Blue Lake - Lassen County, California

Visited on 6/10/2018 on our way back from Springfield, Oregon to visit family and to attend Jeff’s niece, Hannah’s High School graduation ceremony.  We stopped on the way back to check out this beautiful peaceful lake and decided to camp overnight and take a great hike around the lake with our dogs. At an elevation of 6,000 feet above sea level, Blue Lake is a beautiful 160 acre montane lake, surrounded by coniferous forest within Modoc National Forest, in extreme northeastern Lassen County. The lake located 28 miles southeast of Alturas and is surrounded by Ponderosa Pine, White Fir and meadows.  We camped in Space D with a wonderful view of the lake in the Blue Lake campground which is maintained by the Forest Service. The lake is reached primarily from Likely, Modoc Co., via an easy half-hour drive on paved Jess Valley Road, which follows the south fork of the Pit River upstream for a distance. There is a 26-mile dirt road east and then north from Madeline, Lassen Co., that also goes here, but it is slow, rutted, and rough.

The hike around the lake on a wonderful partially paved trail was very scenic and we saw lots of ducks, geese and wild flowers along the meadow to the northern end of the lake from the campground and all the way around this nice lake.

A forest fire in 2003 burned much of the hillside on the east side of the lake, but does not appear to have affected the bird habitat or the other abundance and diversity of wildlife in the area.

Hog Flat Reservoir - Lassen County, California

Visited on 6/11/2018 on our way back from Springfield, Oregon to visit family and to attend Jeff’s niece, Hannah’s High School graduation ceremony.  We stopped on the way back to check out Hogs Flat Reservoir 10 miles northeast of Westwood, California and Lake Almanor.  Hogs Flat Reservoir is shallow 1,000 acre mountain lake that lies at an elevation of 5,465 feet in the Lassen National Forest off of Highway 44.  This reservoir is really difficult to access.  We drove around the back side of the reservoir to find a nice cool place to have the dogs jump in and cool off, but we couldn’t find an access off of the red dirt logging road.

Lake Leavitt - Lassen County, California

Visited on 6/11/2018 on our way back from Springfield, Oregon to visit family and to attend Jeff’s niece, Hannah’s High School graduation ceremony.  We stopped on the way back to check out Lake Leavitt which is in a 1,142 acre reservoir in Lassen County. It is located alongside the Southern Pacific Railroad 7 miles east of Susanville, California at an elevation of 4,104 feet.

The reservoir was named after Benjamin Hanson Leavitt (1834–1918), a pioneer rancher and lumberman who came from the state of Maine.  Benjamin Leavitt engineered the Honey Lake Valley irrigation system, including Leavitt Lake.  Leavitt also named nearby Clinton, California, for his hometown of Clinton in Kennebec County, Maine.  The town was renamed Leavitt Lake in 1973 when house construction began there.

Mountain Meadows Reservoir - Lassen County, California

Visited on 6/11/2018 on our way back from Springfield, Oregon to visit family and to attend Jeff’s niece, Hannah’s High School graduation ceremony we stopped on the way back to check out Mountain Meadows Reservoir just 2 miles southeast of town of Westwood, California near Lake Almanor.  Mountain Meadows Reservoir is a 5,800 acre picturesque mountain lake that lies at an elevation of 5,046 feet.  Meadows Reservoir is an artificial lake, located in Lassen County, California. The lake is also known as Walker Lake.  It’s waters are impounded by the Indian Ole Dam, which was completed in 1924.

The lake is fed by Robbers Creek, Goodrich Creek, Duffy Creek, Cottonwood Creek, Mountain Meadows Creek, Greenville Creek, and Deerheart Creek. It discharges into Hamilton Creek, which feeds Lake Almanor.

Indian Ole Dam is a flashboard and buttress dam, it is 264 feet long and 26 feet high, with 8 feet of freeboard. Pacific Gas and Electric Company owns the dam and manages the surrounding lands.
Cultural remnants of both the American pioneers and the Maidu exist near the reservoir and other sites are believed to exist beneath its waters.
 

On September 13, 2015, the reservoir was completely dry, resulting in the death of perhaps thousands of fish.  But on the day we visited it was completely full and overflowing the dam.  Jeff and I strolled across the walkway on the dam and watched the water freely flow through the wooden planks below.  It was very interesting to visit this unique dam and watch it in action.  The dogs had a great time retrieving a stick in the lake.

 

Butt Valley Reservoir - Plumas County, California

Visited on 6/11/2018 on our way back from Springfield, Oregon to visit family and to attend Jeff’s niece, Hannah’s High School graduation ceremony we stopped on the way back to check out Butt Valley Reservoir just southwest of Lake Almanor and 12 miles from the town of Chester, California.  Butt Valley Reservoir is a 1,600 acre picturesque mountain lake that lies at an elevation of 4,150 feet and is five miles long and about three-quarters of a mile across. Owned by PG&E, Butt Valley Reservoir is connected to nearby Lake Almanor and is the second level of PG&E's "Stairway of Power." It is widely known as a great fishery for trout, and nearby Yellow Creek is a favorite with catch and release fly-fishermen. Several nice campgrounds here are maintained by PG&E with lake front views.

Round Valley Reservoir - Plumas County, California

Visited on 6/11/2018 on our way back from Springfield, Oregon to visit family and to attend Jeff’s niece, Hannah’s High School graduation ceremony we stopped on the way back to check out Round Valley Reservoir just 3 miles west of Greenville, California.  Round Valley Reservoir is a 350-acre lake and the dam is at an elevation of 4,500 feet above sea level.  This small, quiet, picturesque high-country lake is home to a good warm-water fishery. Round Valley Reservoir exudes relaxation. These really cool small circular lily pads dot much of the surface, and people fish for bass, bluegill, and catfish. We were the only ones visiting on the Monday afternoon and it is normally uncrowded. The pine- and fir-covered hillsides reach above 5,500 feet in the lovely Sierra-Cascade setting of the Plumas National Forest. A Forest Service picnic area is found on the northeast shore about 0.5 mile from the dam. The only remaining campground at the lake is the privately operated Round Valley Lake Resort, 1 mile from the dam. A large sign near the dam states that since it is a drinking water source for town of Greenville, no swimming, no body contact and no dogs are allowed in the water.

Ellis Lake - Yuba County, California

Visited on 6/11/2018 on our way back from Springfield, Oregon to visit family and to attend Jeff’s niece, Hannah’s High School graduation ceremony.  We have driven by this little lake several times over the years.  At an elevation of 62 feet above sea level this man-made lake is located in the historic town of Marysville, California north of Sacramento about 50 miles.  This 20-acre Lake was once a spillway of the Feather River. It wasn't until 1924 that the Women's Improvement Club of Marysville commissioned John McClaren, designer of the Golden Gate Park in San Francisco, to turn the swamp into a lake. The project was completed in 1939. The lake was named for Marysville citizen W.T. Ellis, Jr.

Work on the lake was completed during the Great Depression through President Franklin Roosevelt's New Deal Plan.

Work included landscaping, construction of two tennis courts and a judging stand, a 20-ft. concrete and native stone bridge connecting the mainland with an island in the lake, a dock and boat landing 39, rubble rock electroliers for night illumination; and the installation of an ornamental fountain and rubble walls on the banks.  Every year the City of Marysville has a fireworks display for the fourth of July around the lake for residents.