Stone Structures of Lake Tahoe

     I just returned from vacation at Lake Tahoe and Lassen Volcanic National Park.  Lake Tahoe is a place where  rocky slopes meet water, and is known as the summer campsite of the Washoe tribe. While at Lake Tahoe, I noticed many stone structures resembling those in the Northeast.    It is always amazing to see these structures in the western US.  First I will start with a small site, and show the larger ones in later posts.
     The northeast shore of Lake Tahoe is relatively undeveloped.  On an early morning, I stopped at the Lake Tahoe Nevada State Park visitors' center. The shoreline at this part of the lake is a jumble of massive granite boulders with occasional sandy areas.

On the little nature path  between the visitors' center and the shore is this boulder containing at least four mortars.  I dug the sand out of one.  There was nothing mentioned about this in the path guides.

Later in the morning, I rented a kayak at the Sand Harbor boat  launch and followed the shoreline to beyond the visitors' center.  This is what a saw just a few steps north of the boulder with the mortars: a massive boulder propped on two stones.

Here is another view.

Even the oblong shape is similar to that in the northeast. And here it is, partially blocked by another boulder, in a photo taken facing north from near the boulder with the mortars.  I recognized this while reviewing the photos later.

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     As I returned to the boat launch, I was thinking it was  coincidence that a mortar was near a boulder resting on two stones in the jumbled pile.  Then I saw this sight that convinced me there were deliberately made stone structures at Lake Tahoe.

 I will show this large site in the next post.