The Blue Lakes are a string of two or three lakes in Lake County, California, set in a deep canyon. At one time they seem to have been in the Russian River watershed, but a recent geological upheaval cut them off from that basin and they now drain via Scotts Creek into Clear Lake in the Sacramento River basin. In the 19th and early 20th centuries there were several resorts around the lakes. Their waters have been highly altered by human activity and most of their native fish are lost, but they have a healthy population of largemouth bass.
The Blue Lakes are in the Cache Creek watershed in northwestern Lake County, about 7 miles (11km) west of Upper Lake. Their drainage basin comprises the upper northwest section of the Cache Creek basin.[1] They are at an elevation of 1,358 feet (414m).[2] Upper Blue Lake is about 1,361 feet (415m) above sea level, covers about 55 acres (22ha) and contains about 3,960 acre-feet (4,880,000m3) of water.[1] Lower Blue Lake is shallower and covers 53 acres (21ha).[3] The Köppen climate classification is Csb: Warm-summer Mediterranean climate.[4]
The Blue Lakes as a whole have a length of about 3 miles (4.8km) and a breadth of 1⁄2 mile (0.80km).[5] They form a line running in a northeast direction down to Scotts Creek, which drains into Clear Lake. The upper two lakes are connected by a wide channel, and are known collectively as Blue Lake or Upper Blue Lake. The settlement of Midlakes lies between Blue Lake and Lower Blue Lake, which is connected by a short channel to Scotts Creek. California State Route 20 runs along the northeast shore of the lakes.[6]
Geological changes
Valley holding Cold Creek (NW) and Blue Lakes (SE)
The Clear Lake basin lies between the watersheds of the Sacramento River and the Russian River. When it was formed about 600,000 years ago it drained east into the Sacramento Valley. About 200,000 years ago the Clear Lake Volcanic Field blocked its outlet.[7] The lake rose until it found a new outlet, draining west through the Blue Lakes into Cold Creek and the Russian River.[8] At some time in the last 10,000 years a landslide at the west end of the Blue Lakes blocked this outlet, the lake rose again, and created its present outlet via Cache Creek to the Sacramento River.[9]
The gradual mountain pass between Cold Creek basin and Upper Blue Lake is called Da-no lokj'tam, or "mountain fell-in", by the Northern Pomo.[10] They have a legend that water from Clear Lake once drained west through the Blue Lakes, then through Cold Creek into Coyote Valley and the Russian River. Then there was a great earthquake and a huge landslide blocked the flow out of Clear Lake. The land was forced up, and Clear Lake began to drain to the east through Cache Creek. This is plausible, since there have been tectonic events in the region and Clear Lake is 600 feet (180m) higher than the Ukiah Valley.[11]
An 1891 account gave more detail: "At the head of the upper lake, just on the western line of the county, is a break in the mountain line which encloses Lake County like the rim of a basin. On the west of this gap Cold Creek heads, and flows down to Russian River, which comes from Potter Valley, twenty miles farther north, and goes on south into Sonoma, turning west to the Pacific. The older Indians tell of a time in the days that were, when the waters of the Blue Lakes, and probably of Clear lake also, pursued this path to the ocean. At present the drainage line is almost due east, by way of Cache Creek and the Sacramento River. The Indians say that the ridge was raised after three days of earthquake. The whole district shows evidences of volcanic action, and has many singular geological features and numerous mineral springs."[12]
According to Professor Ruliff Stephen Holway (1907) the waters of Blue Lakes and Scotts Creek once drained into Russian River by way of Cold Creek, but in recent prehistorical times a large landslide formed a ridge that diverted these waters to Clear Lake.[13][lower-alpha 1] This could account for the relatively mature profile of Cold Creek.[14][lower-alpha 2]
Surroundings
Blue Lakes ca1910 by Michael Rieder (1868-1949)
An 1890 account by the State Mineralogist said,
