Copco Lake - Siskiyou County, California

Visited on 6/6/2018 on our way to Springfield, Oregon to visit family and to attend Jeff’s niece, Hannah’s High School graduation ceremony we stopped along the way to check out Copco Reservoir just upstream from where we camped at Iron Gate Reservoir.   Our destination for our first night of the trip was Mirror Cove Campground on the northwestern edge of Iron Gate Reservoir.  We drove an additional 8 miles northeast up the Klamath River to Copco Lake.  Copco Lake is located 126 miles north of Redding, California and 5 miles from the Oregon border off of Interstate 5, and 18 miles east of the town of Hornbrook, California.  The access road to the lake had low hanging branches and the truck camper would have hit, so we had to back up about ¼ of a mile on a very narrow ridge road in order to turn around to go back.

Copco Lake, at an elevation of 2,605 feet above sea level is surrounded by the picturesque beauty of gently sloping hills covered by scattered pine, was formed by a dam on the Klamath River in 1917. "Copco" is actually the acronym of the California Oregon Power Company, now merged with PacifiCorp which regulates the dam for energy usage.  Copco Lake is tucked snugly away into the mountainous country of northern California's Shasta Cascade region. The region, named after the indigenous Shasta people who left their marks on the land, is a wonderland of wide open spaces and natural beauty, inviting those who are looking for a place to relax, rewind or embark on some truly remarkable adventure. 

The scenic Klamath River rises in Oregon and flows southwest through northern California where it is dammed at Copco Lake. Along with its great fishing opportunities, it is also known for its superb white water rafting experiences. As you rush along the changing currents, indulge in the beauty of the changing landscape, from river caves and high cliffs and mountain slopes to redwoods.

The hilly landscape around Copco Lake offers great terrain for hiking. A variety of wildlife, such as Black-tailed deer, squirrels, raccoons, porcupines, beavers, otters, muskrats and turtles are some of the animals that call the area home. Coyotes are not quite as common but can still be sighted and, rarely, one might happen upon a bear or mountain lion. A plenitude of birds offers much opportunity for bird watching. On and around the lake you will find Canadian geese, white pelicans, ducks, owls, quail, woodpeckers, hummingbirds, hawks, wild turkeys and eagles. Copco Number 1 and Number 2 Dams are two of the four dams in the Klamath River Hydroelectric Project which have been proposed for removal.  As of February 2016, the states of Oregon and California, the dam owners, federal regulators and other parties reached an agreement to remove all four dams by the year 2020, pending approval by the Federal Energy Regulatory Commission.  Copco Number 1 Dam is a gravity dam 415 feet long and 132 feet high, with 19.5 of freeboard.  Copco Number 2 Dam is a gated diversion dam located just below Dam No. 1. The dam diverts most of the flow of the river, about 2,400 to 2,500 cu ft/s, through a flume and tunnels to a 27 megawatt powerhouse 1.5 miles downstream, on the upstream end of Iron Gate Reservoir. The diversion bypasses a canyon section of the Klamath River that historically consisted of some steep rapids. The dam is required to maintain a minimum release of 10 cu ft/s to prevent this stretch from being entirely dewatered. Because it has no effective storage capacity, Dam No. 2 depends entirely on the regulated flows released from Copco Lake.