Berryessa photos

 I took my kayak to Lake Berryessa recently.  If you go there on a weekday in April it's peaceful: no speedboats, no water skiers, no PWCs.  There are still dozens of fishing boats, but most of them are stationery and quiet.

The Oak Shores free day use area seems to be a good place to launch.  The (free) boat ramp at Capell Cove was full of pickup trucks and trailers, although there were some empty parking spaces meant for cars without trailers.  The Berryessa Paddle Guide has more information about launch sites and destinations.

 

Electric trolling motors only between the Big Island, Small Island, and the west shore.  I had the whole area to myself.

On the west side of the islands that are near the middle of the lake.

The water isn't very high, and there's a bathtub ring all around the reservoir.  Those are the tracks of deer and other animals in the mud near the lower center of the photo.

I combined exposures for this image.  My cheap EasyShare Sport camera isn't able to take a shot like this without overexposing the sky or underexposing the foreground.

The Oak Shores Day Use Area has a long concrete walkway from the parking lot to the water, which is meant for launching kayaks and other cartop boats.  It's easy to get the boat to the water using a cart, but the water at the end of the ramp is so shallow that it's hard to launch without getting your shoes wet.

The day use area.

I hadn't been to Berryessa in a long time, and it's more scenic than I remembered.  I always think of the place as having too many loud cars, loud boats, and loud people, but I guess in the off-season it's quiet and uncrowded.

Once in a while the shoreline is interesting.

Other photos from this trip are posted on flickr.com.