I observe first, that the canyon itself [Blue Lakes Canyon] is very deep, its sides also being very steep; it is furthermore very narrow. The Blue Lakes themselves are usually called three in number, although the two upper ones are connected by a narrow strait. They are beautiful little sheets of water lying in the bottom of the narrow canyon, whose sides come down almost precipitously to the water's edge. They are said to be very deep. I estimated the lower one to be a little less than a mile in length, with a maximum width of perhaps a quarter of a mile. The two upper lakes are probably each of them from half to three quarters of a mile in length, and as already stated, are connected so as to form in reality a single sheet of water.[16]
An 1891 description said,
The Blue Lakes are two of the most charming lakes in the State. They lie at the bottom of a long, deep valley which rises with almost precipitous sides from the water; intense blue is surrounded by the perpetual green of the dark coniferous forest about them. No streams flow into these lakes, nor is there any outlet except in the rainy season, when the short mountain torrents cause them to overflow, across a low neck of land, into a small lake, Tulé, and so on into Clear Lake. Springs in the bottom of the lakes doubtless supply them, and they are heavily stocked with speckled trout, perch, "silver-sides," and other species of fish.[17]
A mineral springs resort was founded at Blue Lakes, visited both by the sick for cures and by the wealthy and fashionable as summer resorts.[5] The Blue Lakes Hotel could accommodate 40-50 guests, and had a white sulphur spring on its 320 acres (130ha) grounds. The neighboring forests had plentiful game, including deer, rabbits, quail and pigeons.[18] Resorts in 1892 included Laurel Dell, a Swiss cottage on a grassy flat on the lower lake with smaller corrages around it, the Blue Lakes Hotel, with a hotel and several pretty cottages, where the upper lake flowed into the lower in a lawn-like expanse of grassland with clumps of gnarled and moss-covered oak, and Le Trianon, a very prettily situated hotel at the upper end of the upper lake.[19]
Water and fish
Map of the lakes, Scotts Creek to the south
The Blue Lakes today are highly altered and have lost the majority of their native fishes.[20] They are surrounded by housing which reduces shoreline habitat and contributes pollutants.[21] In 2019 anatoxin was detected in the Blue Lakes, but later tests showed no sign of the toxin, so warning signs were removed in January 2020.[22] Lower Blue Lake, like Clear Lake, is eutrophic, alkaline with a pH of c.8, and fairly turbid with a Secchi depth less than 2 metres (6ft 7in). Upper Blue Lake, in contrast, is clear and cool.[23]
The aboriginal people of the region had a legend that a monster fish, or water dragon, lived in the Upper Blue Lake, and therefore never camped close to the lake. In the 1870s the newspapers reported various sightings of this monster.[24] Clear Lake prickly sculpin are only found in Clear Lake and in Upper and Lower Blue lakes.[25] Clear Lake tule perch are endemic to Clear Lake, Lower Blue Lake and Upper Blue Lake. Its populations seem to have dropped to very low levels in Clear Lake and they are probably absent from Lower Blue Lake, but they are still common in Upper Blue Lake.[20]
The inland silverside (Menidia beryllina) was introduced from Lake Texoma, Oklahoma, into the Blue Lakes and Clear Lake in 1967 to test its effectiveness in controlling the Clear Lake gnat and chironomid midges. About 6,000 fish were released in Upper Blue Lake and 3,000 in Lower Blue Lake and Clear Lake. Within a year the silversides were abundant in Lower Blue Lake and Clear Lake. They have since been widely distributed in California through experimental introductions by the Department of Fish and Game, illegal introductions by bait fishermen and dispersal via man-made waterways.[26]
A general survey of fish along the shoreline of Upper Blue Lake was conducted in June 2014. Fish collected included common carp (Cyprinus carpio), bluegill (Lepomis macrochirus), largemouth bass (Micropterus salmoides), rainbow trout (Oncorhynchus mykiss), green sunfish (Lepomis cyanellus), prickly sculpin (Cottus asper) and brown bullhead (Ameiurus nebulosus).[1] Of 376 fish caught, 342 were largemouth bass, followed by bluegill (12), common carp (11), green sunfish (9), and one specimen each of brown bullhead, prickly sculpin and rainbow trout.[27]
The Le Trianon Resort sign at the Blue Lakes in Upper Lake, California in 2023.
