Solitude Reigns at Santa Margarita Lake

“Fish got to swim, birds got to fly” might be the motto of Santa Margarita Lake, which is northeast of San Luis Obispo.

Catfish, crappie, bluegill, black bass and striped bass make the lake one of the Central Coast’s best places for fishing. Great blue herons, osprey and flotillas of ducks are among the many species of resident and migratory birds that float and fly about the lake. Watch the skies for bigger birds, too: bald eagles, golden eagles and turkey vultures.

With its dirt roads and its minimal day use and campground amenities, Santa Margarita Lake looks like a new reservoir just opened to the public. Actually, the lake came into being with construction of the Salinas Dam in 1941 and has been open for recreational use since 1957. Santa Margarita Lake looks inviting, but if you work up a sweat on your hike, don’t expect to jump in the lake to cool off. The lake is a major supplier of drinking water for the city of San Luis Obispo and thus no “body contact” (swimming) is permitted. Powerboats, however, are permitted to speed across the city’s tap water-to-be.

The 6-mile-long lake impounds waters from the Salinas River, which flows northwest for 170 miles from the middle of San Luis Obispo County into Monterey Bay. The Salinas has a rare south-to-north flow.

Although many of the Central Valley segments of the Salinas are tamed and used for agriculture, the banks of the river in Santa Margarita are not domesticated. Bobcats, deer, mountain lions and even a couple of California black bears live in the mountainous back country behind the lake.

Hikers and nature lovers will find the lake a refreshing contrast to those giant reservoir parks with their overdeveloped campgrounds, mega-marinas and aircraft-carrier-size asphalt parking lots. Most of the trails above the shoreline traverse the Santa Margarita Lake Natural Area, several thousand acres of oak- and pine-dotted slopes.

Several family-style footpaths ascend from the shoreline into the foothills. These trails, which offer varying vistas of the lake, provide an excellent introduction to the 6,000-acre park. If tramping around Santa Margarita agrees with you, return another day to the park’s other major trail head, off Pozo Road on the far eastern end of the lake. Waterfalls, a wild side of the Salinas River and rarely used trails are the attractions.

From the hikers’ parking area in the campground, Gray Pine Trail climbs (0.75 mile one way) over handsome rock formations known as the Crags to a scenic overlook. For a fine three-mile round-trip jaunt, follow Gray Pine Trail to Eagle Point.

Our family saw eagles from Eagle Point and glimpsed more of the majestic creatures from a vista point we reached via Lone Pine Trail. Join this path (1.6 miles round trip to the overlook, 2.4 miles round trip to Vaca Flat Picnic Area) from White Oak Flat Picnic Area.

Hikers seeking more taxing excursions can extend their walks by connecting with the many miles of jeep roads that wind through the Margarita back country.

Get to the park soon and you can be among the first to hike the new (unmapped and unsigned) Bear Trail (two miles one way), which departs from near the park entry station and climbs to an overlook of the dam.

Directions to trail head: From U.S. 101, about 10 miles north of San Luis Obispo, take the Santa Margarita exit. Head east 1.5 miles to the town of Santa Margarita and a junction. California Highway 58 heads for Bakersfield, but you join Pozo Road and follow it eight miles east to the signed turnoff for Santa Margarita Lake Regional Park. Proceed to the entry station ($5 day use fee per vehicle). Follow the signs to the nearby campground and signed trail head or continue on the park road along the lake shore to the trail head at White Oak Flat.

Lone Pine, Gray Pine Trails

Where: Santa Margarita Lake Regional Park

Distance: From campground to the Crags vista point is 1.5 miles round trip; from White Oak Flat to Vaca Flat via Lone Pine Trail is 2.4 miles round trip.

Terrain: Oak-and gray-pine dotted Santa Lucia Mountains.

Highlights: Great raptor-and vulture-watching.

Degree of Difficulty: Easy to moderate.

For More Information: Lake Office; tel. (805) 438-5485, or San Luis Obispo County Parks; tel. (805) 781, 5930.