Welcome to the Visit Conroe Texas GeoTour.
Download and print your GeoTour passport and don't forget to get the code letter in each cache, complete the passport, and turn in for a commemorative coin. You may also pickup a copy of the passport at the Visit Conroe office address listed below.
Whatever time of year brings you to the area, there are numerous activities to enjoy. Get your
Visit Conroe Visitors Guide here.
Now for the Cache:
This geocache was placed with the permission and assistance of The Southern Empress Cruises.
Like most of the reservoirs in Texas, Lake Conroe was planned and constructed shortly after the record seven-year drought of the 1950s as part of a reservoir-building boom intended by state water planners to prevent a repeat of the water shortages experienced during the drought.
The headwaters of Lake Conroe, formed by the West Fork of the San Jacinto River, are located about 17 miles west of Huntsville in western Walker County. The river flows southeast for about ninety miles through Montgomery County to its confluence with the East Fork of the San Jacinto River on the northern rim of Lake Houston in northeastern Harris County.
Lake Conroe Facts
The Dam:
- Type: Earth Filled
- Year completed: 1973
- Outlet structures: two concrete outlets, one service spillway and one service outlet
- Service spillway: five gates, 40 feet wide and 30 feet high, utilized for floodwater releases.
- Service outlet: 3 gates with a 10 foot diameter conduit, utilized for releasing water downstream (Lake Houston).
- Top of dam elevation: 212 feet above mean sea level.
- Width of Dam: 2.2 miles (11,280ft)
- Maximum height: approximately 82 feet (top of dam structure)
- Maximum gate opening: approximately 20 feet per gate.
- Maximum possible release: approximately 150,000 cubic feet per second (depends on lake level during release)
- Highest gate opening in history: 14 feet per gate on August 28, 2017 (previous record was 6 feet per gate on October 19, 1994).
The Lake:
- Surface acres: 19,640.
- Watershed drainage area: Approximately 450 square miles.
- Shoreline: approximately 150 miles
- Capacity: 412,200 acre feet.
- Average depth: 20 feet.
- Normal pool elevation: 201 feet above mean sea level.
- Maximum release in history: 79,141 cubic feet per second on August 28, 2017 (previous record was 33,000 cubic feet per second on October 19, 1994).
- Flowage easement: (area we can raise the lake up to during a flood event) 207 feet above mean sea level.
- Highest level in history: 206.24 on August 28, 2017 (previous record was 205.58 on October 19, 1994).
- Lowest level in history: 192.68 (8.32 feet) on December 2, 2011 (previous record was 196.02 on January 12, 1989).
- Average bulkhead height: elevation 203 feet above mean sea level.
- Annual rainfall: average 48 inches.
- Maximum evaporation rate: approximately 180 million gallons per day.
Redeem Completed Passport:
Please email a picture of your completed passport to visitconroegeotour@gmail.com to receive your Conroe Geocoin!
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