SHASTA LAKE

'Shasta Lake' is a reservoir created by the building of Shasta Dam in California, USA. Shasta Lake is the 3rd largest lake in California, after Lake Tahoe and the Salton Sea, with a capacity of 4,552,000 acre-feet (5.6 km³). 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 ft. 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.