Del Valle Regional Park

Del Valle Regional Park is in California in the United States.

Understand
Del Valle Regional Park is one of the parks in the East Bay Regional Park District (EBRPD) in the outer East Bay, California, south of the city of Livermore. The park is mostly east, but also partially west, of Lake Del Valle, an artificial reservoir made in 1968 by damming Arroyo del Valle, a small river.

Although it is only a regional park, Del Valle is large enough and has enough facilities to be a state park. It is southeast of Livermore and east-southeast of Pleasanton.

Del Valle Regional Park is an EBRPD (East Bay Regional Parks District) Park. The EBRPD is a special district operating in Alameda County and Contra Costa County, California, within the East Bay area of the San Francisco Bay Area. The EBRPD maintains and operates a system of regional parks which is the largest urban regional park district in the United States. The East Bay Parks administrative office is in Oakland.

Early Years
Construction crews began work on the lake in 1966. The construction of Del Valle Reservoir was finished in 1968. Del Valle Regional Park was opened to the public in 1970, 36 years after the EBRPD was founded in 1934.

California Drought in 2010s
In the mid-2010s, a severe drought struck the California region, including the East Bay. This situation caused 12 million trees in California to die, and resulted in the East Bay Regional Park District writing an article to help with the drought.

Flooding in the 2016-2017 winter
Shortly after the California drought in the 2010s, Del Valle Regional Park suffered widespread damage from the unusually heavy rains and La Niña that struck the East Bay in early 2017. Much of the damage was around Lake Del Valle, where runoff overflowed five times into beaches, campgrounds and picnic areas. Some of the trails were washed out and needed to be rebuilt. The park was closed for nearly three months, before reopening on April 15, 2017. EBRPD estimated the cost to repair this park alone at $1.8 billion, and said the cost would rise further if the rains continued.

Landscape
Like Henry Coe State Park, Del Valle Regional Park has mountainous countryside, although Del Valle has more oak woodlands than it does pine forests. In the center of the park is a large reservoir, called Lake Del Valle. The lowest point in Del Valle Regional Park is near the Arroyo Staging Area to the far north. The park's highest elevations are in the southeast and far south, near Ohlone Regional Wilderness.

Fairly large cliffs are scattered throughout the park, but are most common along the reservoir shores and in the canyon to the north of the lake. There are notable cliffs near Arroyo Road that are clearly visible from around the Tri-Valley. The south is generally flatter, with a sandy delta area at the southern end of Lake Del Valle; this delta area is practically dry during droughts and can be completely covered with water after rainy seasons.

Nearly all of the park border regions are mountainous. These mountains are only grass-covered at lowest elevations, then oak tree covered on higher hills, and finally pine covered at the highest elevations in the park.

Flora and fauna
Although Del Valle Regional Park is mountain lion country, flora are more commonly seen in Del Valle Regional Park than fauna. Grass covers much of the land, and chaparral is only seen in shaded creeks in the east of the park and on the numerous cliffs and steep hillsides.

Climate
Del Valle has a Mediterranean climate, and can get hot in summer. There are small but noticeable temperature differences in varying regions of the park. Naturally, the hottest region of the park is low-lying region near Arroyo del Valle. However, temperatures could be as much as ten degrees cooler at the tops of the highest peaks, which can be nearly three thousand feet in height.

Snow
Generally, the mountains around Del Valle Regional Park receive snow when the main rainstorm moves into the area during the winter. This is often in December or January, and results in a few inches of rain falling in the region within a few days. Temperatures during the daytime, even in winter, are too warm for a snowfall, even in the park's higher elevations, but if rain falls during the nighttime, at the top of the mountain peaks, temperatures get low enough for snowfall. After temperatures rise again the next day, a lot of the snow melts, but at higher elevation, the snowfall resulting from recent storms can last a couple days.

This typically happens about once a year, with the storms being more substantial some years than others. In the 2018-2019 winter, a combination of cold temperatures and wet weather resulted in a good snowfall, especially in the mountain peaks in the Del Valle region.

After a snowfall, the mountain peaks are especially beautiful for viewing. From the Tri-Valley, you can see them in some places, but not others, due to buildings, trees, and hills.

By car
There are two main ways to enter Del Valle Regional Park by car.

Southern entrance
The southern entrance to the park is the more impressive of the two main park entrances. Del Valle Road goes from Mines Road across some large hills before coming down a steep slope toward the reservoir. Near the bottom of the hill is an entry kiosk and a junction. Driving straight on at the junction takes you to the southwestern park staging area, which includes a swimming area, the campground, and the Rocky Ridge Visitor Center. A right turn leads to the marina and a few campsites. To enter the park via the southern entrance, take Livermore Avenue (Tesla Road) out of Livermore. One you have reached the wine country, there will be a right turn onto a road called "Mines Road" this road is straight for one-fourth of a mile before it goes into a valley. If you follow Mines Road for a few miles, you come to a junction. If you take a left turn at this junction, you will go into the mountains and eventually go to Mount Hamilton and San Jose. If you continue straight at the junction, you will go along Del Valle Road to the park as described above.

