Untold thousands of people, maybe millions, have marveled at the striking color of Lake Tahoe. One of its nicknames is “Big Blue.” Most people think the color is from the sky. Another nickname is, “The Lake of the Sky.” But the unmistakable color of Tahoe is not from the sky.

While the sky’s reflection does contribute a tiny bit to the blue appearance of the surface, the vivid Tahoe blue arises from its depths. The color is the product of a curious set of events that happened long ago, after the lake was formed.

Early Days of the Lake
Originally Tahoe looked much like any other lake; Tahoe was impressive in size, but not particularly in color. Pristine Emerald Bay, from which the lake was initially filled, was crystal clear (see Legend #1), but the big lake itself was tinted top to bottom. The tint was from dust from the heaving earth as it split open to form the lake basin and surrounding mountain ranges. So Tahoe looked like many other, normal lakes.

As the secrets of this legend have been pieced together, here is the story of how Lake Tahoe became so blue.

Volcano
Many, many years after the lake was formed and named (see Legend #2), the large mountain at the north end of the lake erupted in a violent explosion. Hot lava, gases, and ashes escaped through the rupture in the earth’s surface. The lava flowed southward and traces of it can still be seen in folds on the lake bottom at the north end. The mountain itself is now known as Mt. Pluto (8,617’). It is in the Northstar ski area.

The mountain shook off and on for days at the time it blew, late one summer. Fire and soot billowed into the atmosphere. Ashes filled the air and spread to the south and east, pushed by the prevailing northwest winds that today carry winter storms into the region. Earthquakes triggered by the volcano made the ground shiver for hundreds of miles in all directions. Today three important fault lines still linger beneath Tahoe, and one is particularly visible deep off of Meeks Bay on the West Shore. 

The most devastating result of the eruption was the cloud of ashes. It lingered over the surrounding mountain ridges as updrafts stirred the particles that darkened the sky. Billions of tiny ashes settled onto the giant lake itself. Since the lake had virtually no current, the layer of ash gradually thickened into a jello-like sheet of gray muck that lay on the water like a curse. (The picture below, taken in 2008, provides a sample of ash-filled air on Tahoe.)


Mountain People
During the months after the volcano, daytime was as dim as during a winter storm. The people of the lake, descendants of the original Quas, finally shifted their large camp down the mountain to the west where the sun still shown. A winter passed. In the deep spring a scouting party went back to the lake. The sun was still barely visible—a huge orange ball with a veil of ashes. 


By the spring of the second year, the sky had cleared but the think, mushy, gray blanket still lay on the lake.

Back at the camp, some of people wanted to leave and travel on westward to live by the water with bad taste. Others preferred to return to the mountains or just stay put. Numerous evenings were spent in quiet discussion around crackling campfires. The elders finally decided to appeal to the Great Spirit to cure Lake Tahoe of its curse.

After elaborate preparation, a ceremony was held in a large clearing at the intersection of two rivers not far from what is today, Auburn, CA. During the two-hour ritual, which included drumming, dancing, and meditation, the people intermittently chanted an ancient prayer together. Men, women, and children joined in. They appealed to the Great Spirit to remove the curse. They promised to protect the lake in return. 

No word came from the Great Spirit.

Second Appeal
Four days later they repeated the ceremony on a rare, cloudy day. This time, halfway through the second hour, a wind burst upon them and clouds flashed with lightning. Thunder rolled across the people crushing the drum beat and chanting into a rumpled silence. A slashing rain began as lightning and thunder drew closer. Everyone huddled, now fearful. Amidst the turmoil, the elders stained to discern a message or meaning in the sudden storm.

The tempest passed as quickly as it had arrived. A cleansed, early-evening sun appeared in the west.

Then in the mist a gorgeous rainbow emerged in the sky on the back of the storm, which continued eastward toward the Sierra crest. The colors grew brighter and brighter, radiant against the fleeting, black clouds. The six colors were familiar to the people: 
Red on top, 
Orange, 
Yellow, 
Green, 
Indigo, and
Violet.

The Dream
That very night one of the seniors had a dream. In it a rainbow appeared and an eagle seemed to fly away from the dreamer and under the rainbow’s arch. Eagle then circled back and repeated the flight beneath the rainbow, away from the dreamer. The dream faded.

Next morning the senior told his dream to the other elders. A pensive silence followed as those gathered in a circle pondered the dream’s meaning.

