Update from the Lake: Wintry Days

During the recent holidays, I was fortunate enough to spend a few days at my favorite northern CA lake. I was unfortunate enough to be "mildly" ill during that time, recovering from an unknown malady that caused upper and lower respiratory distress, inflammation, infection—whatever—something that the local clinic (in my northern NV home area) did not bother to test for, but gave me two anti-inflammatory medicines, Z-pak and prednisone (Z-pak is primarily an anti-biotic, but who knows if I needed one).

While recovering, mostly by relaxing in front of a wood cook stove, I took a few walks down to the local beach area, where spring water enters the lake.

So, let's go for a walk or two.

Christmas day, it was sunny but occasionally foggy.

The lake has a little picnic area, though it was a little cold for just sitting around.

Nice lake view, looking south toward the dam, which is not in view.

A few days later, I made another hike down to the lake. It was a gray, cloudy day. A bright white line on the shore across the lake stood out, creating a little bit of lighting drama.

Down on the rocky shore, water from a spring feeds into the lake, causing a bit of green—probably algae.

A few old stumps from when trees were cut before the reservoir was filled, back in 1914, are scattered about. Most of the present-day lake bottom consisted of meadow and marshland before filling, so tree stumps exist only along some shores.

The last photo looks west, down the rocky shoreline. Rocks consist primarily of rounded and partly rounded basalt cobbles and boulders, derived from the dominant bedrock of the area: basalt not far below the soil of the surrounding forest. Snow line here is below the high water mark, which is probably about 5 feet below the lowest pine tree, just below the upper concrete slab (concrete?). That is, when the lake is full, you can walk along the shore by moving from boulder to boulder, to do a little fishing (although technically, any land above the high water mark outside the beach area is private land).