Hope Valley sits high in the Sierra Nevada Range. This photo location is at 7700 feet elevation. In 1860 this was the site of the Dressler family cow camp and was operated into the 1980s. In the snow belt of the Sierra Nevada range and ten mile south of Lake Tahoe, this site regularly sees accumulations in excess of 15 feet of snow. In the distance to the South is Carson Pass - discovered by explorer Kit Carson around 1840.