, ,

Lake Britton – Wow!

Lake Britton (11/4/20) Philip Reedy

On his drive up CA-89 toward McCloud, Philip Reedy caught a glimpse of Lake Britton to his left, and all he could say was, “WOW!”

He wrote, “The lake was surrounded by yellow, orange, and red, as were the mountainsides to the west.  I only wish I had been there in the early morning when the light would have been much better.”

Reedy’s wife remarked it looked like pictures she had seen with hills blanketed in color. Next November, he plans to visit in the morning on a day with, “fluffy white clouds in the sky.  I can already see the image in my mind.”

The color at Lake Britton appears to come almost entirely from black oak, Quercus kelloggii. That these trees exhibited a range of yellow, gold, orange, cinnabar and barn red is remarkable, as black oak – while known for their rich deep orange leaves – rarely show bright yellow or gold.

Lake Britton is a reservoir, surrounded by PG&E land, north of McArthur-Burney Falls State Park. A PG&E-run campground is on the lake’s north shore.