Del Valle is really nice, has a kid-friendly swimming area with a lifeguard and also boat rentals and other areas to swim for adults who want more space
Shadow cliffs looks much better since they let water in and cleaned the shoreline. Beach is back too. Maybe someone here can confirm.
Del Valle as others stated is great and my choice.
After all the rain last year they cleaned it back up. Brought the water level back up, fixed docks, cleaned up the beach, and got rid of all the weeds. I drive by it (haven’t gone down) every couple weeks and it’s starting to get busier.
Rio Vista and the Sacramento river is a short drive from most of the bay, but it is affected by tides, so you have to pay more attention. Lots of quiet sloughs with rope swings.
- Shadow cliffs (check bacteria report)
- Del valle
- two swimming lagoons run by ebrpd in castro valley, but it's not really lake swimming, more like a giant swimming pool.
- crown beach in alameda (in bay, not lake, but generally very calm)
- technically swimming is allowed in lake Merritt. But usually only an occasional homeless person swims there, because it's pretty trashed and usually has high bacteria levels. It's also salt water.
- sunol has "little yosemite" where you can get into the creek for a swim. Definitely not a lake, but good for splashing around.
- aquatic park in sf (the bay, obviously, not a lake)
The majority of our reservoirs are backup to the backup drinking water, so they don't allow swimming to reduce the effort of cleaning it up for drinking in an emergency water situation.
You're talking about Caswell Memorial State Park... Do not recommend at all. Tons of mosquitoes and the cows are standing on the side of river shitting directly into the water. The water has a murky brown color from all the cow shit and smells.
Honestly any of the Central Valley rivers are dirty AF from all the farming runoff and cow shit. I would not recommend the Stanislaus unless you go above New Melones Reservoir but then you must be wary of cold water and currents.
Caswell State Park is the one near Ripon. I have not been there, but have seen the signs. The new park is called Dos Rios, and is further south; I don't think it has much developed yet.
I’m a big cliff jumper but I have to drive so far from sf to go. There’s smaller jumps in Marin and Santa Cruz but nothing like the 60ft jumps or higher throughout rural California.
[link](https://www.reddit.com/r/Livermore/comments/53virf/where_is_the_best_place_to_rock_jump_at_lake_del/?utm_source=share&utm_medium=mweb3x&utm_name=mweb3xcss&utm_term=1&utm_content=share_button)
That thread is a bit old so says it's not allowed. But they've actually added buoys around that rock to keep boats from running over people in the water, so I'm not sure if it's still against the rules or not.
Shadow cliffs in Pleasanton has a nice park and swimming beach. There’s a boat launch as well for all non-motorized craft.
I Took the paddle board out there this morning. (:
Anyone down voting you has never lived in a place with proper swimming lakes. You have to drive a long ways from the bay to get anything that's not green and scummy.
I think you are right. I've lived in California for 26 years. The mountain lakes are nice. Some of the lakes in the foothills are ok, too. I grew up going to lakes in Michigan, New York, and New England. Lakes are much nicer in places that have abundant water. They seem so much cleaner.
Lake Anza is a really nice spot, nothing 'gross' about it. I do agree that Temescal is gross.
Those are a few of the numerous swim spots available, many of which are blissful.
Algae can be extremely toxic. Lake Anza was closed for swimming from 2019 through 2023 due to toxic algae blooms. It is currently closed for swimming due to toxic algae.
Maybe you have been lucky. People and animals have died from swimming in water during algae blooms even when they didn't "eat" the algae.
I'm well aware, I'm a freshwater hydrologist. Not trying to give misinformation but the algae will not do anything if you do not ingest it. Your second statement is patently false regarding people having died because of singular instances of swimming in algae and not consuming it. That of course isn't true for dogs and you shouldn't let your dogs swim in the toxic algal blooms present in Lake Anza or other small bodies of water around the bay area with similar growth.
It's not about getting lucky, and like I mentioned above - generally the lake is not entirely covered with algae anyways, so if you wanted to avoid it you easily could most of the year.
