I was unsure of whether I would cover this kind of trip, but I want to experiment! If you want to see more writing of this type, please give me feedback! 

I felt like seeing one of the areas beyond the San Fransisco Bay Area to learn about places I might want to dedicate time to in the future. One such place is Lake County (map) (2020 pop. 68,163), directly north of Napa County (US CENSUS). I saw in maps that it had a large lake surrounded by various local communities and wanted to get a feel of the place.

Some context, Clear Lake is the largest natural existent freshwater lake in California. It has a surface area of 68 mi² (“Clear Lake”). Movement in the San Andreas Fault System, eruptions in the Clear Lake Volcanic Field, and erosion contributed to the lake’s creation. The lake is located between the Russian and Sacramento rivers, with the river it drains to occasionally changing, currently being the later (“History”).

 I realized how large this lake is as we started approaching it! The winding roads south of the lake are mostly short and residential, with different kinds of housing surrounded by trees and water. This housing varies from large, elegant houses to small, clustered, lakeside mobile homes. Regardless of housing type, most lakeside residents had some sort of dock, and nearby residents could still access the water through nearby docks, marinas, and local parks like Braito’s Buckingham Marina and Lakeside County Park. 

As you approach the west of Clear Lake, the surroundings increasingly become more commercial and industrial, and you enter the community of Lakeport (map), with a 2020 population of 5,026 (US CENSUS). It’s a fairly small town, but it has a small urban main-street with various businesses from restaurants, a clothing shop, and newspaper.

I stopped at and explored the small, quiet, yet comfortable Library Park that separates the main street from Clear Lake. It is a central area in the city that people can congregate and be together. It has… 1) Slides, swing sets, and the like for younger individuals. 2) A gazebo for people to congregate in the shade. 3) A concrete path adjacent to the lake. 4) And docks for boats. 

My favorite part was seeing all of the ducks near the water. I am unsure if it is permitted, but I imagine locals feed them. Their presence in the water gives the lake life in an otherwise cloudy and quiet day. This is the kind of park that allows you to wander a bit and also traverse parts of the town without having to cross more streets. I did not spend that much time here though after strangers called out my camera from the gazebo, and instinctually recoiled away. 

After you leave Lakeport, there’s a brief section where the road and the lakeshore separate. With the cloudy skies, I felt the surrounding landscape with the trees evoke a mysterious, somewhat muted, yet interesting aura. The clouds covering the sky filter out the daylight, while the foliage-less trees make a stark contrast to the surrounding grass and water. And the apparently broken fence is a curious, and odd detail. I could not resist, and decided to stop the car and take a picture. Locals understandably do not appreciate a car blocking part of the lane, with one giving me the finger. Oops! I hope it was worth it…

The northern coast of Clear Lake appeared to have less houses directly on the lake’s shore. Instead, there was more road directly adjacent to the lake, with more docks attached to the road. There did not appear to be much parking though for outsiders, thus it might be worth researching in advance whether those docks are publicly available to use. 

Some of those docks were also wooden, with many seemingly abandoned and left to deteriorate over time. This even includes some houses that are apparently in such poor shape that its bridge disappeared! I wonder if these are still in use, albeit for specific functions, or if it is simply more troublesome to dismantle the remaining structure. 

The eastern side of Clear Lake resembles the southern section with more houses closer to the shore. That said, the flora felt less dense in this area. Accessing the surrounding houses is more difficult by a thinner, somewhat more dangerous road. There is a greater sense of privacy as some communities are gated, or have signs indicating that only residents (and their guests) may enter. Said seclusion might be why I saw two deer roaming near the road. They did not seem phased by our presence. You might have slow-down to avoid colliding with unsuspecting fauna.

I did not stop in the city of Clearlake, but it seemed commercial like Lakeport. Much of the signage welcomed anglers. I’m surprised that anglers specifically are a target demographic when the lake is close enough to the Bay Area to be a possible day trip for recreational boaters. It must have something to do with being called “Bass Capital of the West,” with two thirds of catches being largemouth bass, with the heaviest caught currently weighting 17.52 lb (“Clear Lake”). My biggest surprise from Lake County is that while Clear Lake is a pretty place to visit, it is very much a local’s destination. It is much more residential than what I expected, essentially being a bubble surrounded by the Northern Coast, Bay Area, and Central Valleys.

As for my reconnaissance, if you are mainly interested in seeing and enjoying the lake in a single place for the entire day, then I suggest Clear Lake State Park (brochure). There’s trails, swimming, marina, camping, cabins, and a visitor center. It essentially has most of the niceties for travel. It is worth noting that the visitor center when I visited was only open between 10:00 AM – 2:00 PM on Saturdays and Sundays. I also saw a sign promoting a “Story Walk” that occurred at 11:00 AM, in the second Saturday of each month. That said, the ranger warned us that this park tends to crowd on weekdays. You need to decide if the visitor center and “Story Walk” are preferable to crowds.

If you seek to learn the area’s local history, some possibilities include Anderson Marsh State Historic Park (brochure in English or Español), Historic Courthouse Museum, Gibson Museum and Cultural Center, and Lower Lake Schoolhouse Museum. 

One final potential point of interest is the Calpine Geothermal Visitor Center, open in Fridays and Saturdays and focused on geothermal energy. If you plan well in advance, you can schedule a tour to a concentrated area of power plants known as “The Geysers.”  

As I mentioned earlier, I wasn’t initially sure about writing about this trip because it does not particularly focus on a specific place, but rather the general vicinity. Could you tell me if you would prefer that I focus only on specific destinations, or would you enjoy every now and then more exploratory articles such as this one? I would really appreciate any feedback! Lastly, here is a URL that approximately shows the route I took exploring the area of Clear Lake: https://goo.gl/maps/qREuDzSBTLkMacH3A.

Check out my other pictures from this trip here: https://flic.kr/s/aHBqjAFxjC

Sources

“Clear Lake.” https://web.archive.org/web/20230330133548/https://www.lakecountyca.gov/1111/Clear-Lake.

“History of Clear Lake.” https://web.archive.org/web/20230328045012/https://www.lakecountyca.gov/1123/History-of-Clear-Lake.

Lakeport 2020 U.S. Census: https://web.archive.org/web/20230414003801/https://data.census.gov/profile/Lakeport_city,_California?g=160XX00US0639710 

Lake County U.S. Census: https://web.archive.org/web/20230414020541/https://data.census.gov/profile/Lake_County,_California?g=050XX00US06033