Lake Travis - Definition and Overview

Lake Travis is an artificial lake on the Colorado River in central Texas in the United States. Lake Travis has the largest storage capacity of the seven artificial lakes known as the Highland Lakes. Formed on the Colorado by the Mansfield Dam on the western edge of Austin, it stretches 65 mi (105 km) upriver from western Travis County in a highly serpentine cause into southern Burnet County to Starcke Dam, southwest of Marble Falls.

The Pedernales River, a tributary of the Colorado, flows into the lake from the southwest in western Travis County.

Because of its volume, the lake serves as the primary flood control reservoir of the Highland Lake chain. The level of the lake can therefore vary dramatically, depending on the amount of rainfall in the Colorado River basin upstream. Despite this the lake furnishes one of the most desired locations in the region for outdoor recreation, including fishing, boating, swimming, picnicing and camping. Among the parks along the lake is Hippie Hollow Park, a county park of Travis County, the only clothing-optional public park in Texas.

Facts

• Location: On the Colorado River northwest of Austin in Travis and Burnet counties
• Size: 18,930 acres
• Capacity: 369 billion gallons
• Maximum Depth: 190 feet

See also

• Town Lake
• Lake Austin
• Lake Marble Falls
• Lake LBJ
• Inks Lake
• Lake Buchanan

External links

• Lake Travis - Texas Parks & Wildlife (http://www.tpwd.state.tx.us/fish/infish/lakes/travis/lake_id.htm)
• LCRA Website (http://www.lcra.org/water/mansfield.html)