Cave Lake

Nevada’s Cave Lake is a very popular state park for people who love outdoor recreation. The 32-acre reservoir sits at 7,300

feet and has an average depth of 25 feet and 60 feet at the deepest. The last time I was there it was in early March and the lake was still frozen over. I arrived too late to see the annual White Pine Fire and Ice Show, which features ice and snow sculpturing. But there were ice fishermen hard at work, plying the water for trout. I didn't see any of them catch any fish, but they seemed to be pretty content anyway. As of 2006, Cave Lake holds the record for the largest German brown trout, weighing more than twenty-seven pounds. If you like crayfish, fresh water cousins to lobsters, well there’s a large population of them that’s pretty easy to spot along the shoreline.

    Some people consider Cave Lake State Park to be the most beautifully situated parks in Nevada. Richard Moreno, author of Backyard Traveler says, “The dark emerald lake is situated in a scenic niche in the mountains, surrounded by forests of pinyon and juniper. Above the lake is a small yawning cave—the namesake of the lake—and ridges of rough, crumbling granite peaks weathered by countless centuries of icy winters and hot summers.”

    In 2012 Recreational Boating & Fishing Foundation, a national organization, invited Facebook subscribers to help determine the top eight natural "waterparks" or state parks, for boating and fishing in America. There were 24 nominees and after eight weeks of voting Cave Lake State Park wound up as one of the top eight for fishing, boating and family fun.

    There's a pretty good campground adjacent to the lake. It offers the usual camping sites. If you decide not to pitch a tent or park your RV, you could stay in one of the yurts. I just might do that some day.

Cave Lake State Park is located in White Pine County, Nevada 15 miles southeast of Ely.

Note: Nomads in the steppes (grassland plains) of Central Asia traditionally built yurts as dwellings. They were well insulated, weatherproofed and above all portable. The first written evidence of them dates back to 484 BC when the Scythians, a horse riding-nomadic nation used them. Yurts were designed in such a way that they could be dismantled and then loaded onto camel or yaks and transported to the next location. It took an experienced nomad about two hours to build one. The yurt at Cave Lake has a wood lattice frame, plywood floor and canvas wall and ceiling.