It's blown out. There's a creek aptly named "Mud Creek" that enters the upper McCloud River just as it enters McCloud Reservoir. Mud Creek is doing what it does best, running muddy. The source of the mud is Mt. Shasta. And, it's not mud to be exact, it's volcanic ash. So once the ash is delivered into McCloud Reservoir, the ash settles to the bottom, slowly drifting to the dam where it exits via the vent at the bottom of the dam. That vent is where the lower McCloud we all love starts. You see, the glacier on the south side of Mt. Shasta, known as Konwakiton glacier, is melting in a hurry due to a skinny or even non-existent layer of snow/ice. As the glacier recedes, the run-off from the melting glacier carves in to newly uncovered ash deposits. It's not like the waters are going to clear anytime in the next week. The Fly Shop (530) 222-3555