wild women walking: lafayette reservoir

April 27, 2014
Lafayette, CA
Hikers: Cathy, Laura
Distance: 9.54 miles
Elevation Gain: 2081 ft.

I came upon the Walter Costa Trail while out on a bike ride. It is directly across the street from the Lafayette Reservoir and the trail head starts at the EBMUD Filter Plant (there is no parking available here - we parked at the reservoir) Never had we heard of this trail before, so we thought we would add it to our shorter hike day today.

Personally, we don't recommend it. The so called "trail" is walking through private neighborhoods on the street - posted with "private" and "no trespassing" signs - this made us a bit uncomfortable. There is one section that was a dirt trail and quite pretty, but lasted less than a 1/4 mile. This trail will connect you to Briones if you go the full distance (2.17 miles), we turned around just after the dirt trail ended (about a mile or so in - we were done with road...) and made our way back to the reservoir to walk the upper rim.

Life preserver hanging at the filter plant.

Under the Highway 24 overpass.

Once we reached the end of the paved trail, just after this overpass, there was no signage as to where to go. Good thing Laura had her phone with her, she was able to pull up the map showing where we needed to go next.

A beautiful backyard that butts up against the dirt portion of the trail.

Beautiful, isn't it? Too bad it was short lived. Remember, less than a 1/4 mile...

This photo and the following were taken at the Lafayette Reservoir.

We thought this looked like a work of art.

Looking at the top of the map, you see the red line going off to the right... we missed the turn to the dirt portion of the trail, had to double back - seeing signs saying "no tresspassing"!! Yikes. Talked with a nice couple that were outside their home, and they directed us to the trail two houses down. :)

Should you want to attempt this walk yourself, you will turn left, at the house with a rock wall and vegetation. There are wooden stairs that go up alongside of their property. Here is a picture of what to look for: