Lake Elsinore

Lake Elsinore is a natural freshwater lake in Riverside County, California, located east of the Santa Ana Mountains and fed by the San Jacinto River. Originally named Laguna Grande by Spanish explorers, it was renamed for the town of Elsinore, now Lake Elsinore, established on its northeastern shore on April 9, 1888.

Limnology

Lake Elsinore is the largest natural freshwater lake in Southern California. With its own 750-mi² (1,900-km²) watershed, it is situated at the lowest point within the San Jacinto River watershed of 750 sq mi (1,900 km²), at the terminus of the San Jacinto River. It is the terminal lake of a partially closed basin called the San Jacinto Basin.

Lake levels are healthy at 1,244 ft (379 m) (above sea level) with a volume of 30,000 acre·ft (37,000,000 m³) that often fluctuates, although much has been done recently to prevent the lake from drying up, flooding, or becoming stagnant.

At 1,255 ft (383 m), the lake will spill into the outflow channel on its northeastern shore, known properly as Temescal Wash, flowing northwest through Temescal Canyon and feeding Alberhill Creek, which joins Temescal Creek, which in turn dumps into the Santa Ana River just northwest of Corona.