The city of Kamloops is located a few miles east of the head of the lake, at the confluence of the North and South Thompson Rivers.

It is classified as dry belt interior grasslands, Semi-arid desert, as it is in the rain shadow of the Coast Mountain Range, averaging only 10 inches of total precipitation a year.

The limnology of the lake is controlled by the Thompson River, which has high fluctuations in annual flow, with over 60% occurring in the early summer during freshet (May to July).

Consequently, rare sandy beach areas expand by as much as 200 feet (61 m) in the summer as lake levels recede in July and August.

At the East end of the lake are the remains of Tranquille, a Tuberculosis Sanitorium, built in 1907 & finally closed in 1983; limited day use only access to the lakeshore exists here.