ZEPHYR COVE, Calif. — Lake Tahoe’s iconic Cave Rock was recently vandalized with graffiti which was quickly covered during a break in storm systems.

The Tribune received an anonymous tip that Cave Rock was vandalized earlier this month with graffiti. The vandalism could be seen from nearly a mile away at the entrance to the eastbound tunnel heading toward Spooner Summit. 

Thanks to the Nevada Department of Transportation, the graffiti was covered Wednesday morning, March 28.

“Not only is graffiti considered a crime in the state of Nevada, unpermitted parking is illegal on U.S. Highway 50 roadside shoulders and median between Cave Rock and just south of Cave Rock State Park. Illegally-parked vehicles can be towed from no parking zones and drivers ticketed,” Meg Ragonese of NDOT told the Tribune. “In addition to more than 75 other types of highway maintenance job duties, NDOT has dedicated nearly 100 work hours and thousands of dollars in material and labor costs just in the past year to removing such acts of graffiti vandalism on state roadways across northwestern Nevada.”

Cave Rock has been targeted by vandals in the past.

In 2015, Vandals defaced Lake Tahoe’s Cave Rock with graffiti. In 2020, the Tribune reported about the Large graffiti vandalism discovered at Cave Rock.

Both incidents occurred on the Washoe Tribe land managed by the USDA Forest Service.