Lake McClure - Mariposa County, California

Visited on 2/18 -2/19/2018 - Jeff and I took advantage a unusually warm weather we were having during the three day holiday weekend to take in the beauty of some lakes in the Mother Lode Gold Country Sierra Mountain foothills area.  We loaded up the truck camper for a long weekend of camping and our fourth stop was this wonderful 7,100 acre 82 miles of pine and oak covered shoreline of Lake McClure.  We camped overnight at one of the three large recreation areas on the Lake at Barrett Cove which is located 40 miles east of Modesto, California at an elevation of 867 feet above sea level.   It is formed by the New Exchequer Dam impounding the Merced River, which is a tributary of the San Joaquin River.  The lake was first created by the original Exchequer Dam, built between 1924 and 1926, a concrete gravity arch dam.  In 1926 its name was changed to Lake McClure to honor Wilbur Fiske McClure, Head Engineers of the State of California, who helped develop and lay out the John Muir Trail in the Sierra Mountains of California. New Exchequer Dam was built in 1967 to increase the reservoir's capacity. It is a rock-fill dam with a reinforced concrete face, owned by the local Merced Irrigation District, which supplies northern Merced County farms with water for irrigation through its 750-mile network of canals. Besides storing water for irrigation, the lake also provides opportunities for recreation. Only a small amount of water from the lake is used for drinking water, and human contact is allowed.  This is my second time to this lake, I also visited this lake on the far east side on 10/3/2017 while driving from giving an operator examination at Mount Bullion Conservation Camp in Mariposa, CA.  In the summer of 2017 this area was ground zero for a major forest fire that burned several hundred areas of these hillsides.  

Our pups love to chase and fetch the stick in this arm of the lake, just below the south boat ramp. The Lake was a little low, about 70-80 feet. Where I am standing it would have been under water last year.

Just a few diehard fisherman launching on this cool February day at Lake McClure. Lake was calm with a slight breeze.

We had Loop "J" to ourselves, no one else was camping in our area.  We liked this camping spot at Barrlett Cove Campground, Loop J, space #3. Overlooks the lake and not far from the boat launching ramp for future trips with our boat.  It was the only site that had a fire ring.  I think it was one that a previous camper snuck in, so we made good use of it during our stay.  Lots of downed blue oak branches for firewood to take the chill off.


Pictures taken on the east side of the lake along Highway 49 between Bear Valley and Coulterville.