Cave Rock, Lake Tahoe

Cave Rock is 75 feet of solid stone at the southern end of Lake Tahoe-Nevada State Park, and is the throat of an extinct volcano. Tahoe Tessie, the lake's version of the Loch Ness monster, is reputed to live in a cavern below the impressive outcropping.

This large rock formation is located on the southeastern shore and is easily visible from almost any point on the lake. Once a part of the neck of a volcanic vent that existed on the site about five million years ago, Cave Rock is now named for the caves high up on its side. When Lake Tahoe was first formed, roughly three million years ago, lake level was initially hundreds of feet higher than it is now. Remarkably, these caves were carved out of the rock by wave action of the lake over tens of thousands of years during that period.