Secchi depth readings of up to 5 meters with variations typical of these type data. The routine water chemistry of all the lakes is very similar with soft, low alkalinity water and slightly acidic pHs. The temperature of the lakes vary with altitude and time of year with Crater the coldest and Como the warmest. It is our custom to leave Denton the first Saturday after the fourth of July. There has never been a time that we have gone to the site that the ice did not break up during our stay.
Summer is very short on the mountain.
Cutthroat trout are spring spawners and we have observed them spawing in the middle of August. One of the things about the watershed that has always interested us is shown in the series of picutres which follow. The picture to the left shows a cutthroat trout from Crater Lake. The dramatic color of the entrails of the fish was a complete surprise to us and of course raised the question why. The picture below shows a cutthroat collected from Blue Lake 2 and clearly there is a difference between the two and that difference was consistent with the other lakes as well.