Echo Lake, California
35 topographic sheets cover this place, the earliest surveyed in 1889 and the latest in 1992. It stands in the South Lake Tahoe census division. It lies in ZIP code area 95721. It lies near Becker Peak. The Survey maps it on the Echo Lake quadrangle. It stands 7,539 feet above sea level.
Then and now
1889 to 1992The same ground, surveyed 103 years apart. Drag the handle to wipe between them. Both sheets are United States Geological Survey originals; neither has been altered.


Compare 1889 against another survey:
Topographic sheets covering this place
12 surveys from 35 printed sheetsMatched by testing this settlement's coordinate against the published boundary of every sheet in the United States Geological Survey's historical collection. Each opens the scanned sheet at the Survey.
- 1889 USGS Pyramid Peak quadrangle1:125000
- 1891 USGS Pyramid Peak quadrangle1:125000
- 1895 USGS Pyramid Peak quadrangle1:125000, 2 printings
- 1896 USGS Pyramid Peak quadrangle1:125000, 7 printings
- 1947 USGS Sacramento quadrangle1:250000, 2 printings
- 1948 USGS Sacramento quadrangle1:250000
- 1955 USGS Echo Lake quadrangle1:24000, 4 printings
- 1955 USGS Fallen Leaf Lake quadrangle1:62500, 7 printings
- 1956 USGS Sacramento quadrangle1:250000, 2 printings
- 1957 USGS Sacramento quadrangle1:250000, 4 printings
- 1976 USGS Placerville quadrangle1:100000, 2 printings
- 1992 USGS Echo Lake quadrangle1:24000, 2 printings
Fires near this place
392 since 1992Regional context, not property-specific evidence. The federal wildfire occurrence database lists 392 fires within 5 miles of Echo Lake between 1992 and 2020, burning about 3,494 acres in total. 104 started naturally. 21 were recorded as arson. Distance is straight-line from the map coordinates, so a fire counted here may appear on a neighbouring settlement's page as well.
| Reported cause | Fires |
|---|---|
| Natural | 104 |
| Recreation and ceremony | 104 |
| Missing data/not specified/undetermined | 69 |
| Smoking | 29 |
| Debris and open burning | 24 |
| Arson/incendiarism | 21 |
| Equipment and vehicle use | 15 |
| Misuse of fire by a minor | 13 |
| Power generation/transmission/distribution | 9 |
| Fireworks | 4 |
The most recent of them, most recent first, with the day each was reported and the service that recorded it.
| Date | Cause | Size | Reported by | Name on the report |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| 9 September 2009 | Recreation and ceremony | under an acre | Lake Tahoe Basin Management Unit | TRUCKEE |
| 9 September 1994 | Missing data/not specified/undetermined | 34 acres | Lake Tahoe Basin Management Unit | not named |
| 8 September 2003 | Misuse of fire by a minor | under an acre | Lake Tahoe Basin Management Unit | PANARAMA |
| 5 September 1994 | Missing data/not specified/undetermined | under an acre | Lake Tahoe Basin Management Unit | not named |
| 5 September 1994 | Missing data/not specified/undetermined | under an acre | Lake Tahoe Basin Management Unit | not named |
| 4 September 2015 | Recreation and ceremony | under an acre | Eldorado National Forest | VELMA |
| 4 September 2003 | Natural | under an acre | Lake Tahoe Basin Management Unit | LILLY |
| 4 September 1998 | Natural | under an acre | Lake Tahoe Basin Management Unit | WATERHOUSE |
Settlements close enough to share some of these fires:
Mines and quarries near this place
10 of 11 shownRegional context, not property-specific evidence. The federal mineral resources record lists 11 workings within 5 miles of Echo Lake: 6 occurrences, 4 unknowns, 1 past producer. None of them still produces. What was taken out: Gold, Stone, Stone, Crushed/Broken, Chromium. Distance is straight-line from the map coordinates, so a quarry counted here may appear on a neighbouring settlement's page as well.
