baynature.org—your portal to nature nearby APRIL–JUNE 2013 BayNaturAN EXPLORATION OF NATURE IN THE SAN FRANCISCO BAY e AREA The Wild Side of Clear Lake Tune in to Nature Sounds The Art and Science of Tracking Kids Help Study Climate Change Pedro Point Transformed $5.95 on the trail the on on the trail While you’re watching the grebes, keep an eye out for osprey and bald eagles. The eagles prey on grebes and other waterbirds, so watch for them perched in the trees in the grebe nesting areas, looking for an easy meal. Ospreys don’t prey on birds, but they’ve learned that where there are grebes, there are abundant fish. At the county park, look for the huge osprey nest, where you can often see a pair tending to their young. A family of river otters also lives nearby, and white pelicans are a common sight on the lake at the mouth of Adobe Creek. The Water Trails “Things have changed a lot up at Clear Lake. I’ve noticed things about kayaking, wildlife areas. None of that existed when I was there madesonphotography.com before.” Julie Donnelly-Nolan taking a dip in clear lake (above) Clear Lake at dawn, from Lakeside County Park in Lakeport. Mount Konocti is on the right, and the mountains looking birds is on the water from Long usgs geologist who mapped beyond mark Mendocino National Forest’s southern end. Tule Point to Adobe Creek, where several the area in the 1970s and 80s IN THE CLEAR (below) Mating grebes engage in the “weed dance,” where thousand of them nest in spring and early they present each other with nest-building materials. summer. A great way to observe them is Clear Lake’s network of seven water by Terry Knight The Birds (below right) Ospreys nest at several locations along the from a kayak or other small, quiet boat trails is the brainchild of Holly Harris shores of the lake and can often be seen diving for fish near launched at the Lakeside County Park, and Charles Lamb, a husband-and-wife rafts of grebes. “Every day on the lake is an adventure. One only a short paddle away team who moved to Lake County in day I will see a flight of white pelicans gliding from the nesting area. 2000 and founded Konocti Regional We’ve thought about doing a piece on Clear Lake Terry Knight is an outdoor adventure over the water and the next day there will be Western grebes are Trails in 2007. Harris says Clear Lake is for a long time: It’s a wildlife magnet just over enthusiast who’s lived on the lake for 25 years and grebes doing their mating dance along with an known for their spec- ideal for water trails because there are 11 two hours from our office in Berkeley, and yet writes an outdoors column and feature stories on osprey grabbing a fish. In my opinion it is one tacular springtime relatively few Bay Area nature lovers ever visit. the area’s environment for the Lake County of the most dynamic lakes in the world.” courtship dance. The madesonphotography.com You might imagine that Clear Lake was Record-Bee. He sent us a few vignettes Greg Giusti male approaches the named for the clarity of its water. Not so. It that capture several of his favorite places University of California scientist female and does a series turns out that early European settlers named around the lake, though he makes it clear there of dips with his head. this lake for the clarity of the region’s air, which are many more to be explored. Clear Lake is home to more than 300 She responds with like today remains some of the best around. Before the Dan Rademacher, Editorial Director species of birds, from eagles and osprey dips and then they run Europeans named the lake, the local Pomo people overhead to grebes and mergansers across the surface of the called it Lypoyomi, or Big Water. And so it is: on the water and egrets and herons water with their necks Clear Lake covers 44,000 acres and its shoreline along the shore. At one time it was arched in perfect unison, stretches 110 miles. That makes it the largest estimated that the lake’s popula- finally diving underwater freshwater lake entirely inside California. tion of western grebes exceeded at exactly the same And that’s not the lake’s only superlative. It’s 50,000. You can spot them from moment. During also the oldest lake in the state and possibly the just about anwhere on the lake, but this maneuver, called oldest in North America. The region sits at the the best place to see these elegant- “rushing,” the birds edge of a large volcanic field, and constant tectonic race across the water so Mount