The Lake
Fallen Leaf is approximately 415 feet (125 m) deep at its deepest point, which is east of the sheer face of Cathedral Peak and north of Stanford Sierra Camp. The average depth of the lake is around 240 feet (72 m), and the bottom falls away rapidly as one moves away from the shorelines. Due to the action of the glaciers that carved the lake, the northern end of the lake has a much more gradual depth change, and the bottom can be seen from the surface for a quarter-mile (400 m) offshore. Along other shores, the bottom may be hidden in as little as 100 feet (30 m) offshore.
The water quality is extremely good due to the lack of commercial development (including golf courses and their fertilizer-rich runoff), the universal use of sewers, and modern sediment retention techniques associated with new development. Visibility runs around 40–50 feet (10–15 m) under most conditions. The water is potable, and many homes along the shoreline run a pipe offshore to provide water during the winter when other water systems may be turned off.
The water in the lake is exchanged every eight years, compared to the much slower Lake Tahoe which exchanges every 700 years.
The surface elevation of the lake is 152 feet above Lake Tahoe.
After the Tahoe Regional Planning Agency banned two-stroke outboards in the late 1990s, pollution from these engines was virtually eliminated.
Read more about this topic: Fallen Leaf Lake (California)
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—Henry David Thoreau (1817–1862)
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—Lu Yu (d. 804)