Clearlake,Ca. Up and Coming into its own! (Sacramento, Santa Cruz: camp, place to live)

[FresnoFacts]

Originally Posted by BayAreaHillbilly

IIRC Champlain is not entirely in the US, part is in Canada. Excluding that and the Great Lakes, as well as man made lakes, I would have thought Tahoe was larger than Clear. Are there others?

I believe Flathead Lake in Montana is the largest natural freshwater lake west of the Mississippi.

[huntman58]

Clear Lake, the largest natural lake entirely within California. That should help clear things up a bit.

Now as for living there .I did check out the area and I was shocked to say the lest. I had not been in the area for years and what I saw was not the same as I had seen in years gone by. The changes were not for the good I am sad to say but the potential is still there. I will add it is not the drugs or that element that changed the area I saw as that is only an effect of the change but what I saw was poverty as in having less to live on then what it takes so the upkeep and repair of buildings lose out over the needs of day to day living. How sad I may still end up moving to the area as that is still up in the air because of a job deal but I do feel it is a gem of the state waiting for a rebirth. I only hope that in it they can and will also save its old charm from years past and keep in mind its natural wonders and the asset they are now and will still be. I pray the politicians keep that all in mind and do not get greedy and push things to fast and to far were the infrastructure that is left can not handle it because for growth in a good way to happen that is were it must start and then be controlled from there on out!
Well that’s my thoughts on seeing it years ago and now again in the summer of 2009.

[belovedservant]

Thank you mrsltd for this great report! I was raised in Lake county, mostly Cobb Mt, have lived in Lakeport and Nice when I was young raising kids, couldn't wait to get out of there.
Now I am close to retirement, and have been living in Upstate NY for over 10 years, and want to move back to Lake county. I was looking at Lake County's Official site and all the pictures and things to do, and saw that the weather can't be beat, no humidity like Florida, rarely gets down to 30's in winter, NY gets below 0 and no fog, sunny most of the whole year.
Lake county as a whole has done a wonderful job of changing the whole look with wineries, and refurbishing many of the old resorts, creating new hotels and resturants and so much to do and see, tours festivals and of course much in the way of fishing and water sports.
People from Sonoma county have begun moving in.
I have not lived in clear Lake, but will be transferring with Walmart, so I have a job until I retire.
What people saw in 2006 on the forum has changed a lot since then for the good.

But some people are not happy anywhere, it isn't a place for young people that like to go clubbing or like large malls but it is a good place to retire.

[grimstuff]

The negatives: poor infrastructure, (improving) there is a drug element, but the police force is large (1 officer for about every 300 people), The lake does have some natural mercury and every year at the end of summer there is an algae in the lake that dies, this causes that awful odor of decaying organic matter, however this washes out within the month and leaves the lake fresh...it is a natural lake so this is the way it lives.

The mercury in Clear Lake is from mining tailings, and is not "naturally occurring" in that the mercury wouldn't be there if it wasn't for past mining activity. And the mercury is too high to eat fish from the lake, so I'd say that's a pretty devastating contamination.

However, I appreciate your positive tone for Clearlake, a town that has previously had very little going for it. I'm pretty familiar with the area, since I had a delivery route around the lake for years. Do you think the drug problem has gotten appreciably better? I think the best thing for the town is to get more transplants in there from Santa Rosa area. It's just been too entrenched for too long with the same people who have nothing and perpetuate the drug and poverty stricken culture.

[nmnita]

Originally Posted by eureka1

I'ts already becoming a bedroom community for Santa Rosa/Petaluma.

amazing, I remember when Petaluma and Santa Rosa were nothing, let alone areas that would have a bedroom community..Times do change, don't they?

Nita

[lrmsd]

There are also hotsprings and holistic communities cropping up [besides harbin,that has been there for years and years....]. So it does appeal for permaculture/organics,etc. definitely a cross section of the population.
Sadly,noone seems to try to work together-ie,create a local holistic low cost or free clinic for lake county locals who need healthcare,etc.
Instead,you seem to have people who create their own bubble,and then complain that obama can't get national healthcare passed. [just an example of people not concentrating on developing local infrastructre-and you find this everywhere there is 'gentrification',urban or rural. don't want to get into healthcare,it's just an example].
think globally act locally isnt quite happening yet,for those that would claim to be a global village.
That aside,meth is a problem that isn't going away from the US anytime soon,and it is hard to make inroads when the problem continues to grow. At least there is no MJ industry like mendo and humboldt. That's a whole other underground economy that creates it's own issues. (and no,I am not talking about use of the plant,i am talking about the industry and it's effects on regional economies). Or does CL/Lake has that,as well?

[Shope]

Clearlake was pretty dirty...er, not so clear last time I saw it. I hope they clean it up.

[freewest]

How is the climate there? I read about mild winter temps, but is it drizzly/rainy like most of the Pacific northwest? Does it get any snow? Are summers dry with low humidity? How hot does it get? I am just curious.

[grimstuff]

Originally Posted by freewest

How is the climate there? I read about mild winter temps, but is it drizzly/rainy like most of the Pacific northwest? Does it get any snow? Are summers dry with low humidity? How hot does it get? I am just curious.

HOT and DRY in the summer. It gets very hot, in the triple digits, every year, sometimes more than a month at a time. In the winter, wet and cool, like the rest of Northern California. No snow... maybe a half inch every couple of years. Unless you're up in Cobb Mountain area.

[tyka35]

Of course the Mercury is "naturally occuring"... If it wasn't, there wouldn't have ever been mines in the first place. But of course the mining therefore made it worse.