They passed around the Magic Gourd. One by one, as the gourd came, each spoke. Everyone had a turn. There were many ideas. Silence. Once again the gourd was passed around and each person spoke her or his thoughts, holding the gourd.


After many rounds, agreement emerged. The elders decided the dream was a signal for them to follow eagle. They were to go to the east toward the mountains, where the rainbow had disappeared. 

Journey
Within days the leaders of the people started their strenuous, uphill trek back to the lake. They followed the river that came toward them from the morning sun. (Today, it is indentified as the Middle Fork of the American River.) In seven days they reached the crest of the Sierra in the saddle between two massive peaks (Granite Chief @ 9009’ and Squaw Peak @ 8909’). 

The elders halted, unsure as to which way to proceed: downhill, north, or south. Eagle appeared in the direction of the noon sun. The leaders followed, picking their way step by step southward along the jagged crest. 

They caught glimpses of their beloved Tahoe in the distance, still blanketed. Eagle appeared from time to time, high and to the south. On and on went the mountain people; they felt at home again. They passed another granite peak (Ward @ 8,637’), then a pair of towering peaks that looked as though they had been tilted by the Great Spirit (Twin Peaks @ 8,878’). In the saddle beyond the twins, the elders paused for a night.

In the morning, eagle circled in the canyon below them, out toward the great surface of gray. The elders followed the crest a bit farther to a low point (Barker Pass) where they turned downhill toward the distant lake.

Third Ceremony 
Late in the afternoon they reached the mouth of the canyon (Blackwood). They came upon a massive, solitary rock slanting upward toward the lake. Atop it, eagle circled. The elders clambered up the backside through the trees and boulders, onto a small plateau. Beyond stretched the solemn, lake. Tears filled their eyes.

Eagle sat on the lowest branch of a dead tree growing up from the steep, crevasse-filled face on the lake side. The elders fell to the ground, exhausted. It had been a long journey. After a while, they began to chant in unison.

Once again the wind rose and clouds flooded across the crest behind them...and then overhead. Lightning flashed, thunder crashed. Their chants were whisked away and flung out across the vast open space where a lake once shimmered. Eagle sat and observed, its regal, white head turning slowly.

As before, the storm passed quickly, and an intense, afternoon sun once again spotlighted the elders atop the rock. Slowly, over the lake, a rainbow appeared—Red, Orange, Yellow, Green, Indigo, and Violet; the band of colors was even more brilliant than before.

Rainbow
The hushed elders arose and moved to the edge of the cliff. One end of the rainbow disappeared in the middle of the lake, into the gray blanket. The other end disappeared behind the blackened mountain to the north (Mt Pluto). The world was suddenly without sound.

Slowly, from the north end, a luminous, new color gradually filled into the rainbow between the Green and Indigo bands. Like mercury rising in a thermometer, the new color crept upward inch by inch toward the top of the arch…and then it slid down the other side, faster and faster...until it touched the gray blanket.

The instant it touched, the shroud covering the lake started to fade—like morning fog as the sun rises. As this happened, the bluest-of-blue lake appeared. All at once a vast, rich Tahoe lay placidly beneath the rainbow, a rainbow that now had a seventh color.


One by one the stunned elders moved and turned to each other, as if awakening from a trance. They hugged with joy. Their lake lay there before them, glorious in its blue color, a color all its own.

Behind them, eagle was gone.

To this day, across the earth, the rainbow and Lake Tahoe share their special blue. And the rock is called Eagle Rock.



© Steven C. Brandt 2009 

Editor’s Note: For readers with a scientific bent, the color of water has had much study. The findings are that pure water has a natural light blue color that becomes a deeper blue to the observer as the thickness of the water sample increases. The blue color is caused by the weak absorption in the red part of the light spectrum visible to the human eye. 

Some examples: If oceans and lakes owed their color to the sky, they would be a lighter shade of blue on sunny days and colorless on cloudy days. But they don't. A swimming pool with a white, painted bottom should look white, yet the water appears turquoise blue even in indoor pools where there is no sky to be reflected.

A rainbow actually has no bands; it contains a continuous spectrum of colors. The apparent bands are caused by the mechanism of the human eye. Different people can see different bands, although the seven now present in the rainbow are thought to be representative of what most people see.


For other Lost Legends, click Tahoe Tales.