Recreation
Residents of Upper Lake or Lakeport are a short drive away. There are campsites and more upscale lodgings for longer stays.. There is a speed limit of 5 miles per hour (8.0km/h) on the lakes. Visitors can swim or fish in the lakes, or use kayaks, canoes or paddle boards. Apart from bass and bluegill, the waters are regularly stocked with rainbow trout.[28] Upper Blue Lake is the more popular, since the colder water supports excellent trout and bass fishing, but both lakes hold very large bass. A 12 pounds (5.4kg) bass has been weighed on a certified scale.[3]
Notes
↑ Holway, writing before the idea of plate tectonics had been developed, wrote of the blockage being caused by a landslide rather than by the ridge being raised up as described by the Northern Pomo.
↑ A Google terrain map of the region shows State Route 20 runs southwest from Saratoga Springs on the edge of the Clear Lake valley, then turns northwest to run past the Blue Lakes at an elevation of 1,358 feet (414m) and through the valley that holds Cold Creek in its northwest end. The highway then turns southwest down the Coyote Valley to Lake Mendocino at an elevation of 737.5 feet (224.8m), which drains into Russian River.[15] The Blue Lakes would have drained along the valley that holds this section of State Route 20 before it was blocked.
Lundquist, Erica (February 2010b), Middle Creek Watershed Assessment(PDF), Middle Creek Coordinated Resource Management and Planning Group, archived from the original(PDF) on 2021-05-17, retrieved 2021-05-17
Watson, E.B.; Pendleton, R.L. (1919), "Soil Survey of the Ukiah Area, California", Field Operations of the Bureau of Soils, vol.16, United States Bureau of Soils, p.2636 (Soil Survey of the Ukiah Area, California at the Internet Archive )
Lake County is a county located in the north central portion of the U.S. state of California. As of the 2020 census, the population was 68,163. The county seat is Lakeport. The county takes its name from Clear Lake, the dominant geographic feature in the county and the largest non-extinct natural lake wholly within California.
Clear Lake is a natural freshwater lake in Lake County in the U.S. state of California, north of Napa County and San Francisco. It is the largest natural freshwater lake wholly within the state, with 68 square miles (180 km2) of surface area. At an age of 0.5 million years, it is the oldest lake in North America. It is the latest lake to occupy a site with a history of lakes stretching back at least 2,500,000 years.
Schoenoplectus acutus, called tule, common tule, hardstem tule, tule rush, hardstem bulrush, or viscid bulrush, is a giant species of sedge in the plant family Cyperaceae, native to freshwater marshes all over North America. The common name derives from the Nāhuatl word tōllin, and it was first applied by the early settlers from New Spain who recognized the marsh plants in the Central Valley of California as similar to those in the marshes around Mexico City.
Coyote Creek is a river that flows through the Santa Clara Valley in Northern California. Its source is on Mount Sizer, in the mountains east of Morgan Hill. It eventually flows into Anderson Lake in Morgan Hill and then northwards through Coyote Valley to San Jose, where it empties into San Francisco Bay.
The Mokelumne River is a 95-mile (153 km)-long river in northern California in the United States. The river flows west from a rugged portion of the central Sierra Nevada into the Central Valley and ultimately the Sacramento–San Joaquin River Delta, where it empties into the San Joaquin River-Stockton Deepwater Shipping Channel. Together with its main tributary, the Cosumnes River, the Mokelumne drains 2,143 square miles (5,550 km2) in parts of five California counties. Measured to its farthest source at the head of the North Fork, the river stretches for 157 miles (253 km).
The Klamath Project is a water-management project developed by the United States Bureau of Reclamation to supply farmers with irrigation water and farmland in the Klamath Basin. The project also supplies water to the Tule Lake National Wildlife Refuge, and the Lower Klamath National Wildlife Refuge. The project was one of the first to be developed by the Reclamation Service, which later became the Bureau of Reclamation.
Cache Creek is an 87-mile-long (140 km) stream in Lake, Colusa and Yolo counties, California.
