Fallen Leaf Lake - El Dorado County, California

 

Visited on 12/19/2016 – Sunny, but chilly day with partial clouds with very little wind across the Lake.  Picture was taken during Christmas vacation 2016 to the Lake Tahoe Basin from the hiking trail on the southeast side of the Lake.  We took a nice day hike with our two dogs, Summer and Skye, Jeff’s brother, Brian, and two daughters Hannah and Lauren, and their dog, Basil.  This beautiful and scenic alpine lake just west of Lake Tahoe is 1,408 acres at an elevation of 6,377 feet above sea level.  Fallen Leaf Lake is a mountain lake located in El Dorado County, California, near the California-Nevada state border, about one mile south of the much larger Lake Tahoe. It is approximately aligned north-to-south and oval in shape, measuring approximately 2.9 miles on the long axis and 0.9 miles on the short axis. The lake was created by at least two glaciers that traveled northward down the Glen Alpine Valley. If the glacier had continued instead of stopping, Fallen Leaf Lake would be a bay of Lake Tahoe, similar to nearby Emerald Bay.  A terminal moraine is visible at the north end of the lake on the northeast edge.  Fallen Leaf is approximately 415 feet deep at its deepest point, which is east of the sheer face of Mount Tallac and north of Stanford Sierra Camp. The average depth of the lake is around 240 feet and the bottom falls away rapidly as one moves away from the shorelines. Due to the action of the glaciers that carved the lake, the northern end of the lake has a much more gradual depth change, and the bottom can be seen from the surface for a quarter-mile offshore. Along other shores, the bottom may be hidden in as little as 100 feet (30 m) offshore.  The water quality is extremely clear due to the lack of commercial development.  Visibility runs around 40–50 feet under most conditions. The water in the lake is exchanged every eight years, compared to the much deeper, therefore slower, Lake Tahoe, which exchanges every 700 years.

Jeff playing throw the stick with Summer and Skye at Fallen Leaf Lake on an unusually warm day in Dec. 2016.  Water was icy cold, but they didn't mind.

Summer, Skye and Basil having a great swim in the cool, crisp waters of Fallen Leaf Lake during our Christmas vacation trip to Lake Tahoe.