Lake County

After weeks of foggy San Francisco, I was ready to escape and find the sun, so I decided to go for a ride through Napa Valley, past Calistoga und visit Lake County. Clear Lake is the largest natural freshwater lake in California, with 68 square miles of surface area. This lake is over 2 Million years old and possibly the oldest in North America. Its scenic beauty, the cleanest air in California, and abundant wildlife make Clear Lake an interesting place to slow down, enjoy nature, and just plain relax in the warm shade of an oaktree close to the water.

Known as the Bass capital of the West, Clear Lake supports large populations of bass, crappie, bluegill, carp and catfish. Two thirds of fish caught in the lake are largemouth Bass with a record of 17.52 pounds. The record for catfish is 33.25 pounds. There are also year round populations of ducks, grebes, pelicans, blue herons, osprey and egrets as well as winter populations of bald eagles.

Archeological evidence indicates that Native American Indians, principally Pomo people and Wappo, settled around Clear Lake already 11,000 years ago.

A friend had recommended that I stay at a resort called the Edgewater, www.EdgewaterResort.net in one of their cozy cabins, right on the lake. All I wanted to do was relax in the shade, read a book and take a break from the fog in the City. The Edgewater is located in Soda Bay, a protected cove on the lake, surrounded by Mt. Konocti, which cools off the warm days in the early evenings during spectacular sunsets. Mount Konocti is a volcano, at 4,305 feet (1,312 m), it is the second highest peak in the Clear Lake Volcanic Field, which consists of numerous volcanic domes and cones ranging from 10,000 to 2.1 million years old.

From the right vantage point, four of the peaks that make up Mount Konocti look like a giant woman reclining on the shores of Clear Lake. Mount Konocti has five distinctive peaks: Wright Peak (4,299 feet/1,310 metres), Howard Peak (4,286 feet/1,306 metres), South Peak (4,286 feet/1,306 metres), Buckingham Peak (3,967 feet/1,209 metres) and Clark Peak  (2,880 feet/880 metres).

Mount Konocti probably first erupted some 350,000 years ago and last erupted 10,000 years ago. The name “Konocti” is derived from the Pomo “kno”, mountain, and “htai”, woman. The mountain is covered with heavy concentrations of chaparral similar to the European maquis shrubland. Oak, Pacific madrone, manzanita, western white pine and other plant species of the California coastal mountains dominate the area. On the northeast slope of Mount Konocti is a steep, heavily forested area known locally  as the “Black Forest”, because it never gets direct sunshine. The Black Forest contains heavy stands of Douglas fir.

Local people have long known that Konocti is riddled with natural caves. Although most of the natural caves collapsed or were filled in for safety in the early 20th century, persistent local belief holds that Konocti’s central magma chamber is a vast, empty vertical cavern, partly filled with Clear Lake water and connecting with the lake via an underground seep. This cavern might be the largest on Earth, though its existence is difficult to prove due to the unstable and eroding structure of the volcano’s cone. Heavy vegetation also conceals cave entrances.

Pomo legend has it that around the year 1818, after a long drought, the level of Clear Lake dropped so low that a previously-unknown
cave on the eastern flank of Konocti was exposed. A group of Pomo men entered the cave, and discovered a vast underground lake,
containing “eyeless fish”. Repeated attempts by divers to locate this cave have been unsuccessful.

The Edgewater (Tel: 707-279-0208) is also close to the “Konocti Harbor Resort & Spa”. www.konoctiharbor.com It is famous for star gazing of a different sort: The Indoor Joe Mazzola Classic Concert Showroom and The Outdoor Konocti Field Amphitheatre play host to nearly 100 shows per year, by some of the biggest names in music. Visit the lodge and see the pictures of all the famous musicians that have played here in the past decades, it’s quite amazing. Next up are names like Gary Allan, The Lost BOYs, Brooks & Dunne and the Rascal Flatts. I was told, the Konocti Harbor Resort is being sold and is currently going through Escrow.

The next day, as I was having my tea on the deck of the cabin, one of the owners stopped by and we started a lovely conversation about Lake County as well as her resort. Sandra West and Lora Tell took over the resort in 1996 and immediately started renovating it. It had been at this spot for almost 100 years, and had been vacant for 15 years prior to them buying it. They invested heavily to make it more attractive, upgraded the amninities as well as put in a swimmung pool. The 5 acre site now consists of 8 cottages that sleep 4 people each, the Big House, which sleeps 12 people and has 2 kitchens and 2 bathrooms, all with A/C and fully furnished, 61 RV and tent camping sites, laundry facilities, a Clubhouse with kitchen that can seat 50 people, a launch ramp for boats, 30 boat slips and and a 230 ft fishing pier. It is also Pet friendly.

She offered to give me a little tour of her resort and I gladly accepted. During the tour, she continued to explain, that in their first year of operations, they had problems with Hydrilla plants and Algae. The next year, their resort was flooded during the so called “100 year flood”. With the help of a low interest loan from the Small Business Administration they kept going, improving their facilities each year. In 2008, the Northern California fires in the adjacent counties kept tourists away and this year, the Algae has been worse than in the past 10 years, in part caused by a 3 year draught.

International tourists from Europe, who are travelling through California in their rented Rv’s, find them through their extensive website,
which they started as one of the first businesses in the region in the late 90′s. www.edgewaterresort.net

Through all these difficult years, they continue to attract guests from around the world, and 60% are repeat customers. They specialize
in family reunions and Groups. We ended our tour in the office and small shop and before I went back to my cabin, Sandra said something
that I find worth repeating here.

“It’s always been challenging as a small business owner and events like floods, algae or fires are out of our control. It has only made
us more committed to our business and we want to continue to provide a pleasurable and relaxing vacation spot for our guests in those few vacation days that most people have. We continue to be optimistic about this beautiful lake, as well as Lake County.”

As I walked back to my cabin, I thought that it would be fun to come up with a group of friends and spend a few days days here relaxing and having fun.

Happy Travels,
Gila Beckermann

BuzzyVoyager.com