Pack Up + Go to Lake Tahoe with Angi Susu
Picture this: you’re about to leave on a long weekend vacation. You have your bags packed and ready to go right next to you, but there’s one catch: you don’t know where you’re going!
That’s what happened to us. We were invited on a press trip with Pack Up + Go, a Surprise Travel brand that specializes in Surprise Travel, and we had no idea where we were headed until the day we left.
Written by Angi Susu
What is Pack Up + Go?
Pack Up+ Go is a very special trip-planning company that sends you to surprise locations. They offer Plane Trips, Road Trips, Outdoors Road Trips, and Staycations — we took an Outdoors Road Trip! After a quick Pre-Trip Survey to understand your interests, travel history, and preferences, they will plan a destination for you, reserve your accommodations, curate recommendations for things to do, eat, and see, and send you a packing list and some weather tips…but not tell you where you will ultimately end up until the day of! They also offer wonderful in-house support via phone or email in case you need any assistance during the trip.
We received the Pack Up + Go Surprise Trip Envelope a few days before the trip was due to start, with strict instructions to not open it until the last minute. Surprise surprise…the morning of our trip, we opened the envelope up and found out that we were headed to the stunning Lake Tahoe, California!
Day 1
On the morning of the trip, we had to drive four hours from San Jose up to South Lake Tahoe — no short trip! Luckily, Pack Up+ Go added in a quick stop in the middle to visit the Capitol World Peace Rose Garden in Sacramento to give us a chance to rest our legs and see some flowers.
In the evening, we reached our lodging at the Wylder Hotel Hope Valley. Nestled in the beautiful Hope Valley — which is one of my favorite places to visit in California during the fall — the Wylder Hotel offers clean, well-designed, high-end glamping cabins. We loved the constantly burning fire pit, the super-soft beds, and the incredible full kitchen with its loaded spice rack.
The Pack Up + Go team already made a reservation for us at Sorensen’s Cafe, the restaurant attached to the Wylder Hotel, so we spent our dinner feasting on wagyu steak with chimichurri and an uber-soft salmon fillet.
Want to see an alternative Lake Tahoe itinerary that includes a stop at Hope Valley in the stunning fall? Check out my 48 Hour Lake Tahoe Guide!
Day 2
Friday was our only full day at Tahoe, but I actually got sick with a fever and we decided to take the day pretty chill. We made lunch in our fully stocked kitchen, walked around a bit, and saved our energy for the big event in the late afternoon: our guided hike over Lake Tahoe! Our tour guide, Michelle, took us on a secluded hiking path that was pretty much deserted, which is exactly how I like my hikes! Personally, I find when there are lots of crowds, it spoils the immersion.
We climbed our way up a steep, crumbly granite mountain to discover beautiful views of the surrounding forest around Lake Tahoe and caught some glimpses of the lake in the back.
Michelle was a great tour guide: relaxed, fun, and always looking for great views! She took plenty of photos for us (and by plenty I mean several hundred), and even suggested we extend our hiking tour to climb some even bigger and higher rocks. We climbed up to the highest point of the mountain and enjoyed a private sunset over the granite cliffsides.
I’m not usually one for guided hikes — I like to take my time and find my own way — but I really enjoyed our hike with Michelle. As someone who lives by Tahoe, she naturally knew much more about the area than we did, and we never would’ve found the trail without her — there was no signage, and it didn’t even have a name. I’m pretty sure it was just off-roading!
Day 3
On our last day, we woke up early to go see the actual lake itself before we had to drive back down to San Jose. The first place I wanted to tackle was of course the stunning Emerald Bay, which I’ve been to once for sunrise but never seen during the day! As we drove up the winding road from South Lake Tahoe, the trees parted way so we could see brilliant blue water on both sides.
There are plenty of pullouts on the road to the Emerald Bay Overlook parking lot. Since we came on a Saturday, the tiny parking lot ended up being far too crowded and we couldn’t find a spot even after circling a dozen times. Good thing we stopped at one of the pullouts beforehand. We were able to enjoy sweeping views of the bay together without having to fight a hundred other people!
Next, we headed to the Rubicon Trail, a westside trail that was recommended to us the day before by our hiking guide Michelle. Usually, this trail involves a drive down to the beach and then a hike up to D.L. Bliss State Park, but the road was closed. Instead, we had to park at D.L. Bliss, hike the trail down, and then turn around and hike it back up — whew.
The Rubicon Trail was a great idea. Unlike many of the popular trails on the northeast side of Lake Tahoe like the areas around Sand Harbor and Bonsai Rock, the Rubicon is much less crowded. We only passed a couple of people over the course of the hike and pretty much got to enjoy the beautiful views all by ourselves. At the end of the hike, we found a beautiful secluded beach!
I wish we had more time to spend at the lake, but we had to get back to San Jose to return our car. We quickly hiked back and then started the 4-hour drive back home. Overall, it was great fun to spend a weekend enjoying a surprise weekend at one of my favorite lakes in the world! Special thanks to Pack Up + Go for sending us to such a beautiful destination.
Did you find this post helpful? Check out my webpage or please consider following me on Instagram!