Lake Tahoe is a large freshwater lake in the Sierra Nevada Mountains, straddling the border of California and Nevada.

Why is the lake so blue?

Tahoe’s clean air and water are the keys to the Lake’s dazzling blue color. The surface of Lake Tahoe is blue in part because it’s reflecting the sky, but there is more to this phenomenon. Water as crystal clear as Tahoe’s absorbs red light, leaving the rich blue color that we all see.

Elevation at lake level

Maximum
depth

A maximum depth of 1,645 feet in Crystal Bay makes Tahoe the second deepest lake in the United States and the tenth deepest lake in the world.

Shoreline

72 miles in circumference.

Deepest shoreline

At Rubicon Point the lake drops 1,400 feet straight down.

Record fish

37 lbs., 6 oz. Mackinaw caught June 24, 1974 off South Shore by Robert Aronson.

Why doesn’t the lake freeze?

There are 63 streams that flow into Lake Tahoe and only one, the Truckee River, that flows out into Pyramid Lake. Unlike most bodies of water in North America, Tahoe's water never reaches the ocean.

For many thousands of years, Lake Tahoe was occupied only by Native American tribes. Artifacts confirm the presence of the Washoe Tribe of Native Americans at Lake Tahoe over 10,000 years ago. The Washoe Tribe occupied the Tahoe Basin for 1,300 years preceding the 20th Century. Native Americans camped, hunted, and fished at Lake Tahoe in relative seclusion until General John C. Fremont's exploration party "discovered" the lake in 1844.

The first recorded sighting of Lake Tahoe was by Brevet Captain John Fremont and his topographer, Henry Preuss, on February 14, 1844 from Red Lake Peak near present-day Carson Pass.

For many years following Tahoe's discovery the area was virtually ignored. In 1859 however, the Comstock Lode was discovered in Virginia City, Nevada. During the 1860s Tahoe became the center of a lively commerce involving the silver mines in Virginia City and the Central Pacific Railroad (which was pushing over the Sierra toward the town of Truckee). The Comstock era resulted in large-scale deforestation of the Tahoe Basin, as timber was required to build mine shafts and support growing developments. It is estimated that over 80 percent of the Basin's forests were clear cut during this time. Over a 40-year period in the late 19th Century, loggers clear-cut 95% of the forest to supply lumber for Virginia City, Nevada mines and the transcontinental railroad.

In 1861, Mark Twain hiked 12 miles from Carson City to Lake Tahoe in search of a timber claim, camped on the North Shore near present-day Tahoe Vista and accidentally started a wildfire.

The 1960 Olympic Winter Games were staged in Squaw Valley and on the West Shore of Lake Tahoe.

Public appreciation of Lake Tahoe and its natural resources has grown. During the 1912, 1913, and 1918 congressional sessions, conservationists made efforts to designate the Tahoe Basin as a national park but they were unsuccessful. Development pressures escalated again in the 1940s and 1950s, and a group of residents and visitors who were concerned about the environmental health of the region formed the League to Save Lake Tahoe. California and Nevada formed the Tahoe Regional Planning Agency in 1969.

Why do we love Tahoe?