Nicholas Lake

Photo taken October 1987. Nicholas lake is a Chara bench lake. Note the shallow chara bench in foreground.

• T43N R36E Sec. 10G

• Elevation approx. 2660 ft msl (810.8 m msl)

• Surface area 2 acres (0.8 ha) calculated (Wolcott, 1973)

• Maximum depth 34 ft (10.4 m) (sounded May 9, 1987)

• Watershed -- Inchelium

Nicholas Lake is a small lake of approximately 2 acres located about 12 miles north of Inchelium on the west slope of Stanley Mountain at an elevation of about 2660 feet. The basin is surrounded by hills covered with a mixed forest of Pinus ponderosa, Larix occidentalis, Amelanchier alnifolia, Holodiscus discolor, Acer glabrum, Pseudotsuga menziesii, Abies grandis, Populus tremuloides, Alnus sp., Salix sp., Lonicera sp., Rosa sp., and Symphoricarpus albus. An intermittent stream drains the lake to the southwest toward Barnaby Creek. Nicholas Lake is elongate with extensive shallow areas occupied by light green marly Chara and old drowned trees, with patches of Potamogeton berchtoldii, Ceratophyllumdemersum, and Myriophyllum exalbescens interspersed. Calcium carbonate precipitation by Chara forms an extensive shallow bench around the lake. Surrounding the deep (10.4 m) portion at the northeast end of the lake is a broken ring of floating islands of Scirpus sp., and Typha sp.