Lake Tahoe
We offer custom private tours and scheduled tours to Lake Tahoe and other attractions and sites in the area.
Visit beautiful Lake Tahoe, one of the leading year-round vacation destinations in the world today, with incredibly clear water and a superb surrounding panorama of spectacular mountain scenery. As the largest alpine lake in North America, Tahoe is split down the middle by the California and Nevada border and has a depth of up to 1,645 feet (501 m), making it America's second-deepest lake and the 10th deepest in the world. Lake Tahoe features over 300 days annually of warm sunshine and 396 inches of snowfall, making it a perfect outdoor playground, with boundless activity options for the adventurous.
In 1844, the American military officer and explorer John Fremont led an expedition to the Great Basin and recorded Lake Tahoe simply as "Mountain Lake." Later settlers and prospectors raced to the area after the discovery of the Comstock Lode in 1858, and adopted a name based on the local Washoe word Da ow ga, meaning simply, "The Lake." Lake Tahoe became a center for the logging industry, providing timber for the underground mines. Lake Tahoe also became a favorite vacation spot with steamships providing regular service around the lake. Lake Tahoe and Pyramid Lake were fished commercially for trout that were shipped to the West Coast and to the Comstock. The native fish stocks have declined over time and today fishing is only for recreation.
The Lake Tahoe Basin was formed by geologic block uplift, which filled with snow, rain, streams, and glacial meltwater during the ice ages. Many streams still flow into Lake Tahoe today, but only the Truckee River drains the lake as it flows down through Reno and into Pyramid Lake, Nevada. Because of its high elevation and formation primarily from snowmelt, the water temperature remains fairly chilly throughout the year.
Along the gorgeous 72 mile drive around Lake Tahoe is Emerald Bay, designated a National Natural Landmark by the US Department of the Interior in 1968. Later, California included this area in Emerald Bay State Park, along with the lake's only island, a Scandinavian mansion named Vikingsholm, Eagle Falls, and several underwater wrecks. Other places of interest along the shores of Lake Tahoe include Incline Village, Zephyr Cove, Kings Beach, and numerous nearby ski resorts