Konocti rises behind old pilings on a misty movement has kept Clear Lake from filling in fast they appear to be morning at Clear Lake. The mountain, which tops with sediment for two million years. out at 4,305 feet, is a dormant volcano. hydroplaning. madesonphotography.com madesonphotography.com 12 bay nature april–june 2013 april–june 2013 bay nature 13 Courtesy Konocti Regional Trails on the trail the on trail the on This water trail covers the Soda Bay 1,500 acres and turned it into Mount Mount Konocti’s five peaks. The summit Lake. Mount Konocti is accessed off area, where volcanic gases still bubble Konocti County Park. offers an excellent view of Clear Lake, Konocti Road in Kelseyville. Download to the surface, evidence of the region’s Though it’s quiet now, eruptions and on clear days you can see Snow maps of the water trails and Mount Ko- restless geology. Though Clear Lake is started here about 350,000 years ago and Mountain to the north, Mount St. nocti atkonoctitrails.com. For Clear Lake quite shallow, averaging 15 feet in the happened as recently as 10,000 years ago. Helena to the south, and even all the State Park, call (707)279-4293 or visit north end and 25 feet in the south end, Konocti’s five peaks are the cones that way northeast to Mount Lassen. clearlakestatepark.org. For information Soda Bay has several vent holes that are resulted from a series of nonexplosive on kayak rentals and accommodations, reportedly more than 100 feet deep. The eruptions and lava flows. Getting There: call the Lake County Visitor Informa- water temperature near these vents is The four-mile hike to the summit From the Bay Area take Highway 101 tion Center at (800)525-3743. often more than 20 degrees warmer than starts at a parking lot halfway up the north to Ukiah and go east on Highway the surrounding bay. Geologists theorize mountain. The trail is a dirt road used 20 to Clear Lake, or turn on 175 at Hop- Terry Knight writes about fishing and the outdoors that the warm water is coming from by technicians to access the cell phone land for a shorter, curvier ride. From for the Lake County Record Bee, and he also beneath nearby Mount Konocti, a towers that dot the peak. But there’s Sacramento, take Interstate 5 north to serves on the Lake County Fish and Wildlife Advisory dormant volcano. some wildness here, including a grove Williams and Highway 20 west to Clear Committee and the Clear Lake Invasive Species Council. of canyon oaks, some believed to be Visitor Clear Lake a Center l more than 500 years old. And some u State Park s A n L E R C L A K i Clear Lake and Vicinity P E n The Mountain more recent history as well: In the e P P middle of the grove of oaks, turn down m Dorn Henderson a Nature h Soda Bay Point g Trail n “We envision a trail from Clear Lake State a dirt road to see the cabin built in 1903 to Ukiah i k Mendocino Big Soda 502 c u Park to the top of Mount Konocti.” by a homesteading widow who used B Middle Creek National Forest Spring 20 Upper Lake Charles Lamb a mirror to signal a greeting to her to 29 S o Kayakers on Rodman Slough (Water Trail 7). Clear Lake d a Little Borax Lake Tule R B Water Loop 7). The trail, located at the Konocti Regional Trails daughter in Lakeport, 10 miles away. o ay Rd has become a kayaking destination since the creation d Lake m a n north end of the lake, is about eight Retired park ranger Tom Nixon, now a of a network of water trails, from Rodman Slough in S l o u g the north to Anderson Marsh in the south. miles round trip from the launching area Overlooking Clear Lake is majestic volunteer hike docent, likes to demon- h Buckingham Peak Nice i at the bridge that crosses the mouth of 4,300-foot Mount Konocti, whose name strate the process, flashing a mirror and ct o n Cutoff 20 BLM free public boat ramps (find maps at the slough. The entire water trail is is derived from the Pomo words kno, for receiving a reply from another volunteer Nice-Lucerne o K Rodman Slough BLM t konoctitrails.com/water-trail-loops). protected from the lake’s often-strong mountain, and htai, for woman. The in town. Trail County Park Rd M d “We created the water trails primarily winds and showcases a wide variety of summit, privately owned since the 1800s, Traveling back on the main road you v 29 l Hiking Wright Peak B Konocti Lucerne 4,286' e for kayakers because kayaks have a low birds and wildlife, including a large blue was mostly inaccessible to the public hike another two miles to Wright Peak.