Shasta Lake level rise thrills local recreation business operators
SHASTA - At California's largest reservoir, January's storms have delivered a blockbuster surge of water. The lake has been rising fast, and locals there are hoping for a whole lot more.
Back in October, lodge owner Harold Jones gave KPIX a look at lake levels at his spot near Lakehead. While the water was actually up a bit from the previous year, the lake was just around 30 percent of capacity. Still, Jones was hopeful that a change of fortune could pay off quickly.
"One good winter and the water will be pretty much back up to where these trees here are," Jones said at the time, standing on the edge of his Sugarloaf Cottages property.
Now, in just a matter of weeks, Shasta has jumped up to above 50 percent capacity. And it's still climbing.
"Got a 75 foot oak tree that blew over down there," Jones said of the storm debris that has piled up since the new year.
Like people across Northern California, he has some cleaning up to do, but he's going to wait on that.
"It's just fighting an uphill battle," Jones said of the mess. "So we just wait until the main storms are over then we clean the place up."
For now, he's got other things to worry about.
"If I don't move that dock today, that end of the gangplank will be underwater tomorrow," he said approaching the water's edge.
Jones took KPIX back to the same spot he visited in late October. Only, no one can actually get there.
"Last time we talked, we were standing about 100 yards offshore, straight down," he said. "In the last 24 hours, from yesterday to today, the lake came up almost two feet."
Not far away is the Charlie Creek bridge on the north end of Shasta. Built in 1925 they needed to adjust for the lake so they just put another bridge right on top of it. This spot famously looks terrible during a drought, it dries up. When the lake is full, water can easily get up towards the top of the old bridge's arch, revealing how much more room there is, but the last five months, a reminder of what is possible."
"Oh, another stretch like that, my docks will be sitting right up here in front of my cabins," Jones said of the lake's surge.
"It was fortunate when the previous set of storms hit that the reservoir was quite low," explained Jay Lund/ with the UC Davis Center for Watershed Sciences "And we still have another two and a half months of wet season that we still have to really worry about flood management."
The lake has jumped 50 feet since New Year's, great news exactly because there was room for it.
"If we get another series of events like this," Lund added. "With Shasta and Oroville full, and Folsom full, it might be a little more difficult on the main rivers."
"That's from the burn scars, just pushing everything down to the lake, and heading towards the dam," Jones said of the trees and debris floating down the river
And even with a break in the rain, Shasta will continue to rise, probably for weeks.
"The word gets out that the lake is up and people start calling," Hones said of the good news. "Booking houseboats, cabins."
Locals call the rain liquid assets and they're hoping for even bigger and better things. The past five weeks, they say, just a good start.
"So we've got a really good chance for a full lake this year, Jones said. "Just pray for rain. More rain."