Pyramid Lake in Nevada. Here's what I learned: Lake Tahoe is fed by run-off streams from melted snow collected by the mountains which surround it. Water from Lake Tahoe itself has only one outlet, the Truckee River at Tahoe City (northwest side), flowing north and east into Nevada and eventually into Pyramid Lake. The Truckee River is Pyramid Lake's only source of water... its outsource? Evaporation.

Pyramid Lake is remote, a good 30 miles north of Sparks on Highway 445 through mostly high-desert landscapes. Once you turn a corner and emerge over a small pass, though, you realize just how big this lake is...