Loch Lomond reservoir is located off Highway 17 between Los Gatos and Santa Cruz. It is managed by the Santa Cruz water district.
Nestled in thickly wooded forest with redwood and pine trees the reservoir provides great opportunities to hike, paddle or just have a nice picnic during the summer months. There is a boating slip where boats can be rented. A great place to have picnic lunch is on an island in the lake which can be accessed by a boat with a short 10-15 paddle from the boat ramp. I've seen some people and birds (cormorants and Grebes) fish quite successfully on several occasions. The surface of the water can be very flat in early morning giving mirror like appearance to the lake. Occasional fog in the morning adds magical touch to the boating experience. In the afternoon, however, the winds can pick up and the surface of water can be a little wavy.
We have kayaked the whole length of the "lake" . It is may be a mile or so long. At one end (away from the dam) the water becomes shallow. We have found a few herons hang out here in the shallow end of the lake. Last weekend we were there in the evening and it was first time that I saw Clark's Grebe hunt for fish under water.
Currently there is an inspection of boats for Zebra Mussel . This invasive species probably entered United States on a tanker coming from Ukraine and can clog the water pipes.
There are several trails. We have not done the trails, but used the boat docks to get out of water along the trail and have a picnic at the picnic tables provided in the midst of redwood trees.
A few other pictures taken during our visits to Loch Lomond..
A view from the shallow end of the reservoir
Cormorants hanging out near the boating slip
May 18, 2008
Silicon Valley area was supposed to be hot this Sunday( in 90s!!). So, we headed out again to Loch Lomond. We kayaked all the way to the creek at the end of the reservoir. One gets to kayak under the canopy of trees; it was nice and cool. There was five finger fern growing on the steep sloped of the bank. It was quiet, except occasional quacking of a duck or another bird near the water.
A bunch of common mergansers were hanging out on stumps of trees. Most of them were females. One was male. These birds are diving type of ducks. They make their nests on abandoned cut trunks and their food is primarily small fish. You can find out more about them here at the Cornell Ornithology Lab.
A Picture of female Mergansers hanging out on a wood stump.
[June 08-2008 : We saw a female Merganser swimming with 3 tiny and fluffy chicks. One of the chicks would climb up on the back of the mommy duck and get a ride. It was fun to watch them]
We had a picnic lunch near a boat dock. One could see the small fish in the water. The water was clear. At one point we saw a couple of 10 inch long trout fish swimming together.
While returning back home, we stopped by at "Heavenly Cafe" - on our way to Scotts Valley. Had a soothing cup of hot tea and a plate of scrambled tofu mildly flavored in melted cheese and stir fried brocoli with a side of baked red skin potatoes. It was a perfect ending to a nice Sunday morning and begin looking forward to another productive and fulfilling week.
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June 21st, 2008
Today we went Kayaking as a part of BASK group at Loch Lomond reservoir.
We keep seeing dragonflies hovering around on the water. They start their life in water
and fly out after molting. We saw these interesting dragon flies that looked almost like butterflies in their flight. These are called widow skimmer dragon-flies. They get their name because the male does not stick around with the female after she lays the eggs unlike other species of dragon flies.
Widow-skimmer dragon fly (Male has white bands)
A nice educational video on the life cycle of a dragon fly can be found here.
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