Assinica Lake

Content sourced from Wikipedia, licensed under CC BY-SA 3.0.

Assinica Lake is a large freshwater lake in Quebec, Canada, located in the Nord-du-Québec region within the Eeyou Istchee James Bay area. It lies at the headwaters of the Assinica River and feeds into the Broadback River system.

Inflows and outflow:
- Inflows come from Caplan Lake (via the southeast), from a group of lakes including Mair, Olmstead, Lagnel, Gaulin and Charlie, and from Comencho Lake (from the east, which receives water from Waposite, Cachisca and Opataca).
- The main outflow from Assinica Lake forms the Assinica River.

Basic features:
- Maximum length: about 20.6 km; maximum width: about 11.3 km
- Surface area: about 93 km2; surface elevation: 359 m
- The lake has a complex shape with many bays, peninsulas and about 100 islands. There are several wetlands nearby, especially to the east.
- It is connected to Caplan Lake on the south side. Lookout Hill to the south rises to 459 m, and a southwest peak reaches 513 m. The mouth is on the northwest side.
- The four central islands include one up to about 5.8 km long.

Name and protection:
- The Cree origin of the name “Assinica” is linked to Asinikaw, meaning something like “filled with stones.” It has also appeared as Assinika or Assinika on older maps.
- The lake is surrounded by the Assinica Wildlife Refuge, covering about 8,885 km2.
- The name lac Assinica was formalized on December 5, 1968.

Economy and access:
- The area is mainly forested, with forestry as the primary economic activity and recreational tourism as a secondary activity.
- The nearest forest road is about 61 km southeast, near Mount Opémisca. This road connects Route 113 between Lebel-sur-Quévillon and Chibougamau and the Canadian National Railway.
- The lake usually freezes from early November to mid-May, with safe ice in the late fall to mid-spring.