JANUARY 10, 2007:
In spite of heavy winds recorded with the last snow storm, no
fallen tree or significant damage was noted on today's patrol. One cabin has a
boathouse door open and the owner will be notified. The lake is frozen, but
continue to exercise caution whenever you visit during the winter. Our current snow pack
is just under three feet, and this week's predicted storm failed to materialize.
Keep track of Echo Lake / Echo Peak snow pack at:
ECHO
PEAK SNOWPACK - U.S.
GOVERNMENT SITE
SUMMARY 2005-2006:
Jim did our first, full, cabin patrol in late November. No
cabin intrusion or damage was discovered (although we are aware of two episodes
of animal intrusion that occurred in mid-late October). We will carry out patrols throughout the
winter, with emphasis on post-storm timing and/or if we hear of any problems in
the vicinity. Jim Drennan, David Durein, William Demus, Carl Einarsson and
Tom will be doing patrols this winter.
JANUARY and FEBRUARY: Again, no cabin damage noted on
the latest patrols.
MARCH and APRIL:
Again, no cabin damage noted on our latest patrols.
There is an extremely heavy and dense snow pack
on Echo Lakes Road and around the South Shore cabins. A Mountain
Democrat article this week reports 198% snow pack / water content at
Echo Summit. The lake is still
solidly frozen. Unless we have a run of warm weather (hopefully with some
rain) it is very unlikely that we will be open for Memorial Day. We will
re-evaluate the situation just before the ELA meeting on May 6th. (See
below)
Echo Lake 4-22-06
Past and Future Crew
Cabins in April 2006
MAY 4th UPDATE:
Following a week of warm weather
there has been some snow pack reduction in the Echo Lakes area.
Nevertheless, what remains is significantly above normal for this time of year,
and this includes a heavy build up in front of the Chalet and around the
boathouse.
Whether we can successfully plow in
for Memorial Day remains problematic, and heavy water inflow into Echo Lakes
will delay the placing of flashboards by E.I.D. This is reminiscent of last year
when we had unloaded the boathouse but could safely leave boats in the
harbor due to low water levels.
Echo Road and Berkeley Camp Spur
Echo Road Cabin 5-4-06
Good Company
We will update the website on a
weekly basis until we have a firm opening date in mind.
Jim, Jen and Bella on patrol
As usual, we will inform individual cabin owners of any
problems discovered on winter patrol.
DECEMBER 2005 - FEBRUARY
2006
Mostly good news:
We were blessed with mild weather for most of the end-of-season closure
activities. There were, however, a couple of impressive
windstorms which caused damage to boats in the finger-pier area. In low-water
conditions
boats may be unable to float with the wind-induced wave action, and can bottom out in the
harbor. The waves can then wash over the stern or gunnels and sink the boat.
Watercraft may also ride under a pier and cause damage to the boat and
dock. This is a reminder to please exercise caution when docking a boat in
the spring or fall.
Sorta bad news:
With the (long-time) passing of an agrarian school calendar, we lost many crew
members before Labor Day, and were rapidly reduced to a three, then
two,
then a one-person operation. Nevertheless, we did manage to wrap up the Chalet's winterization
procedures before the Thanksgiving
holiday.
We are trying out a different pattern of winter storage for
our rental boats and multiple trailers. Hopefully the equipment will remain
secure and not sustain snow damage (we'll find out next spring). In any case, it does make the main pier much more
attractive, and less cumbersome (no trailers to
climb over). Note the (repaired) 3rd section of the boom next to the ramp. It
will be re-attached next summer.
ECHO
PEAK SNOWPACK - U.S.
