Contra Loma Regional Park

Photo by Dan Hill.

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Jul-Sep 2007

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by Ann Sieck — published July 01, 2007

East Bay: Contra Loma Regional Park

A glossy 30-inch rattlesnake sliding irritably into dry grasses surprised us just as noise from a pump at the "chlorinated swimming lagoon" a quarter mile away made the lakeshore path feel less than natural. This park's 80-acre reservoir amid oak-dotted hills south of Antioch is a busy place in summer, where a rattlesnake might have trouble getting a nap, but we found few people along the park's paths on a warm Monday in May. Two cormorants stretched in the sun on a float in the lake, while meadowlarks fluted in the hills. Grebes, ducks, and a great blue heron foraged in the reedy shallows where a few determined humans were also fishing.

The lake holds reserve drinking water, so swimming is restricted to the artificial lagoon, open daily in summer, in the ample poplar-shaded picnic grounds that form a startling green island on the south shore. The reservoir is open to boats up to 20 feet long (no gasoline engines), and sailboards may be rented (stiff winds off the Delta rake the water). At 776 acres, Contra Loma has little to offer hikers and equestrians, but it abuts the larger Black Diamond Mines Preserve with its many challenging trails—just the thing to make an afternoon swim welcome.

Getting there: Take Lone Tree Lane south from Highway 4; right on Golf Course Road; right again on Frederickson Lane. $5 parking fee; additional fees for dogs, boating, windsurfing, swimming, and fishing.