Spend your Day at Lake Berryessa

Lake Berryessa in Napa, California, is the largest reservoir in the region, fed by the waters accumulated by Monticello Dam in Vaca Mountains. Monticello Dam and its reservoir provide water as well as hydroelectricity to the San Francisco Bay and North Bay areas. Lake Berryessa was named after Jose and Sexto Berrelleza, the first Europeans to settle in what came to be known as Berryessa Valley. The Basque surname Berrelleza was anglicized, giving Berreyesa and it was further respelled to the present Berryessa.

About Lake Berryessa

Lake Berryessa covers a total area of twenty thousand acres. It is fifteen and a half miles long and three miles wide. It has a shoreline of a hundred and sixty-five miles. The most striking feature of the lake is the bell-mouth spillway called Glory Hole. The open spillway has a diameter of seventy-two feet and a two hundred foot straight drop. The spillway has a total volume of almost fourteen hundred cubic meters. The spillway is only functional when the reservoir has excess water or when there is heavy rain. The catchment area of the reservoir is almost six hundred square miles. Maximum depth of Lake Berryessa is two hundred and seventy-five feet. It has a surface elevation of nearly four hundred and fifty feet. The maximum capacity of the reservoir is almost two billion cubic meters.

Lake Berryessa was neither conceived as nor meant to be open for public recreation, but it has turned out to be a major tourist hotspot. It is equally popular among locals. Spending a day at Lake Berryessa can be a fun adventure. You could go fishing and catch sunfish, salmon, different types of bass including largemouth, smallmouth and spotted, various catfishes include channel, bullhead and white, crappie, carp, bluegill and many a few types of trout. You can spot the golden eagle, mountain lion, raccoon, black-tailed deer, skunk, osprey, rabbits, western rattlesnake and turkey among others.

Try your poise at waterskiing or jet skiing, you could be less adventurous with pleasure boating, or you may embark on hiking, canoeing, kayaking, bicycling or swimming. You can observe flora and fauna. The lake is a good site for birding. You can also pack a picnic, something people in the region often do. There is also a seaplane base at Lake Berryessa.

Stay at Cedar Gables Inn

Lake Berryessa is thirty miles north of Cedar Gables Inn. Reserve your stay online at the hotel to get the best deal.