This beautiful deep canyon lake near the historic town of Auburn was created by the Army Corp of Engineers back in 1939. The reservoir is long and narrow with some very steep canyon walls.Clementine is a favorite for boaters during the summer and for kayakers during the Spring and Fall. The road in is 2 miles of narrow twisty turns heading down into the deep canyon. This trip I had the bad luck to be going down as a big boat was coming up. I got to practice my very slow backing up skills, while pressed against the canyon wall. But I did ok and was soon on my way.
The water stays full at damn level with the outlet being over the top. The view of the man-made falls as the lake drops over the face is awesome.
The put in is at the bottom of the long road down and has a nice ramp for loading and unloading. The somewhat small parking area sits up the driveway from the ramp.
There are a couple of good beach spots to picnic.
At the end of the lake is a small riffle that is fun to paddle over. If you want to port over some rocks you can go a little further up the lake, and then come test your skill over the riffle coming back into the lake. It can trick you. At least one person goes over every trip up there. Thankfully, it is in very shallow water…cold…but shallow.
Being in the heart of the Auburn Rec Area there are lots of good hiking trails.
Tessie - taking a break
My paddling buddy Paul loves to come to Clementine during the winter, early in the morning to catch the mist rising. I am getting my cold weather gear together…
Paddle On
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