Recently at work we had a day trip — normally that wouldn’t be worthy of a blog post, but in this case we took a trip to place I’d not only never been to in the Bay Area, but honestly had never heard of: Lake Cabot in Castro Valley.
Lake Chabot is not a natural lake. According to the official website, it’s actually an emergency backup reservoir built in the 1870’s. It was turned into a park in the 60’s but still used as a reservoir today.
The park features a number of picnic sites with your standard wood tables and barbecue grills. At our picnic site the grills and tables were in fairly new condition. Beer and wine are officially allowed, though the park rangers didn’t bother us for bringing in hard liquor. Then again, we weren’t a particularly rowdy group — I bet they’d have used the liquor as an excuse to kick us out if we’d been troublemakers.
There are hiking and biking trails throughout the park. Apparently there’s a golf course nearby, but I didn’t get to see that. The most intriguing feature of the park is boating. They have a small pier with some kayaks, pedal boats, and a couple of motorboats for big parties. I believe you’re allowed to bring your own boat (the other BYOB?) The company that rents out the boats also has a small cafe in the park, you can take a look at their website here.
I rented a pedal boat with co-worker, and it was only $20 for an hour for the two of us, life jackets included. The photo above I took near the middle of the lake.
Now there’s one caveat here — you don’t want to get in that water. Aside from the fact that it’s kind of gross to have people swimming in a reservoir, the water is filled with toxic algae. I’m told it’s also toxic to dogs. Apparently it’s not toxic to fish though, as there were a few people out with fishing poles.
If you’re thinking of visiting Lake Chabot, I’d recommend it if the weather’s agreeable. It’s a somewhat off the beaten path destination suitable for picnics and various outdoor activities.
How to get there: it’s about a 10 minute drive from the San Leandro BART station. I wouldn’t suggest biking unless you consider yourself a hardcore cyclist, since there’s a hill and a winding road involved. If you drive your own car there’s a parking fee, so you may be better off with a taxi. That said the entrance to the place is not well marked. One co-worker told me his Lyft driver had a tough time finding it. The directions on Google Maps weren’t very clear either, so watch carefully for the sign.
