Cherry Lake

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Cherry Lake is a lake in central Tuolumne County, California in the Stanislaus National Forest, about 25 miles east of the city of Sonora. It is at an elevation of 4,700 on the western side of the Sierra Nevada. The lake has a capacity of 273,500 acre feet and is formed by Cherry Valley Dam on Cherry Creek. The dam is composed of earth and rock-fill and has a height of 315 feet above the original streambed. It was built by San Francisco City and County and was completed in 1956. The lake stores water for the Hetch Hetchy Project, which supplies drinking water to San Francisco. Recreation available at the lake includes, boating, skiing, swimming and fishing. Human contact with the water is allowed because the water has to be filtered anyway. Water from the lake powers the Dion R. Holm Power Plant, a 165-MW hydroelectric facility.

The East and West forks of Cherry Creek combine just a couple of miles before reaching the lake, while the North Fork joins the East Fork about 10 miles earlier. All three forks begin in the Emigrant Wilderness and all of them flow roughly southwest. The North Fork's source is Emigrant Lake, which is at an elevation of 8,800 feet. The East Fork's source is a couple of miles southwest of the Mono County line and flows into Huckleberry Lake several miles later. The East and North forks meet several miles downstream of the lake. There are no lakes on the West Fork. Eleanor Creek, which forms Lake Eleanor, flows into Cherry Creek several miles downstream from Cherry Valley Dam. Lake Eleanor is another Hetch Hetchy Project facility. Cherry Creek flows into the Tuolumne River several miles later.