California Lake

Explore California's amazing lakes!

California has 3131 lakes, ponds and reservoirs. The largest of California's lakes is the Salton Sea. It is estimated that for 3 million years, at least through all the years of the Pleistocene glacial age, the Colorado River worked to build its delta in the southern region of the Imperial Valley. Eventually, the delta had reached the western shore of the Gulf of California (the Sea of Cortez a.k.a Cortés) creating a massive dam which excluded the Salton Sea from the northern reaches of the Gulf. Meandering at random across the ever-growing fan-shaped mass, the river changed its course constantly. Occasionally shifting to the north, the river flowed into the isolated Salton basin, filling it with a large freshwater lake. Eventually, a significant river shift towards the south and into the Gulf of California abandoned the inland lake to likely evaporation and extinction. As a result, the Salton Sink or Salton Basin has had a long history of alternately being occupied by a fresh water lake and being a dry, empty desert basin, all according to the random river flows, and the balance between inflow and evaporative loss. A lake would exist only when it was replenished by the river and rainfall, a cycle that repeated itself countless times over hundreds of thousands of years - most recently in 1905.

Blue Lake, CA is located in the mad river valley. The blue lake was created by a flood of the mad river which is located on the south side of the downtown area. Today, with the construction of a levee in the mad river it does not flood anymore, so Blue lake has just reduced to a seasonal pond of freshwater. People of Blue lake are trying to restore the water so that it can be turned into a public gathering place.

Blue lake is a place apart from the rushing highways which makes it an ideal place for spending time with your friends and family. The city has a cafe, bar, bed and breakfasts, inns and spas with overnight accommodations. There are various Blue Lake attractions such as the Blue Lake museum and the mad river festival that attracts people from all over the world. This festival includes comedy, original theater and music performances.

Another historic place in California is Plumas Lake, a master planned exurb that is located 30 miles north of Sacramento on the Feather River. Construction of homes began early in 2003, and at full build-out the city will have roughly 12,000 homes and 36,000 residents. The community (which is unincorporated) is located about 10 miles (16 km) south of the city of Marysville in southern Yuba County. It lies at an elevation of 46 feet.