Shasta Lake is a reservoir created by the building of Shasta Dam in California, USA. Shasta Lake is the largest reservoir in California,[1] and third largest lake, after Lake Tahoe and the Salton Sea, with a capacity of 4,552,000 acre-feet (5.6 km³). At full pool, the lake has an elevation of 1,067 feet, and a surface area of 30,000 acres.[1] Ten miles (16 km) north of the city of Redding, with the town of Lakehead its northern shores, Shasta Lake is popular for boating, water skiing, camping, house boating, and fishing. Formed by the damming of the Sacramento River, Pit River, McCloud River and several smaller tributaries, the lake boasts 365 miles (587 km) of mostly steep mountainous shoreline covered with tall evergreen trees and manzanita. Maximum depth is 517 feet. Shasta Dam was constructed between 1935 and 1945, while the lake was formed in 1948. It became the second largest dam, and tallest concrete dam in the USA.[1] Known as the keystone of the Central Valley Project, outflow from Shasta Dam provides electricity and irrigation for widespread areas of California below the dam as well as flood control for the Sacramento River during the rainy season.
A deer swimming in Shasta Lake
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