Cave Rock, Zephyr Cove, NV

Cave Rock is built around one of Tahoe's most significant landmarks, and it is important to get the landmark right. The rock is a roughly three-million-year-old volcanic remnant, and to the Washoe it is Deek Wadapush, the most sacred site in their religion, listed on the National Register as a traditional cultural property. Highway 50 threads two tunnels through it, the first blasted in 1931, and after climbers bolted routes inside the cave the Forest Service banned climbing in 2003 to protect the site, a decision the courts upheld in 2007. The neighborhood itself is Cave Rock Estates, subdivided in the early 1960s, custom lake-view and lakefront homes of cedar, stone, and timber stepping up the hillside, with a state-park day-use area, a small beach, and a boat launch at the rock's base. It runs heavily second-home. The honest catch is the highway. The tunnel bottleneck and Highway 50 noise are at their worst right here, the boat launch crowds in summer, and the terrain is steep and slide-prone. But few Tahoe addresses come with a landmark this storied at the doorstep, and residents tend to treat that as the point.