Does anyone know of any small lakes in northern California that freezes and is isolated in the winter? Maybe a resort or something.
There are many, although Donner Lake is the first one that comes to my mind. It freezes over occasionally, and while it's not terribly isolated -- it's right off I-80, near the small town of Truckee and several ski resorts -- I think there are still parts of it that could work. I'm assuming you've heard of the Donner Party, in which case you know the lake's history, which could add to your story. (If not, the short version is that a group of pioneers were snowed in at the lake in winter 1846/47, and a small number of them had to resort to cannibalism until they were rescued.) If you want a lesser known lake, I'd just use Google Maps to find any lake in the same general vicinity of the Sierras that's the same size or smaller than Donner.
I have heard about the Donner party before and now it or rather you have given me a direction on what to write about. not cannibalism, but the history will take a part in it- thanks
Northern California is pretty far south for freezing lakes except at very high elevations I would think. With high elevation it is doubtful that you would have a resort. Down here in Georgia they call anything larger than a mud puddle a lake it seems but I think of them as ponds and never have understood what the differentiating factor is. Do you need the whole lake to freeze or just the edges? Edges only probably increases the odds of freezing a lake surface at altitudes below 10,000' by quite a bit.
I was hoping for most of the lake but it seems I may have to scrap the idea or at least move the idea to a now location other then Cali. nothing a few changes won't fix.
Castle Lake is a good choice. The name is short, generic, memorable; the lake itself is in Northern California and freezes over to where people ice fish. Castle Lake is strong, mysterious, and meets your request. "In the winter, in addition to cross-country skiing and snow-shoeing along the trails in the area, the lake will ice over and ice fishing is a common activity.[16]" --https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Castle_Lake_%28California%29 Edit: The same Wikipedia page shows that there are three other lakes near by: two of which have words I can spell. Heart Lake and Little Castle Lake. Below is Heart Lake description, found on a Mt. Shasta blog. http://hikemtshasta.com/trinity-divide-trails/heart-lake-trail/ "High above Castle Lake (is) diminutive Heart Lake" (is added). Thanks for considering. ~#A
Almost all of the ski resorts here in Northern California are at elevation. Boreal is a very popular (i.e. overcrowded) ski resort only 5 miles from Donner Lake -- the resort is at 7,200 feet, whereas the lake is only at 6,000. And I know that Donner Lake does completely freeze over every few winters... Just in 2013, people were ice skating across it, and lounging on furniture they had slid out to the middle of it. There are numerous smaller lakes in this area, and I'd assume almost any of them would freeze over unless they were significantly deeper.
