Lake Tahoe
Lake Tahoe, one of the famous natural attractions of the United States, covers an area of 19 x 35 kilometers. The sun shines here almost 300 days a year, and the Sierra Nevada Mountains surrounding the lake make it one of the most scenic places all year round.
Video: Lake Tahoe
General Information
The second deepest lake in the United States and the tenth deepest in the world, Tahoe is famous for depths up to 501 meters and an average depth of 305 meters. There are many world-class ski resorts to the north and south of the lake. It was here that the 1960 Winter Olympics were held. The northern area of the lake has many wealthy villages and resorts, but the southern part of the lake is less populated and resorts and casinos have only recently begun to appear here.
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The eastern part of the shore is almost deserted, but in the western part of the lake shore there are many hotels and restaurants of a more modest level, where tourists who want not only to enjoy the food, but also to admire the wonderful views come.
.Perhaps the best way to see the scenery is to visit Emerald Bay, one of the most photographed places in the United States. It offers marvelous views of the mountains, the lake, the only island, Fannett, and Emerald Bay State Park itself serves as a stunning backdrop for Vikingsholm, a spectacular reproduction of a Scandinavian fortress commissioned by a wealthy widow from Chicago. Once you get there by boat, you can admire the marvelous towers and turrets, intricate carvings and beams used to recreate the fortress. The roof of the building is overgrown with grass and flowers, which is what was done in time immemorial to feed the cattle in winter. Many of the pieces of furniture Mrs. Knight wished to purchase for Vikingsholm had such historical significance to the Norwegian and Swedish governments that she was unable to get permission to remove them, so she ordered copies.
Whether you’re interested in camping or hiking, skiing or snowmobiling, spa resorts, gourmet cuisine or simply watching Shakespeare’s plays, you’ll find something to do in this area of unspeakable beauty.
Video: Lake Tahoe in winter
History
The area around the lake was originally inhabited by the Washoe Indian tribe. Lake Tahoe was the centerpiece of the territory of these Indians, who also lived in the upper valleys of the Walker, Carson, and Truckee Rivers. They called this area “da ho a ga,” which literally means “the edge of the lake.” When the first white travelers came, they began pronouncing the word “da ho a ga”, which eventually transformed into the modern name of the lake. According to Mark Twain, Tahoe means “Grasshopper Soup” in Native American languages. Lt. John Fremont and Kit Carson became the first white men to set foot on this land.
On February 14, 1844, Fremont first saw the lake from high atop Red Lake while searching for the Bonaventure River. Upon arriving at the fort, he named the lake Bonplan in honor of French explorer and botanist Aimé Jacques Alexandre Bonplan. John Calhoun Johnson, an explorer of the Sierra Nevada range, was the first white man to see Meeks Bay from the mountain above the lake and named it Lake Bigler in honor of California Governor John Bigler. In 1862, the U.S. Department of the Interior first introduced the name Tahoe, but there was another decade of debate over the proper name and both names were in use. Finally, Tahoe was not officially named until 1945. When the state of California was formed, two-thirds of the lake’s shoreline went to it and one-third to the state of Nevada.
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