| Where | Site | Commodity | Status | Recorded |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| California Rock and Gravel | Limestone, Dimension | Unknown | ||
| Dobbas Mine | Chromium, Iron | Past Producer | ||
| Mountain Top | Gold, Copper, Molybdenum, Silver, Tungsten | Unknown | ||
| Ne Section 3 Prospect | Copper, Molybdenum | Occurrence | Vein | |
| Section 21 Prospect | Gypsum-Anhydrite | Occurrence | Sedimentary | |
| Unidentified Workings | Gold, Silver | Occurrence | ||
| Anderson Pit | Stone | Occurrence | ||
| Anderson Pit | Stone, Crushed/Broken | Unknown | ||
| Butler Pit | Stone | Occurrence | ||
| Butler Pit | Stone, Crushed/Broken | Unknown |
Storms near this place
3 since 2019Regional context, not property-specific evidence. The National Weather Service names Echo Lake in 3 storm reports between 2019 and 2025: 2 debris flow, 1 hail. No death or injury is recorded in these reports. Each account below is quoted exactly as the forecast office filed it, from the NOAA Storm Events Database, and each date opens the federal record of that event.
| When | Event | Place named | Harm | What the report says |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| July 2025 | Hail | Echo Lake | - | Public reported 0.75 inch hail near Meyers. Also received many reports of pea size hail accumulating up to 2-3 inches. |
| October 2021 | Debris Flow | Echo Lake | - | US Highway 50 is closed due to a late night rock fall near Echo Summit. |
| December 2019 | Debris Flow | Echo Lake | - | A rockslide occurred within the westbound lane of US Highway 50 approximately 2 miles east of Echo Summit on 2 December 1315PST. The highway was closed for approximately one hour to clean up. One lane controls lasted for approximately 5 to 6 hours. |
Nearest settlements
The eight closest, with where each one stands in the county. Distances are straight-line, computed from the Geographic Names Information System coordinates.
| Map | Place | Distance | Sheets |
|---|---|---|---|
| Little Norway | 0.7 miles | 35 | |
| Nebelhorn | 1.6 miles | 35 | |
| Meyers | 2.2 miles | 35 | |
| Phillips | 2.2 miles | 35 | |
| Fallen Leaf | 3.8 miles | 35 | |
| Twin Bridges | 4.6 miles | 35 | |
| Fountain Place | 5.8 miles | 31 | |
| Tahoe Valley | 5.8 miles | 35 |
Elsewhere
Matched on this settlement's Geographic Names Information System number rather than its name, so it cannot be a different place of the same name in another state.
| Wikipedia article on Echo Lake | An encyclopaedic summary. Its text is share-alike, so it is linked here rather than copied. |
| Wikidata item Q5332717 | The structured record the population and elevation above come from. Public domain (CC0). |
Provenance
This settlement is recorded in the Geographic Names Information System as feature 1655987. The sheet list is computed by point-in-boundary test against the United States Geological Survey's historical topographic inventory. Both are works of the United States government and carry no copyright under 17 U.S.C. 105.
Wildfire. Short, Karen C. 2022. Spatial wildfire occurrence data for the United States, 1992-2020 [FPA_FOD_20221014]. 6th Edition. Fort Collins, CO: Forest Service Research Data Archive. https://doi.org/10.2737/RDS-2013-0009.6 Collected with United States Government funding and usable without additional permissions or fees.
Mines and quarries. USGS Mineral Resources Data System (MRDS) https://mrdata.usgs.gov/mrds/ A work of the United States government, no copyright under 17 U.S.C. 105.
Storms. NOAA National Centers for Environmental Information, Storm Events Database https://www.ncei.noaa.gov/stormevents/ A work of the United States government, no copyright under 17 U.S.C. 105. Narratives are quoted verbatim from the National Weather Service report and are not edited or summarised.











