Reflecting on Almanor

It wasn't glassy, but close. Lots to reflect on while driving along the East Shore of Lake Almanor yesterday. I grew up in New England where virtually all lakes had natural shorelines with forests or meadows blending into the shorelines. When I first came to the West where most lakes are impoundments I really missed New England. I landed in Yuba City from where it was a long day's trip to Lake Tahoe or Eagle Lake, the closest I could get to that northern New England feeling. Tahoe is almost natural, with that little dam at Tahoe City regulating the water level a bit. Clear Lake is never clear, so that one was never of interest to me. I had no urge to catch prize-winning, Mercury-laden fish, although the pea-green algae water in later summer was intriguing to one who had just finished graduate studies in biology. Eagle Lake was best. The lake straddles the Sierra crest so there's dense forest on one end and Great Basin-type high desert on the other. Also, that lake is big enough to sport some exciting weather with waves that can sink a small boat.
I realize Almanor is an impoundment, and that brings out my negative bias. But its water level is regulated somewhat by PG&E, so if one doesn't look too closely, it has some of the aesthetic qualities of a "real" lake. While I enjoyed the reflections on this particular day, I also reflected on the Native American villages that were displaced in order to build this lake. Depressing. I managed to leave this site in a light-hearted mood as I reflected on the story of the Clampers who commemorated the original site of Prattville by dropping a plaque into the lake above it.
I never tire of looking at Lassen Peak, no matter what my immediate surroundings might be.
I'm getting impatient waiting for the emergence of shoreline wildflowers.