Low Shasta Lake

[Ron61]

Some pictures that I took yesterday. This is almost empty when you consider there is over 300 miles of shoreline and the water is this low. Only once or twice has that old Tail Tower ever been out of the water enough for you to see the platform part.







Ron

[Ron61]

And on a better note, a couple of pictures over at the range. Yesterday was a perfect day.





Ron

[Wayne Maybury]

Wow, the level must be down 20 or more feet. Is it still going down or is it stable now?

Wayne

[Ron61]

Wayne,

Still dropping and it is more like 60' now. The top of those old tail tower legs is where they cut off about 4 feet years ago when the lake was low. Now they are about 15' above the water. Only one time since the dam was built has that lower platform ever been seen and that was when they had a big draw down for some reason but it refilled quickly as we had a huge snow pack that year.

Ron

[Excaliber]

Well that certainly changes Lake navigation. I hit a slightly submerged 'island' on Shasta Lake with my boat, 'back in the day'. Put a hole in the bottom, broke the prop too. Was darn lucky to get to loading dock and out of the water before it sunk! I've never seen it this low before...

[Ron61]

Ernie,

I just got back from over at city hall and was talking to a guy from the Bureau and he said the lake is now officially 122' down. I have never seen it anywhere near like this. Many of the arms that go up the canyons are now closed to boats as all there is coming down is a small stream. They have cut back as much release as they can and are trying to get people to stop using water so they can stabilize the levels, but that isn't going to happen. We need rain and snow in the mountains, but they are saying it is going to be another dry Winter. If so, next summer you will be able to walk across the lake. Several of the boat docks are closed and Bridge Bay has extended their floating docks over 300' just to keep them in water. And come next Summer when the farmers need water, it is going to be bad if we don't get some rain.

Ron

[Joe Wicked]

We were getting pretty bad here over the last couple of years, but this spring into Summer was so wet, all our lakes are full again. We actually had flooding issues. I hope you guys get some of what we had this year.

[Ron61]

Joe,

So do I. That old tail tower was cut off again years ago when the lake was at a low time and they cut off about 15 to 20 feet of it which was at the water level then. Now you can see how much is out of the water. I don't think that part of the base has ever been seen since they filled the lake except by divers and it is now above the water.

Ron

[Joe Wicked]

Luckily for us, we weren't that bad I don't think. Our lakes are not as deep, but there are a lot of small ones around. I live right on Lake Lavon and there is an old bridge that used to cross one of the streams that were there before the dam. Once the dam was put in, the streams completely disappeared and the bridge was submerged. It was normally about 15' below the surface. Last fall a boat struck the bridge and sunk. This spring the bridge was exposed for the first time since it was flooded. Then the rains came. At first it was a blessing, but after so much and the lakes all filled up, and began to flood. The rivers could not carry enough water away fast enough to prevent the flooding. Lakes had to be closed around the 4th of July due to flooding of campgrounds, access roads, etc... the dam at Lavon had to be shut and allow it to flood over because the lake it feeds, was so high that they were going to have to shut down I30 (one of the 2 primary East-West arteries into Dallas) because the water was only 5-10' below the bridge and rising. lots of farmers crops were lost to flooding.

[Wes Tausend]

Originally Posted by Ron61

And on a better note, a couple of pictures over at the range. Yesterday was a perfect day.

Ron

You've got the right idea, Ron, might as well enjoy the '69 and a good day at the range. Not much we can do about rain right now.

My son, 14 yr/old grandson and I finally got to the range to practice with our deer rifles. It looks like my grandson will have to use my .243 BAR since my son elected not to buy him a deer rifle yet. Neither one of us wants to give up our favorite rifle to the cause. The BAR has a very nice fiddle-back stock and I hate to let a youngster carry it ...but oh well.

For years, in northeast ND, we had a large lake called Devil's Lake that was filling up with water and covering entire farmsteads. The ND government wanted to let it drain into a north flowing watershed ...but Canada wouldn't allow it because of some rough fish. Still, Devil's Lake has been one of the best producing Walleye lakes in the nation since it started to fill. When I was a kid, and long before that, this lake was a shallow foul smelling slough, hence the name, Devil's Lake. Recently it has leveled off so there is less controversy.

