On a chilly morning in fall 2009, Bill and Sandra gathered a few friends and dedicated their Adopt-a-Mile on the Tahoe Rim Trail to the memory of Emmy Wood, the legendary Nevada dude ranch proprietor of the famous Flying M E where Bill worked in the late 1940s. The mile is the Connector Trail from Mt. Rose Summit Trailhead to Relay Peak Road.
View of Lake Tahoe from the McGee mile.
Bill first saw Lake Tahoe in the early 1940s while cowboying throughout the West. Following his discharge from the Navy after WWII, he returned to Northern Nevada and worked as a dude wrangler and deer hunting guide at the Bob Scates stables outside of Tahoe City. Then, in 1947, Bill was hired as the head dude wrangler on the Flying M E, an exclusive dude ranch south of Reno that catered to wealthy divorce seekers who came to Nevada for a six week divorce. Bill led the ranch guests on pack trips and overnight camping trips to the Lake. In 1950, Bill left cowboying and made a successful transition into the broadcasting field. However, he always returned to Lake Tahoe – as a hiker, a skier, and a writer. In the 1980s, while living in Incline Village, Nevada, Bill was one of the early volunteers on the Tahoe Rim Trail.
The Tahoe Rim Trail Association’s Adopt-a-Mile programs make it possible for families, individuals, organizations and businesses to honor a friend or loved one while ensuring the continuing legacy of the Tahoe Rim Trail. www.tahoerimtrail.org
Sandra McGee has been accepted for membership in Western Writers of America, an organization whose 600+ members derive their livelihood, in whole or in part, from writing about the land and the peoples of the American West, past and present. The membership includes novelists, historians, essayists, journalists, poets, screenwriters, editors, agents, and others. 
