<html><head></head><body><div class="ydpd0393537yahoo-style-wrap" style="font-family:garamond, new york, times, serif;font-size:16px;"><div dir="ltr" data-setdir="false"> <div dir="ltr" data-setdir="false"><span class="ydp69c4c4agnt_ar_lbl_s"></span><h1 class="ydp69c4c4agnt_ar_hl"><a href="https://www.redding.com/story/news/local/2024/05/02/oh-heck-yeah-at-85-full-trinity-lake-has-twice-the-water-as-2023/73517099007/" rel="nofollow" target="_blank" class="">https://www.redding.com/story/news/local/2024/05/02/oh-heck-yeah-at-85-full-trinity-lake-has-twice-the-water-as-2023/73517099007/</a></h1><h1 class="ydp69c4c4agnt_ar_hl">'Oh heck yeah:' As Trinity Lake fills up, fishing, boating already in full swing</h1><div><br></div><div><br></div><div><br></div><div class="ydp69c4c4agnt_ar_by"><a href="https://www.redding.com/staff/4406815002/damon-arthur/" data-t-l=":byline with photo|o|c|text" class="ydp69c4c4agnt_ar_by_a ydp69c4c4agnt_ar_by_a__fi" rel="nofollow" target="_blank"> Damon Arthur</a><div class="ydp69c4c4agnt_ar_pb">Redding Record Searchlight</div></div><div><br></div><div><br></div><div dir="ltr" data-setdir="false"><div><p class="ydp220dffe0gnt_ar_b_p">Trinity Lake was 85% full this week and that's just fine with Raine Harrison.</p><p class="ydp220dffe0gnt_ar_b_p">The
Trinity Center resident, "who lives where people vacation," said that
compared to the past few years, she is happy the water level in Trinity
Lake is nearing the high water mark and is more accessible.</p><p class="ydp220dffe0gnt_ar_b_p">Last year at this time, <a href="https://www.redding.com/story/news/2023/05/15/why-shasta-lake-is-nearly-full-but-trinity-dams-water-level-is-so-low/70204088007/" data-t-l=":b|e|k|${u}" class="ydp220dffe0gnt_ar_b_a" rel="nofollow" target="_blank">Trinity Lake was less than 40% full</a>,
and getting down to the water for boating or fishing meant walking or
driving a half a mile in some places to get to the water, Harrison said.</p><div><br></div><div><br></div><div><br></div><div class="ydp220dffe0gnt_ar_b_p">But not this year.</div><div class="ydp220dffe0gnt_ar_b_p"><br></div><div class="ydp220dffe0gnt_ar_b_p" dir="ltr" data-setdir="false"><div dir="ltr" data-setdir="false"><div data-g-r="lazy" data-gl-method="llx" id="ydpc01dcf7bad-slot-7103-ca-redding-C1265-native-article_link-news-local-2" class="ydpc01dcf7bgnt_x_sl ydpc01dcf7bgnt_x_al" data-google-query-id="CKOTjd-F_4UDFW-H7gEd6zcJ-A"><div style="border-width: 0pt; border-style: none; border-color: currentcolor;"></div></div><p class="ydpc01dcf7bgnt_ar_b_p">With the lake closer to full, businesses around Trinity Lake are expecting a much better tourist season, she said.</p><p class="ydpc01dcf7bgnt_ar_b_p">"Oh
heck yeah. We're expecting lots of people to come up. We're already
preparing for it," said Harrison, who is a cashier and assistant manager
at Trinity Center General Store, up at the north end of the lake. "It's
going to affect it a lot better, I believe ― more tourists. Already our
fishing season's already in full swing. We've had quite a few fisher
people," she said.</p><img class="ydpc01dcf7bgnt_em_img_i" style="width: 100%; max-width: 660px;" data-g-r="lazy" alt="Trinity Lake had filled to 85% full on May 1, 2024. This photo was taken April 1, 2024." src="https://www.redding.com/gcdn/authoring/authoring-images/2024/05/01/PRRS/73534234007-trinity-1.jpg?width=660&height=440&fit=crop&format=pjpg&auto=webp"><div class="ydpc01dcf7bgnt_em_img_ccw ydpc01dcf7bgnt_em_img_ccw__cap ydpc01dcf7bgnt_em_img_ccw__crd" data-c-caption="Trinity Lake had filled to 85% full on May 1, 2024. This photo was taken April 1, 2024." data-c-credit="Photo Provided By The U.S. Bureau Of Reclamation"></div><p class="ydpc01dcf7bgnt_ar_b_p">It
isn't likely Trinity Lake will get much fuller than 85% this year, said
Don Bader, area manager for the U.S. Bureau of Reclamation, which
manages the water in Trinity Lake.</p><p class="ydpc01dcf7bgnt_ar_b_p">"The short
answer is Trinity doesn't have the refill potential that Shasta Lake
does. It's just a small basin. So we're actually very excited" that it's
85% full, Bader said. Meanwhile, Lake Shasta was 96% full, according to
the California Department of Water Resources.</p><div data-g-r="lazy" data-gl-method="llx" id="ydpc01dcf7bad-slot-7103-ca-redding-C1265-native-article_link-news-local-3" data-x-c="2" class="ydpc01dcf7bgnt_x_sl ydpc01dcf7bgnt_x_al" data-google-query-id="CNrvmd6F_4UDFbY3RAgd-HEEQA"><div style="border-width: 0pt; border-style: none; border-color: currentcolor;"></div></div><p class="ydpc01dcf7bgnt_ar_b_p">"Last
