A Good Time

This winter break, on the weekend after New Year’s, my family and I took a short trip up to my grandparents’ cabin at Northstar in Tahoe. The familiar drive up took us through Truckee, a small town located just north of the Northstar Resort off Highway 80. Founded in the mid-1800’s as a stopping point for travelers crossing the Sierra Nevada, the town has maintained its rugged Western image with weathered frontier-style buildings.

About fifteen minutes later, we reached the Northstar Resort. Our cabin is located in the suburbs that surround the resort. The endless rows of wooden cabins gives the neighborhood a very cozy feeling. Unfortunately, the ground, usually white at that time of year, was still brown due to the lack of snow in the Sierra Nevada.

On the other hand, the bare ground allowed my family and I to go on a hike that would have been exhausting had their been three feet of snow in the mountains. Walking through the forest with the fresh smell of pine trees and that familiar crispness in the air kept the Winter Tahoe ambiance alive. The relaxing walk took us through the wooded area surrounding the cabins, up and down through the mountains, spitting is back out onto the road about five minutes away from our final destination and the central hub of activity in Northstar: the main village.

Lying in the center of cabins and at the bottom of the slopes, the main village could be considered a small town. It features a luxurious hotel, numerous clothing stores, including The North Face, Burton, Patagonia, and Oakley, a Starbucks, numerous restaurants, an ice skating rink, a bungee trampoline, and my personal favorite, a Belgian waffle cart. This newly developed miniature city is without a doubt the social center of the resort. Skiers and boarders alike flock from off the slope to kick their skis and boards off and relax with a hot cup of coffee by the rink.