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| Union Valley Reservoir - Placerville, CA USA
Wind Conditions: Good Water Conditions: Good Launch facilities: Good Beach conditions: Fair Traffic conditions: Excellent Safety: Fair Charges: none About the place: Union Valley Reservoir is reached by heading east on Highway 50 from Sacramento, then heading north on the Crystal Basin road. Union Valley is a beautiful clear mountain lake, with fairly warm water in summer. Located at 5000 feet elevation, it is surrounded by pine forests, and the high crest of the Sierra Nevada forms a dramatic backdrop visible from most of the lake. It has a couple white sand beaches, on the east and west shores of the small bay that is due east of the Fashoda picnic area, near the Peninsula campground. Unfortunately, these nice beaches are located on the opposite side of a large peninsula from the Peninsula launch ramp. So you are faced with a mile or two of upwind tacking, across the short axis of the lake relative to the prevailing winds, then run downwind to the beach. Then reverse this process to get back to the ramp. Obviously, don't hang around on the beach if the wind begins to die, or face a very long paddle. Launching from the Yellowjacket ramp on the north shore avoids this, but involves more driving on the road around the shoreline. Union Valley is a PG&E reservoir and can vary tremendously in water level from one year to the next, and within different times of the year. When the water level is very low the lake is an uninviting lunar landscape. The best time of year to visit is late enough in the summer for the lake to have warmed up, yet early enough in the summer that there is water in the lake. A call to the rangers in El Dorado National Forest might be valuable in this regard, if planning a trip there. The campgrounds are on a reservation system, so reserve your campsite in advance as the campgrounds are very popular. Typically the winds blow at a steady 10-15 knots from 10 am to 3 pm then shut off, so schedule your sailing day around this window. Don't do what I did, which is drive leisurely to the lake, get there around 2 pm, marvel at the beautiful winds, then by the time you have rigged it has died. Submitted by: Paul Miller <paul.miller@tek.com> Sacramento, CA USA - Wednesday, September 18, 1996 at 13:40:42 (PDT) |