GOVERNMENT SITE
Late October 2005
December 13, 2005, Thin ice
over 80% of Lower Echo
NOTE:
The El Dorado
Irrigation District (EID) has a very nice website, including on-line water level
monitoring for Project 184 (including Echo Lake). Full storage is about 1845
acre-feet (or 6 feet of water above natural run-off).
http://www.184data.org/
ELA-SPONSORED CLEANUP: AUGUST 2005:
Starting before
Echo Lakes Day (first Saturday in August) and continuing for another two weeks,
the Echo Lakes Association, in cooperation with the Chalet, carried out a
massive, lake-wide cleanup. Somewhere in the range of 150 cubic yards of
accumulated material was loaded into dumpsters for disposal. Here is a "representative"
Moby-load (note the all-volunteer crew headed up by John Oakes):
Historical
Notes - spring 2005
Mid-morning
6-20-05: Note the low water level and the sunken boat on the
Homeowner's Pier (a victim of high winds and rain on 6-17 and 6-18)
JUNE
16th
Believe it or
not, it is beginning to SNOW again at Echo (with predictions of up to one foot
accumulation)! It is quite cold and windy - looks like winter!
E.I.D.
removed some flashboards today due to concern of too rapid a rise in lake level
(they received a "high alarm" from their monitors and returned this
afternoon). The snowmelt / inflow is in the range of 300 cubic
feet/second, and our normal outflow at this time of year would be around 20-30
cfs.
Snow
coming this way 6-16-05:
To date we have
not had enough traffic to justify routine store hours. Our taxi boats have
operated in a very limited fashion, and we have not attempted passage through
the channel to Upper Echo. Given the extreme thru flow rates, the channel may
present an unacceptable risk to our large taxi boats and motors.
JUNE
17th: (Historical Note)
In
case you wondered......the weatherman was correct. Not quite a foot
deep, but still enough to remind us how the weather controls our operation. This
picture was taken at 0540 and it shows no sign of letting up.
SUNRISE
AT ECHO 6-10-05:
Echo
6-8-05 (Note the fresh snow on the roofs and docks):
LOWER ECHO 6-04-05 PM:
LOWER ECHO LAKE AND LODGE 5-20-2005
Echo Chalet
4-13-05, compare with 5-03-05:
Echo Chalet
5-3-05 Note the snow melt and open water at the Dam
2005 Picture for Cole -
Happy New Year
Recall that
we did have cabin "intrusions" this past summer, and owners were advised to take the necessary steps
to minimize wildlife attraction. Consider placing the following Fish and Game
website in your "favorites" - it will be kept current and is quite
informative: www.dfg.ca.gov/news/issues/bear.html
Winter patrol picture for Cole
(2004)
Cabin patrols are conducted by Jim Drennan,
Tom Fashinell,
David Durein, and William Demus
For
cabin-owners not on our list, I would offer the following reasons for
"signing up":
1. It only costs
$60 / year (and we intend to maintain this low rate for the foreseeable future).
2. We do on-site
minor repairs at the time of patrol (no extra charge), and will notify you
immediately if there is a need for follow-up / materials / special tools / snow-shoveling
/ etc. etc.
2. It may lower
home-owners insurance rates, if you notify your agent of the patrol service
(sort of like the discount for an alarm system).
3. We do watch
over the general area when not on formal patrol (yes, you can benefit from this
even without being on our list, but we might be more inclined to tackle an
intruder if we felt responsible for your cabin's well-being / contents
....).
4. It makes us
very uncomfortable to walk by a cabin, notice something amiss, and not report
it. In the past six years we have had several
occasions to give unsubscribed owners a "courtesy call" about problems
we have found, and those calls seemed to have fallen into a category of "no
good deed goes noticed". SO, we will
make every effort NOT to look at the cabins off the
patrol list. This is reminiscent of the military policy of
"don't ask, don't tell".
5. Last but not
least, the patrol gives Tom an excuse to get some badly needed aerobic
exercise.
IF YOU ARE
INCLINED TO SIGN-UP FOR CABIN PATROL SERVICES PLEASE E-MAIL TOM OR
KAT: echochalet-since1939@earthlink.net
. 
South-facing view above Dartmouth
Cove 12/9/03
Looking East towards the Chalet
12/9/03
See
past and current pictures in the Archive...
A reminder of our late start this
year: Lower Echo Lake as of 5-30-03
.JPG)
.JPG)
.JPG)