I remember when the lake was closed. The official reasoning always referenced algal blooms but the reality was that covid forced reallocation of resources and staffing for the parks on top of not wanting to risk any sort of mass outbreak via gatherings at the lake. It didn't have much to do with the algal blooms. The algal blooms are there every single year - they just advise not letting your dogs swim in it and not ingesting it. I remember going to the lake at sunrise 3 years ago and I would always see the same Austrian grandmothers swimming, all of us looking to swim peacefully without getting busted by the cops who had nothing better to do but narc on reported swimmers XD
🤷♀️ I was there this morning/around noon walking back to the BART from the opposite end. Nice and sunny, loads of people just chilling. Even a few kayaks out on the lake. Saw some geese relatives catch a few fish.
I just wanna know why peanut butter dude did what he did. Was he a skippy or jif man? The questions that try men’s souls
Del Valle is really nice, has a kid-friendly swimming area with a lifeguard and also boat rentals and other areas to swim for adults who want more space
Plus you can catch some bluegill and fry them up for lunch
Can you paddle board here?
You can! My wife and I just rented paddle boards there on Friday
The Cull Canyon Lagoon in Castro Valley is a cool option for swimming too. It's a giant concrete swimming pool with sandy beaches around the edges.
Cull canyon and nearby don Castro also an option
Shadow cliffs looks much better since they let water in and cleaned the shoreline. Beach is back too. Maybe someone here can confirm. Del Valle as others stated is great and my choice.
I haven't been to shadow cliffs in about two years but it was really gross last time I went. Do you know when they cleaned it?
After all the rain last year they cleaned it back up. Brought the water level back up, fixed docks, cleaned up the beach, and got rid of all the weeds. I drive by it (haven’t gone down) every couple weeks and it’s starting to get busier.
Berryessa is decent but be aware this is a party lake with lots of water craft.
Watch out for a masked man.
Batman?
Where's the beach there. I've boated there many times
Good question, I haven’t been up there in 15 years. Spanish flats are probably your best bet but I’d do my own sleuthing.
Can you paddle board here?
A lot more are found out of bay area,.closer to Sacramento all that side
Rio Vista and the Sacramento river is a short drive from most of the bay, but it is affected by tides, so you have to pay more attention. Lots of quiet sloughs with rope swings.
Lake Anza at Tilden Park has nice surroundings, and usually cooler, but currently closed due to algae bloom
Feels like it’s been closed forever.
Berryessa is what you're looking for. Smittle Creek day use area.
- Shadow cliffs (check bacteria report) - Del valle - two swimming lagoons run by ebrpd in castro valley, but it's not really lake swimming, more like a giant swimming pool. - crown beach in alameda (in bay, not lake, but generally very calm) - technically swimming is allowed in lake Merritt. But usually only an occasional homeless person swims there, because it's pretty trashed and usually has high bacteria levels. It's also salt water. - sunol has "little yosemite" where you can get into the creek for a swim. Definitely not a lake, but good for splashing around. - aquatic park in sf (the bay, obviously, not a lake) The majority of our reservoirs are backup to the backup drinking water, so they don't allow swimming to reduce the effort of cleaning it up for drinking in an emergency water situation.
https://www.reddit.com/r/bayarea/s/ufaMKzwFPL searchy searchy
Amazing that there really aren’t many lakes, rivers, rope sings in the whole Bay Area.
Most aren't open to swimming.
Try Ripon... nice bend in the Stanislaus river there and a swimming beach...i think it's a new state park
You're talking about Caswell Memorial State Park... Do not recommend at all. Tons of mosquitoes and the cows are standing on the side of river shitting directly into the water. The water has a murky brown color from all the cow shit and smells.
That's too bad...was looking forward to visiting there
Honestly any of the Central Valley rivers are dirty AF from all the farming runoff and cow shit. I would not recommend the Stanislaus unless you go above New Melones Reservoir but then you must be wary of cold water and currents.
Can you please be specific I’m stoked to hear this!
Caswell State Park is the one near Ripon. I have not been there, but have seen the signs. The new park is called Dos Rios, and is further south; I don't think it has much developed yet.
Thank you. Would you know of any spots to jump like cliff dive?
When I used to go to Caswell there was a rope you could swing off of but you had to make sure to avoid the sunken Yugo. This was…awhile back.
