There's not a lot to photograph of this 3/4 acre lot... natural open space covered in typical dry "golden" grass of summer and one big oak tree. Dry hot summer days with cool nights. A couple of snow showers in the winter. On one side there's a weekend house tucked down behind a grove of trees and a full-time house on the other. What there is to see is the view... 600 feet above Clear Lake. and 1900 feet above sea level.
This property is on a big hill/small mountain called "Kono Tayee" which probably meant something to the Indians that used to live around this area. The left half above is looking south westerly at Mt. Konocti. It's actually an extinct volcano that last went off about 90,000 years ago. The right half is looking westerly and north across the lake. This area is on the outskirts of the small town of Lucerne and overlooks California's largest natural lake. [Lake Tahoe is actually bigger but its partly in Nevada so it doesn't count.]
The lake is named "Clear Lake" and it's in Lake County which is east of Mendocino County and north of Sonoma and Napa Counties. Don't confuse Clear Lake with the town of Clearlake (Indian, meaning something like "where the white trash live and where WalMart is") on the south east corner of the lake ;-) Clear Lake isn't a deep lake like Tahoe... its actually rather shallow and apparently it is home to some of the best bass fishing in North America. Because it isn't too deep, this lake doesn't stay cool in the hot summer months and, well, it isn't all that clear.
This property is about 150 miles and 2.5 hours drive north of San Francisco. Clear Lake itself is about 18 miles long but less than 0.5 mi wide at "The Narrows" - its mid-point (The Narrows is just to the left of pic #1 above where Kono Tayee almost joins the Buckingham peninsula. The upper part of the lake (seen in the 2nd pic above) is about 8 miles across.
The Kono Tayee Heights subdivision where this land sits contains about 135 parcels and was built around 1966. But for whatever reason this mountainside never really caught on until the last 5 years or so.. Compared to Lake Tahoe, Clear Lake has a reputation as being "that place full of mobile homes and white trash". And that's what I thought the first time I drove the 68 miles around the lake back in 1998. Since then Clear Lake seems to have been discovered as weekend property in Tahoe, Napa and Somona reached stratospheric prices. A few years ago the Highway 20 corridor around the north shore of the lake was designated an economic development district and some nice changes are starting to happen. Many of the mobile homes ringing the lake have been disappearing as the area cleans up its act. Several of the quaint lodges around the lake with their tiny cabins left over from the 30's and 40's are now being restored. And the Konocti Harbor Resort & Spa has expanded and reinvented itself with a 5,000 seat lakefrint ampitheater and decent list of concert performers like Journey, Crosby Stills & Nash and Brooks & Dunn. Even the LA TImes did a story about Lake County on May 23, 2004.
Lake County has traditionally been blanketed with bartlett pear orchards, but now the dark red volcanic soils around much of the Lake have been discovered by vintners. Now that Napa and Sonoma appelations are planted to their maximum, its not too hard to imagine that Lake County appelation is drawing attention too. And grapes are beginning to blanket the distant hillsides overlooking the lake. The swank new Ceago Del Lago organic/biodynamic winery & visitor center - from the creater of Fetzer Vineyard - is about 5 miles away and it looks like it should be opening soon.
It's really difficult to capture the view from up here. It's practically panoramic... I won't have to worry about someone building in front of me and blocking my view or my sunshine!
Looking at it the other way - up the hill from about halfway down to the lake on Vera Drive - you can see that the red "cliff house" next door isn't an architectural treasure :-)
Finally, here's the USGS map showing the topography with the neighborhood overlayed. The black dot on the lot is roughly where the big oak tree is on the property. You can see that its not very far to the lake although it is a steep hilside. And even with highway 20 runing along the base of the hill I haven't heard any road noise up top.
Compared to San Francisco, Lake County and its employees seem to go out of their way to be helpful over the phone. Heck, they actually answer their phones!
Looking towards the house next door and the view (taken in January when the hills are bright green):
The view from the empty lot on the east side of the red house:
Details:
