Iron Gate Reservoir - 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 Iron Gate Reservoir.   Our destination for our first night of the trip was a primitive and surprisingly free of charge Mirror Cove Campground on the northwestern edge of this 1,020 acre lake.  Iron Gate Reservoir is located 118 miles north of Redding, California and 5 miles from the Oregon border off of Interstate 5, just 10 miles east of the town of Hornbrook, California.  The reservoir located at an elevation of 2,350 feet above sea level was created with the construction of the Iron Gate Dam, an earthfill hydroelectric dam on the Klamath River.  It is the lowermost of a series of power dams on the river, the Klamath River Hydroelectric Project, operated by PacifiCorp. It also poses the first barrier to migrating salmon in the Klamath. The Iron Gate Fish Hatchery was placed just after the dam, hatching salmon and steelhead that are released back into the river.  The Iron Gate Dam along with the John C. Boyle Dam are two of four on the Klamath River that would be removed under the Klamath Economic Restoration Act.  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. 

Iron Gate Reservoir is in the rolling type hills with small oaks and brush.  Can be windy but often the water is good for water skiing; generally the wind comes up in the afternoon for 2 or 3 hours and then subsides during the summer months.  Can be very warm during the days in the summer, but evenings usually cool down somewhat.  Spring is the nicest time in the area, with nice days and cool nights.  In the spring the hills are generally still green and lush, in the summer the area becomes very dry on the surrounding hills.  During warm months be aware of rattlesnakes in the area, especially when hiking.