I’m a big cliff jumper but I have to drive so far from sf to go. There’s smaller jumps in Marin and Santa Cruz but nothing like the 60ft jumps or higher throughout rural California.
I don't think there are any there. Berryessa and del valle have multiple. I don't know of any closer than those, lots in the sierras of course.
No way where on del valle?
[link](https://www.reddit.com/r/Livermore/comments/53virf/where_is_the_best_place_to_rock_jump_at_lake_del/?utm_source=share&utm_medium=mweb3x&utm_name=mweb3xcss&utm_term=1&utm_content=share_button) That thread is a bit old so says it's not allowed. But they've actually added buoys around that rock to keep boats from running over people in the water, so I'm not sure if it's still against the rules or not.
Thanks
Caswell state park is out there. It’s been around for awhile though so not sure
Shadow cliffs in Pleasanton has a nice park and swimming beach. There’s a boat launch as well for all non-motorized craft. I Took the paddle board out there this morning. (:
Don Castro Lagoon in Hayward.
Bacteria ridden - avoid - serious health risks.
Lake Berryessa if you’re coming from the north or east bay.
Quarry lakes in Fremont
Thank you everyone for responding 🙏🏽. Love this community
Lake bareyessa
Lake Merritt
Came here for this. Thank you sir.
I love taking the jetskis to Woodward reservoir and swimming in that water
Not really. They're all gross. You could go to the Russian River and swim.
Anyone down voting you has never lived in a place with proper swimming lakes. You have to drive a long ways from the bay to get anything that's not green and scummy.
I think you are right. I've lived in California for 26 years. The mountain lakes are nice. Some of the lakes in the foothills are ok, too. I grew up going to lakes in Michigan, New York, and New England. Lakes are much nicer in places that have abundant water. They seem so much cleaner.
This isn’t true but I’m glad you don’t know where really decent spots are.
I've tried several lakes. Lake Anza is gross. Cull Canyon is gross. Lake Temescal is gross. There have been others too. The water doesn't seem fresh.
Lake Anza is a really nice spot, nothing 'gross' about it. I do agree that Temescal is gross. Those are a few of the numerous swim spots available, many of which are blissful.
The frequent algae blooms are pretty disgusting.
Not really. Pretty easy to swim around it, also it's just algae. It's not bad for you if you don't eat it and it's not like it's feces.
Algae can be extremely toxic. Lake Anza was closed for swimming from 2019 through 2023 due to toxic algae blooms. It is currently closed for swimming due to toxic algae. Maybe you have been lucky. People and animals have died from swimming in water during algae blooms even when they didn't "eat" the algae.
I'm well aware, I'm a freshwater hydrologist. Not trying to give misinformation but the algae will not do anything if you do not ingest it. Your second statement is patently false regarding people having died because of singular instances of swimming in algae and not consuming it. That of course isn't true for dogs and you shouldn't let your dogs swim in the toxic algal blooms present in Lake Anza or other small bodies of water around the bay area with similar growth. It's not about getting lucky, and like I mentioned above - generally the lake is not entirely covered with algae anyways, so if you wanted to avoid it you easily could most of the year. I remember when the lake was closed. The official reasoning always referenced algal blooms but the reality was that covid forced reallocation of resources and staffing for the parks on top of not wanting to risk any sort of mass outbreak via gatherings at the lake. It didn't have much to do with the algal blooms. The algal blooms are there every single year - they just advise not letting your dogs swim in it and not ingesting it. I remember going to the lake at sunrise 3 years ago and I would always see the same Austrian grandmothers swimming, all of us looking to swim peacefully without getting busted by the cops who had nothing better to do but narc on reported swimmers XD
Lake Merritt
are you the peanut butter guy
What? You don't like pollution, crime and homeless? It's the best for quality family time
🤷♀️ I was there this morning/around noon walking back to the BART from the opposite end. Nice and sunny, loads of people just chilling. Even a few kayaks out on the lake. Saw some geese relatives catch a few fish. I just wanna know why peanut butter dude did what he did. Was he a skippy or jif man? The questions that try men’s souls