Trinity Lake, previously called Clair Engle Lake, is a

reservoir A reservoir (; ) is an enlarged lake behind a dam, usually built to water storage, store fresh water, often doubling for hydroelectric power generation. Reservoirs are created by controlling a watercourse that drains an existing body of wa ...

on the Trinity River formed by the Trinity Dam and located in

Trinity County, California Trinity County is a county located in the northwestern portion of the U.S. state of California. Trinity County is rugged, mountainous, heavily forested, and lies along the Trinity River (for which it is named) within the Salmon, Klamath Mounta ...

, United States. The dam was built by the U.S. Bureau of Reclamation. The lake's capacity is , making it one of the largest reservoirs in California. The lake's surface is at above MSL. Trinity Lake captures and stores water for the

Central Valley Project The Central Valley Project (CVP) is a federal power and water management project in the U.S. state of California under the supervision of the United States Bureau of Reclamation (USBR). It was devised in 1933 in order to provide irrigation and ...

, which provides the Central Valley with water for

irrigation Irrigation (also referred to as watering of plants) is the practice of applying controlled amounts of water to land to help grow crops, landscape plants, and lawns. Irrigation has been a key aspect of agriculture for over 5,000 years and has bee ...

and produces

hydroelectric Hydroelectricity, or hydroelectric power, is Electricity generation, electricity generated from hydropower (water power). Hydropower supplies 15% of the world's electricity, almost 4,210 TWh in 2023, which is more than all other Renewable energ ...

power. This lake is known for its many small arms, glassy inlets, and good water-skiing conditions. After the death in office of California United States Senator Clair Engle in 1964, the lake was renamed after him. The name change never received wide popularity and the name was returned to the original name. The lake is serviced by three marinas: Trinity Alps Marina located on the southern end in view of the Dam; Cedar Stock marina on the Stuart Fork arm on the west end of the lake; and Trinity Center marina at the northern end of the main arm of the lake. Most of the marinas rent houseboats to vacationers year round. Scenic view of clair engle lake at Trinity dam from afar

Scenic view of clair engle lake at Trinity dam from afar

Geology

Trinity Lake is located northwest of Redding, off of Highway 299 north-northeast of the Gold Rush mining town of Weaverville. The Alpine scenery surrounding the lake makes up the Trinity Alps. The Alps were formed in the late

Jurassic Period The Jurassic ( ) is a geologic period and stratigraphic system that spanned from the end of the Triassic Period million years ago (Mya) to the beginning of the Cretaceous Period, approximately 143.1 Mya. The Jurassic constitutes the second and m ...

by volcanic activity in the form of

ultramafic Ultramafic rocks (also referred to as ultrabasic rocks, although the terms are not wholly equivalent) are igneous and meta-igneous rocks with a very low silica content (less than 45%), generally >18% MgO, high FeO, low potassium, and are usua ...

and granitic plutons (igneous rock formed from super-heated magma cooling under the surface of the earth), and tectonic activity (the super continent of

Pangaea Pangaea or Pangea ( ) was a supercontinent that existed during the late Paleozoic and early Mesozoic eras. It assembled from the earlier continental units of Gondwana, Euramerica and Siberia during the Carboniferous period approximately 335 mi ...

was beginning to pull apart into two separate super-sized continents) and glaciation during frigid climate periods known as ice ages (land surface modified by action of glaciers). The last remaining glaciers are on Thompson’s peak, at more than . The lake bed was originally a series of deep valleys in the Alps.

History

The discovery of gold in 1848 prompted hundreds of miners to move into the area. In 1958, a plan to divert water from Trinity River to California’s Central Valley led to the construction of Trinity Dam and the creation of Trinity Lake. This project was also designed to provide hydroelectric power to the local area. The Trinity River Division of the Central Valley Project came to fruition in 1961 with the completion of Trinity Dam. The lake was renamed Clair Engle Lake from 1964 to 1997 until its original name was revived. The lake was completely filled with water from the Trinity River by 1963 and is the third largest lake in California with of shoreline.

Recreation

Trinity Lake is less used by vacationers than the lower Lake Shasta due in part to the lengthy winding road up from the valley floor. Typical drive time from Redding (Interstate 5) to the lake is about 90 minutes along a winding mountain road. This makes it a destination spot for fishing and water sports. Popular fishing includes that of smallmouth and

largemouth bass The largemouth bass (''Micropterus nigricans'') is a carnivorous, freshwater fish, freshwater, ray-finned fish in the Centrarchidae (sunfish) family, native to the eastern United States, eastern and central United States, southeastern Canada an ...

catfish Catfish (or catfishes; order (biology), order Siluriformes or Nematognathi) are a diverse group of ray-finned fish. Catfish are common name, named for their prominent barbel (anatomy), barbels, which resemble a cat's whiskers, though not ...

, kokanee,

rainbow A rainbow is an optical phenomenon caused by refraction, internal reflection and dispersion of light in water droplets resulting in a continuous spectrum of light appearing in the sky. The rainbow takes the form of a multicoloured circular ...

and

brown trout The brown trout (''Salmo trutta'') is a species of salmonid ray-finned fish and the most widely distributed species of the genus ''Salmo'', endemic to most of Europe, West Asia and parts of North Africa, and has been widely introduced globally ...

. Fish remain ample, despite the negative impact that the dams have had on spawning ground in part due to the Trinity River Fish Hatchery, located just below Lewiston Dam. The

California Office of Environmental Health Hazard Assessment The Office of Environmental Health Hazard Assessment, commonly referred to as OEHHA (pronounced oh-EEE-ha), is a specialized department within the cabinet-level California Environmental Protection Agency (CalEPA) with responsibility for evaluati ...

(OEHHA) has developed a safe eating advisory for fish caught in Trinity Lake based on levels of mercury or PCBs found in local species. House boating, speed boating, and waterskiing are also popular lake activities. Surrounding the lake, visitors enjoy hiking and camping in the pristine wilderness of the Trinity Alps and the Shasta-Trinity National Forest.

Wildlife

There has been a dramatic decline in various fish species in the river since the dams were built and the lake created. Spawning

steelhead Steelhead, or occasionally steelhead trout, is the Fish migration#Classification, anadromous form of the coastal rainbow trout or Columbia River redband trout (''O. m. gairdneri'', also called redband steelhead). Steelhead are native to cold-wa ...

, Chinook and

Coho Salmon The coho salmon (''Oncorhynchus kisutch;'' Karuk: achvuun) is a species of anadromous fish in the salmon family (biology), family and one of the five Pacific salmon species. Coho salmon are also known as silver salmon (or "silvers") and is often ...

populations have all been affected by their loss of spawning ground. However, wildlife populations surrounding the lake remain strong. Black bears are common, so proper precautions must be taken to secure campsites, throw away garbage and store food safely. Additional wildlife includes

bobcat The bobcat (''Lynx rufus''), also known as the wildcat, bay lynx, or red lynx, is one of the four extant species within the medium-sized wild cat genus '' Lynx''. Native to North America, it ranges from southern Canada through most of the c ...

mountain lion The cougar (''Puma concolor'') (, ''Help:Pronunciation respelling key, KOO-gər''), also called puma, mountain lion, catamount and panther is a large small cat native to the Americas. It inhabits North America, North, Central America, Cent ...

s and many different bird species. The lake contains land-locked populations of kokanee salmon and king salmon, along with more typical California lake species such as largemouth and smallmouth bass, rainbow trout and catfish.

References

External links