Pyramid Lake

We drove out to Pyramid Lake (north of Reno) today.

I really love the desert.  I love the vastness, the clean feel of being in the desert.
I remember years ago when we're visiting Morocco and took a hired taxi out to Ait Benhaddou, and along the drive I said to Paul, "this feels like home."  and that was right before we moved to Nevada.  The same dry, high dessert.

I love the feeling of being on the lonely highway.

One time a student was showing me drawings of Pyramid Lake she did.  I told her I'd never visited it.  She looked surprised and said, "you should!  It's our (tribe's) sacred place." She told me about Pyramid Lake and that really piqued my interest.
It's an area that belongs to Paiute. It makes me feel really good to see that Paiute retains the right to the land here.  Permit for access to the beach are purchased through the tribe.
Tahoe was Washoe tribe's ground.  Today, you can still see the grinding stone out in the meadow near the lake, yet no Washoe people living up here.  But there is a big tunnel drilled through their very sacred Cave Rock.  Sadly, I drive through it every day on my way to work.  It is now banned to rock climb the face of Cave Rock.  Yet, there are still climbers that want to make it legal to climb Cave Rock as if there aren't enough places around for climbing. And as if their own need to piss everywhere tromps little that is left of the Washoe's heritage sites.

Here at Tahoe, we're already crowded with summer tourists.  It was so nice to get out of here and be at another lake that was completely empty of people.  Pyramid Lake's size is comparable to Tahoe at about 188 square miles and Tahoe at 191 square miles.  Pyramid lake is this beautiful azure blue lake in the middle of very desolated  desert landscape with very few tiny residential area that belongs to the reservation.  There is something very special about walking on this unspoiled land.