year, Trinity was the only reservoir in California that didn't fill,
even with all that winter rain we had. It's just a small basin, and it
does not get the big storms, like the rest of the state gets in the wet
years," he said.</p><p class="ydpc01dcf7bgnt_ar_b_p">Trinity Lake is fed by runoff
from an area covering about 700 square miles, Bader said. The basin that
feeds water into the lake is small compared to Lake Shasta, which
collects rain and snowmelt from an area covering some 6,500 square
miles, he said.</p><div><p class="ydp8d3701cbgnt_ar_b_p">Two of the worst droughts on record for California
― 2013 to 2015 and 2020 to 2022 ― also hurt water storage at the lake,
Bader said. The last year Trinity reached its historic average was in
2019, he said.</p><div data-g-r="lazy" data-gl-method="llx" id="ydp8d3701cbad-slot-7103-ca-redding-C1265-native-article_link-news-local-4" data-x-c="3" class="ydp8d3701cbgnt_x_sl ydp8d3701cbgnt_x_al" data-google-query-id="CMj2rdSF_4UDFfMwRAgdga0BYA">"We got two consecutive three-year droughts that were monumental and really impacted Trinity storage," Bader said.</div><p class="ydp8d3701cbgnt_ar_b_p">Trinity
Lake is one of the largest reservoirs in the state, as far as the
potential volume of water it can store behind the dam. It can hold about
2.4 million acre-feet of water.</p><p class="ydp8d3701cbgnt_ar_b_p">An acre-foot
of water is about 326,000 gallons, or about the amount of water it takes
to cover an acre of land — close to the size of a football field — one
foot deep. Lake Shasta's capacity is about 4.5 million acre feet.</p><p class="ydp8d3701cbgnt_ar_b_p">The
biggest contributor of water into Lake Shasta is the runoff that flows
into the Pit River, one of Lake Shasta's tributaries, Bader said. The
watershed that feeds the Pit River extends all the way into southern
Oregon east of Klamath Falls, he said.</p><div class="ydp8d3701cbgnt_ar_b_p">"The Pit
River is a monster and we get we get year-round inflows from the Pit
River. In wet years like now, we get a lot of late spring and early
summer inflows from the Pit River," he said.</div><div class="ydp8d3701cbgnt_ar_b_p" dir="ltr" data-setdir="false"><div><p class="ydpc09b0a6cgnt_ar_b_p">While Trinity Lake relies mainly on snowmelt to
fill, Lake Shasta is mainly fed with rainfall, he said. Contrary to what
people may assume, the snow covering Mt. Shasta this spring will not
melt and flow into Lake Shasta this summer, Bader said.</p><p class="ydpc09b0a6cgnt_ar_b_p">When the snow melts off Mt. Shasta it eventually flows into the Klamath River, not the Sacramento River, he said.</p><p class="ydpc09b0a6cgnt_ar_b_p">Regional
hydrology aside, Darrell Marlin said he is just glad the Trinity Lake
is filling up and the outlook for summer is better for business.</p><p class="ydpc09b0a6cgnt_ar_b_p">"There
are plenty of areas for houseboating and fishing right now. We've got
several fishing tournaments going on," said Marlin, who owns Trinity
Alps Marinas.</p><p class="ydpc09b0a6cgnt_ar_b_p"><em>Reporter Damon Arthur
welcomes story tips at 530-338-8834, by email at
damon.arthur@redding.com and on X, formerly known as Twitter, at <a href="https://twitter.com/damonarthur_RS" data-t-l=":b|e|k|${u}" class="ydpc09b0a6cgnt_ar_b_a" rel="nofollow" target="_blank">@damonarthur_RS</a>. Help local journalism thrive by <a href="https://cm.redding.com/specialoffer?gps-source=CPHPPRIMARY&utm_campaign=2019EVER&utm_medium=ONSITE&utm_content=CPHPPRIMARY&onSuccessRedirectURL=https%3A%2F%2Fwww.redding.com%2F&utm_source=CPHPPRIMARY&sltsgmt=local_LP_hero_holdout_392" data-t-l=":b|e|k|${u}" class="ydpc09b0a6cgnt_ar_b_a" rel="nofollow" target="_blank">subscribing today</a>!</em></p></div><br></div><div data-g-r="lazy" data-gl-method="llx" id="ydp8d3701cbad-slot-7103-ca-redding-C1265-native-article_link-news-local-5" data-x-c="4" class="ydp8d3701cbgnt_x_sl ydp8d3701cbgnt_x_al" data-google-query-id="CIrfkvKF_4UDFVuZ7gEdZtkNkQ"><div style="border-width: 0pt; border-style: none; border-color: currentcolor;"><br></div></div></div><br></div><br></div><div data-g-r="lazy" data-gl-method="llx" id="ydp220dffe0ad-slot-7103-ca-redding-C1265-native-article_link-news-local-2" class="ydp220dffe0gnt_x_sl ydp220dffe0gnt_x_al" data-google-query-id="CLq4hp-F_4UDFbCH7gEdSm4CSg"><div style="border-width: 0pt; border-style: none; border-color: currentcolor;"><br></div></div></div><br></div><div class="ydp69c4c4agnt_ar_dt"><br></div></div><br></div></div></body></html>