Hell Hole Reservoir

Hell Hole reservoir is an artificial, crescent-shaped lake in the Sierra Nevada mountain range 10 miles west of Lake Tahoe in California, United States. The lake is about 3.5 miles long when at full capacity.

The lake was created in 1966 with the completion of Lower Hell Hole Dam across the Rubicon River, which is a major tributary of the Middle Fork of the American River. Hell Hole is named for a deep canyon which is now under the waters of the lake.

How the canyon came to be named Hell Hole is a combination of folklore and speculation. An early author, George Wharton James, visited the canyon in 1913.

Source: Wikipedia