The Mad River is a river in upper Northern California. It flows for 113 miles (182 km) in a roughly northwest direction through Trinity County and then Humboldt County, draining a 497-square-mile (1,290 km2) watershed into the Pacific Ocean north of the town of Arcata near [California Redwood Coast-Humboldt County Airport] in McKinleyville. The river's headwaters are in the Coast Range near South Kelsey Ridge.
The Lost River sucker is a species of ray-finned fish in the family Catostomidae. It is the only living member of the genus Deltistes. It is found only in California and Oregon. Its population is much reduced from historical numbers for a number of reasons. It is federally listed as an endangered species of the United States. This species is known as the C'waam by the Klamath Tribes, a Native American nation.
East Fork Russian River is a 15 mi (24 km) long tributary of the Russian River in Mendocino County, California artificially connected to the Eel River via an interbasin diversion at the Potter Valley Project hydroelectric facility. It forms in the north of Potter Valley, flows south through this valley, then southwest through a mountain pass to Lake Mendocino, an artificial reservoir that empties into Russian River. At one time Clear Lake to the east drained through Cold Creek then along the lower part of East Fork Russian River through Coyote Valley to the Russian River proper. A few hundred years ago a massive landslide blocked this channel, and Clear Lake found a new outlet to the Sacramento River.
The Klamath River is a river in southern Oregon and northern California in the United States. This article describes its course.
Kelsey Creek is a watercourse in Lake County, California, United States, that feeds Clear Lake from the south. The watershed was forest-covered. In the lower parts it has been converted to farmland and for urban use. Higher up the forests have been cleared, regrown and cleared again. The northern part of the creek flows through a geothermal field that feeds power plants and hot springs. The wooded Cobb area in the higher part of the watershed holds resorts and resort communities, some dating to the 1850s.
Cow Mountain is a ridge in the Mayacamas Mountains in Lake County, California, and Mendocino County, California. It is home to two large recreation areas. One is closed to off-road vehicles and the other is not. Erosion from the mountain, caused in part by human land use, contributes sediment and nutrients to Clear Lake.
Scotts Creek is a stream in Lake County, California, the largest tributary of Clear Lake. It rises to the south of Cow Mountain in the Mayacamas Mountains, then flows southeast towards Clear Lake, running through the fertile Scotts Valley and the seasonal Tule Lake before joining Middle Creek and flowing into the lake via Rodman Slough.
Cold Creek is a river of Mendocino County, California, a tributary of East Fork Russian River. In the past it may have connected Clear Lake to the Russian River before this route was blocked by a large landslide and Clear Lake began to drain into the Sacramento River watershed.
Tule Lake is a seasonal lake in Lake County, California. It is named after the edible bullrushes, or tules, that used to surround the lake. These have been cleared and the lake partly drained to support agriculture, but it still floods every winter. In summer it is used for growing wild rice and grazing cattle. There have been proposals to restore the lake to its original wetlands condition.
Rodman Slough is a wetland that drains into Clear Lake in Lake County, California. It provides an important habitat for fish, amphibians, birds and other wildlife. It is fed by Scotts Creek and Middle Creek, which contribute about 70% of the sediment and nutrients that cause algae problems in Clear Lake. The slough is the remnant of a much larger area of wetlands and open water that extended from Tule Lake to the northeast through a wide area of land north and east of the present slough that was drained for farmland. Since 1978 there have been proposals to restore large parts of the former wetlands, and much of the funding has been approved, but progress has been slow.
Middle Creek is a creek that drains through Rodman Slough into Clear Lake in Lake County, California. It supplies 21% of the streamflow to Clear Lake. The watershed vegetation has been drastically modified by European settlers through sheep and cattle grazing, logging and farming in the valley floors. The creek once flowed through extensive wetlands at its mouth, but these were mainly drained to create farmland, apart from Rodman Slough on the west side. There are now projects to restore the drained land to its original condition.
Rivers and creeks in Lake County, California are listed below by river basin and alphabetically. Unless otherwise stated, the information is taken from the Geographic Names Information System maintained by the United States Geological Survey. Coordinates, elevations and lengths from this source are approximate.
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