Koqyoqe Panunadu - Pyramid Lake

To the Numu—the Northern Paiute—this is Koqyoqe Panunadu, a sacred place at the heart of their world. The desert lake, fed by the Truckee and ringed by stark tufa formations, sustained the people for thousands of years with its great runs of cui-ui and Lahontan cutthroat trout, found almost nowhere else on earth. Frémont, reaching it in 1844, named it Pyramid Lake for the stone island in its waters. The lake lies within the Pyramid Lake Paiute Reservation today, its fishery diminished by upstream diversion but still central to the life of the Numu who have always lived here.

What the plaque says

America’s most beautiful desert lake is a remnant of ancient Lake Lahontan which covered some 8,4513 square miles in western Nevada during the ice age. Caves and rock shelters along its shore have yielded evidence of Numu (Paiute) people living here for thousands of years. John C. Fremont came upon the lake on January 10, 1844 and named it for the pyramid shaped island just off the east shore. The Numu call the pyramid formulation Wono. The Pyramid Lake Indian Reservation was created in 1859. The history of the Numu people living here has been one of contention with encroaching settlers. With the Numu victory in the first battle of Pyramid Lake, May 12, 1860 more European American men died than in any prior engagement west of the Mississippi. Anaho Island, just to the south of the pyramid, was established as a national wildlife refuge in 1913 and is today one of the largest white pelican nesting grounds in North America.

Where it stands

Worth the stop nearby

• Pyramid Lake / Koqyoqe Panunadu — 3.4 mi
  The Numu's sacred lake at the end of the Truckee—homeland of the cui-ui eaters, site of the 1860 war, and a century-long fight to keep the river that the silver towns dammed from draining it dry

More markers nearby

• Junction House — steps away
• The Two Battles of Pyramid Lake — 16 mi
• Olinghouse — 22 mi
• Derby Diversion Dam — 23 mi