What To Google
Google San Pablo Reservoir, when you find the park, you’ll see there is a nearby marker, the Children’s Playground.

Directions From Richmond, Albany, El Cerrito
From highway 80, get off at San Pablo Dam Rd. Once you pass the kennedy Grove Regional Recreation Area, start looking to your left for the entrance to San Pablo Reservoir Park. A kiosk is now charging visitors $7. (dogs are $3). Pass the intersection with the Old San Pablo Dam Rd. and park at the first parking lot you see. Look for a children’s playground, where we’ll meet.

Directions From Oakland, Emeryville and San Leandro
Take Highway 13 north and 24 to the east. In Orinda, get off highway 24 to take Camino Pablo to the northwest, which turns into San Pablo Dam Rd. You will find the San Pablo Reservoir Park entrance to your right on San Pablo Dam Rd, sometime after you reach El Sobrante. A kiosk is now charging visitors $7. (dogs are $3). Pass the intersection with the Old San Pablo Dam Rd. and park at the first parking lot you see. Look for a children’s playground, where we’ll meet.

Description

This lake is full of water views and recreational opportunities. It draws less of a crowd, perhaps because of the $7 entry fee. No swimming is allowed - we won’t hear the squeals of children playing in the water. It is also a great spot for watching wildlife, and EBMUD indeed promises “flocks of white pelicans, geese, ducks, and shorebirds.” Along the trails, “upland species such as wild turkey, quail and dove, plus predators such as eagles, osprey, hawks, and owls.” According to the reviews, we need to be on the lookout for deer, otters, coyote, and bobcats,” and a woman staffing the desk inside the store named Marci. Dogs have to be on a leash, but they are allowed pretty much everywhere.

History

This man-made reservoir was built in 1919 along with dam made of earth at the El Sobrante end of the reservoir. Its water is pumped to the town of Kensington. There is another reservoir you can see if you look down from Tilden Park, It is the Briones Reservoir. EBMUD owns everything including the parks bordering the lake. Apparently, an earthquake can cause serious damage to the dam, which is why, in 2008 the water level was lowered 35 feet and the dam was seismically retrofitted without going out of commission “by mixing concrete into the soil at the toe of the dam.”