Thanks for reading. I am about to go on my first backpacking trip away from home. I am from Indiana. I am attempting to arrive in Lake Tahoe Aug 10th by bus and leave Aug 29th by bus. I already have my travel and various backpacking expenses taken care of.

My biggest concern is that I am not familiar with the Lake Tahoe area. I am very comfortable with the midwest, but have never traveled far from it. I have all the necessary equipment, but I have never done any backpacking in an unfamiliar place such as Lake Tahoe.

I have a friend staying in Camp Richardson as part of an internship crew. I want to camp near my friend, ideally for free. I do not want to have to rely on my friend's campground as a place to stay, as I don't want to be invasive. My biggest problem is searching for free camping in the South Lake Tahoe area.

I would be happy even if I could just find some dispersed camping around Fallen Leaf Lake; I just want to make sure I won't get in trouble for camping in an illegal area. I see that the actual campsites are around 30 dollars a night. I cannot spend 30 dollars for 19 nights as that would be almost 600 dollars just to pitch a tent for the time I am there. I will also be going on some 2 or 3 day backpacking trips in the area.

Again, I am really familiar with Indiana and all that, but I have no idea about the west. I don't want to end up having to spend money on hotels or expensive campgrounds because I can't find a place to camp. If I can find a place to stay that is a cab ride away from South Lake Tahoe, then I will be a happy camper!