Shasta water level... three years in review!

What an amazing year at Lake Shasta! The water level filled to the top for the first time in four years! And 2011 looks to be another full year.

Take a look at this chart. It shows the last three years worth of fill and drain data. As you can see, 2010 finished out 84 feel higher than 2009 and 113 feet higher than 2008.

Also, at only 39 feet below the dam on 12/31/10, there is almost no way 2011 will be anything less than full pool. Consider this... in 2008, one of the worst rainfall years on record, the lake filled 54.8 feet. In 2009 it filled 100 feet. And in 2010 it filled 126.8 feet. I bet the lake will be full in a matter of months!!

Should be an awesome summer at Shasta. I made my reservations last month!











This picture was taken on 7/28/10 when the water level was 23 feet below the dam.

Are you Houseboating or ???? Thinking of driving from Ventura Calif up there for the first time - wife doesn't want to houseboat so thinking about renting a house or hotel

Last season we did a houseboat from Silverthorn. We picked the Queen I, their largest boat. We had 20 peeps on it. It cost us $6k for the week, which for a large boat is a pretty good deal.

This year we decided to do a house instead. So we picked this place. http://www.vacationrentals.com/vacat...tals/4597.html. We'll have two families in it (13 total). It was $5500/week. That's actually on the expensive end of the spectrum for houses, but it's a pretty nice place with plasma tv's, pool, spa, etc.

Here are a couple others we considered. There aren't many houses on the shoreline at Lake Shasta. These are the only ones we found. They are actually all on the same street.

http://www.vrbo.com/64767

http://www.vrbo.com/172479

That rental house is nice. Whats the distance to the water? Do you have to pull the boat or can you beach it? Where is it on the lake?

I have stayed at the last one. Short walk down to the water, but we could barely see the boat. We did keep it in the water overnight, just took the good stuff out.

Is that pic on the McCloud arm? The pic below looks to be at nearly the same location... my son, taken July 5, 2010:

Wow... those two pics look amazingly similar. Your son even rides on the dark side, like me! Unfortunately, my pic is from the Pit arm (see below), just around the corner from where we had our houseboat.

How old is your son? I need to show that picture to my kids. They are picking up wakeboarding, but haven't tried surfing yet. They are both "goofy" like their old man.

man i cant wait for the summer!

Originally Posted by dohboy

That rental house is nice. Whats the distance to the water? Do you have to pull the boat or can you beach it? Where is it on the lake?

Because the water level fluctuates so much, there really isn't a great shoreline at shasta. As a result, there are few "lakeside" houses. The few that exist don't have docks for obvious reasons. When the shore is exposed, it's usually steep and rocky.

With that said, this house is very close to the water (depending on the level, or course). We plan to have both our boats (MB TWB & Calabria ProV) anchored off shore on an Anchor Buddy.

Here are few pics taken when the water level is 40-50' below full pool (just guessing by the looks of them). It's a short walk down the slope to the water... maybe 100 feet. We'll be there in late June and I'm almost positive the water level will be higher than in these pics. In 2010 the water level was only 8' below the top in late June.








As far as location, all three homes I referenced are on the same street in Lakehead (just around the corner from Antler's public ramp). I'd rather be down by Obrien's or all the way over in the Pit. But I didn't find any other houses that were on the water.

Originally Posted by ixfe

Wow... those two pics look amazingly similar. Your son even rides on the dark side, like me! Unfortunately, my pic is from the Pit arm (see below), just around the corner from where we had our houseboat.

How old is your son? I need to show that picture to my kids. They are picking up wakeboarding, but haven't tried surfing yet. They are both "goofy" like their old man.

My son was 10 in the photo. He went from not being able to surf at all last summer to now being able to go essentially forever. That board he's on is clearly a little big for him, but he'll ride it forever.

Thankfully, our whole family is goofy.