Frenchman's Lake - Plumas County, California

Visited on 8/17/2018, Jeff, along with our water-loving chocolate Labradors Summer and Skye and I loaded up the truck camper and the boat and headed up to Lake Davis camp and boat for the weekend.  After camping for the weekend on our way home we ventured over to Frenchman Lake for the afternoon.  Frenchman Lake in Southeastern Plumas County, California and was created by the damming of Little Last Chance Creek. Named after Claude Francois Seltier, a French immigrant who settled in the area in 1858.

The Frenchman Lake's elevation when full is 5,588 feet above sea level.  The surface area of Frenchman Lake is 1,580 acres. The shoreline length is 21 miles, the maximum depth reaches 101 feet, averaging 35 feet. The nearest community is Chilcoot-Vinton, California which is approximately 8 miles south.

Frenchman Lake has approximately 21 miles of shoreline. Lying on the edge of the Sierra Valley, the area is dotted with sage along with plentiful pine trees within the Plumas National Forest. Frenchman is known as a great trout fishery and a popular camping area.

Lying along Highway 70, the vast expanses of the Sierra Valley occupy a large portion of Eastern Plumas County and play a major role in the county's cattle-producing industry. Here are situated the towns of Beckwourth, Vinton and Chilcoot, the latter being the gateway to Frenchman Lake. A bi-annual Cowboy Poetry show is held in Vinton in March and September.

The headwaters of the Feather River are located in the Sierra Valley and this wetland habitat has made it a prime location for bird watching. Bird watchers can commonly observe diverse types of waterfowl and raptors along the county roads south of Highway 70.The Plumas National Forest administers Frenchman Lake as a National Forest Recreation Area for United States Forest Service. It is locally managed by the Beckwourth Ranger District. The Frenchman Lake Recreation Area offers a wide variety of summer outdoor experiences including: camping, picnicking, fishing, hunting, boating, jet skiing, mountain biking, swimming and water-skiing. In the winter, ice fishing, snowmobiling and cross-country skiing are favored activities.
Public campgrounds are located on the south shore at Cottonwood Springs, Frenchman, Spring Creek and Big Cove. Additionally there is another campground located below the dam along Little Last Chance Creek.

 

 Only Lake in California that I have witnessed lava rocks on the shoreline....pretty cool. We watched a guy jump and do a backflip off the rocks into the water.

Jeff and Merlin at Frenchman's Lake enjoying a ride on the lake in the boat.

 We enjoyed our day on the boat at Frenchman's Lake.