Northern entrance
The northern entrance is very different. For the northern entrance, drive along Arroyo Road south out of Livermore. This road goes into wine country and eventually leads into a narrow canyon. After a few miles, there will be a golf course and Wente Vineyards on your left, and Veterans Park and the Veterans Memorial Hospital on your right. Most drivers turn off Arroyo Road at this point, but if you're going to Del Valle Regional Park, continue straight until you reach the end of the public section of the road. If you turn left just before the gate, there will be a parking lot; this is the Arroyo entrance to the park.

By bicycle
Cyclists can get to the park by taking Mines Road south from Livermore and then Del Valle Road to the southern entrance to Del Valle Regional Park.

By foot
You can hike into the park by walking from Independence Park (in Livermore), through Sycamore Grove Park and Veterans Park, and then taking the narrow trail from Veterans Park to Del Valle Regional Park.

Fees and permits
You need a permit to get into the Ohlone Wilderness to the south, but only fees are required to enter Del Valle Regional Park. For the northern entrance, there is only a parking fee, not a general entrance fee, so by walking into the park you avoid having to pay any entrance fees.

Get around
Particularly in the south, there are roads which connect the parking lots, camping sites, and general staging areas. However, the northern parts of the park do not have roads.

Please note that some trails used to be ranch roads, and the road names were kept on park trail maps when the ranch roads were converted to trails. Just because a trail route includes the name "road" does not necessarily mean that ordinary vehicles can drive along it.

A several-mile trail connects the southern and northern ends of the park. Most of this trail is as wide as a dirt road, although there is a relatively narrow part of the trail in the southern part of the park. The many bays and inlets of Lake Del Valle make the journey across the park feel like a long and tiring one. Unless you are a marathon runner or expert hiker, plan a whole day to hike across the park.

Many other, shorter trails go around specific sections of the park. There is a network of trails in the southeastern section of the park, although there are a few trails in the western and far southern regions of Del Valle Park.

See


From the oak woodlands to Lake Del Valle to the cliffs along Arroyo Road, Del Valle Regional Park has scenery that is surprisingly varied. The variation is partially due to the elevation throughout the park, and partially due to the water supply from Arroyo del Valle creek and Lake Del Valle.

The main sight in Del Valle Regional Park, though, is just the park itself - the general scenery associated with the park.

Del Valle Cliffs
The Del Valle region is the only part of the Tri-Valley with notable sedimentary cliffs. The most dramatic of these are just north of the Del Valle Reservoir and are not only visible from the Arroyo Road entrance to the park, but also to residents of the nearby city of Pleasanton and parts of the city of Livermore.



Lake del Valle
The centerpiece of the park, this reservoir was built around 50 years ago by constructing a dam near what is now the Arroyo Road Park Entrance.Lake Del Valle provides a source of recreation for visitors including swimming, fishing, and boating, although lifeguards are present at designated swimming areas. There are several bays and inlets on Lake del Valle, including Heron Bay in the north, and Swallow Bay and Badger Cove in the middle section of the lake.



Do
Although hiking is a popular activity at Del Valle Regional Park, swimming and boating are also popular pastimes. There is a designated swimming area in the southern section of the park.

Self-guided hiking routes
Although trails abound in the park, there are some specific routes that include the best scenery and most scenic views in the park.



Other tours and activities
There are specific buildings at Del Valle that assist in the park's most popular recreational activities.



Buy, eat, and drink
Water is available at some of the campsites for those who are camping in the park. For a day trip to the park, bring your own food and drink.

Lodging
For lodging, it would probably be best to head back to Pleasanton or Livermore, where you can sleep at many decent hotels. These towns are also only a few miles away from the park, so they would work as a good base for exploration if you do want to camp at Del Valle Regional Park. However, cabins will be added to the park's camping facilities in October 2018.

Camping
There are several campsites at Del Valle.

Stay safe
For the most part, Del Valle Regional Park is fairly safe. Concerns are typical for California hikers, varying from earthquakes to animals to weather.

Go next

 * Lick Observatory - down Mines Road to the south of Lake Del Valle, there is a small semi-abandoned community and observatory at 4,000 feet on the top of Mount Hamilton.
 * Pleasanton - town to the northwest of Lake Del Valle, with wine country, upscale restaurants, and historic district
 * Livermore - one of only a handful of places on Earth that has an element on the Periodic Table named after it.
 * Ohlone Regional Wilderness - a more than twenty-mile-long wilderness area with numerous ridges