As the lake rapidly filled, areas 200 miles away, in the same aquifier, began to fill their own small lakes and sloughs. For several years, my company was continuously raising railroad track across these areas and protecting base with grapefruit and larger sized rip-rap. In one memorable case I was asked to slow down my train because of possible storm washouts, but when I left the wet area restriction, I immediately speeded back up to 55 mph. Unfortunately the wind had blown some of the large rip-rap onto the tracks (with water wave action) and I thought I had ripped off the crater compound pans (super heavy grease) covering the pinion gear drive from the traction motors-to-wheel teeth. It didn't destroy them but they were rather scraped up and dented. Sounded terrible and rode rough.

( http://nd.water.usgs.gov/devilslake/ )


...

[wtm442]

The low level in the lake is 100% Ron's fault. He insists that the Mt. Shasta Goddess should dump her load on Tru and me. I guess she is listening and not raining in her "palace".

Nice pics Ron. How did you do at the shooting range?

It's been raining here every other day for a week or more. We can use the rain too. It was a very dry summer here on the right coast.

[Silverback51]

When I was young I used to drive a truck with my dad. Usually it was from the Portland Oregon to LA and back every week. I believe it was either 68 or 69 and Lake Shasta was down over a hundred feet. They were saying it would take 10 years or more for it to recover.

They had one heck of a cold and wet winter that year and by mid spring that lake was full again. All it takes is one good winter to recover.

Let's pray that this winter is the one for you.

[Wayne Maybury]

I believe that Lake Superior is at the lowest level in many many years. All of the Great Lakes at very low and that will effect navigation on the St. Lawrence River which leads to the St, Lawrence Seaway. Not good at all.

Wayne

[Mike Bartlett]

Ron,

This past summer one the first time I haven't made it to Shasta for some camping/boating, etc. Boy that hurts to see it so low. I sure hope we have a wet winter to fill ir back up. Since I missed a trip last summer I sure do want to go in 08. I have been going to Shasta for about 25 years now and always enjoy it. Houseboat, camping and of course the waterskiing. I even named by Golden Retriver after Lake Shasta. Shasta for short.

Mike

[Ron61]

Mike,

Everyone here is praying for a very wet Winter. If it drops much lower they will have to either start shutting down generators as the water going through the turbines comes out warmer than it went in and the environmentalists scream that is bad for the fish, or ignore the fish and run the turbines. They have did about all they can to try and stabilize the loss of water except shut it off to homes and businesses. Some businesses have even closed their public rest rooms. We need a record setting Winter for rainfall and snow pack. Long range forecast is for another dry Winter. Not much activity allowed now as to many under water objects are either sticking out or just barely covered over. See Ernie's post about his boat. Many of the canyons and coves have been shut of for months now. Maybe if you bring mud skis and put them on a house boat.

Ron

[Joe Wicked]

They can't accurately predict the weather for next week, so I wouldn't rely on what they predict. Even after the lakes were full we were still in stage 3 water conservation requirements (heavy fines for watering grass, washing cars, etc...) There was even a $150 charge on your water bill if you went over 10,000 gallons used/month. The forecasters kept predicting that the rain was temporary and will stop, but it did not. After the major flooding events they finally lifted stage 3, but we are still in stage 2. It finally stopped raining in August.

[J. T. Toad]

It won't be long before people start siphoning water off of neighbors. I have heard of electricity before, but now with the rules they proposing, I can see it.....

hey, where's this hose going to off the back of my home?

[wtm442]

Originally Posted by J. T. Toad

It won't be long before people start siphoning water off of neighbors. I have heard of electricity before, but now with the rules they proposing, I can see it.....

I was watch a show about "water" the other night, and they had a discussion about the feasibility of a big water pipeline from the Imperial Valley section of CA to the Great Lakes!

I'm lucky. The town I live in has NEVER had a water ban.

[Ron61]

Now I understand why the hardware store can't keep any garden hoses in stock.

Ron

[J. T. Toad]

WARREN! SHHHHH! don't let CA know. Don't even hint of it. The consensus will decide that the public would be better served by sucking Washington dry.

Imperial Valley and the "All-American canal"..... I find that name offensive as it's implementation edifies what most foreigners think of 'Americans.'

It wouldn't surprise me at all to find out they build something like that. Look at the Alaskan pipeline.... It would be a cakewalk compared to that. I have to ask... what was the answer to the feasibility of that pipeline?