Pyramid Lake - Los Angeles County, California

Visited on 4/12/2018 while traveling to Southern California for a work assignment, Pyramid Lake is located 65 miles northwest of Los Angeles and 25 miles from Santa Clarita off of Interstate 5 in the Los Padres National Forest.  Pyramid Lake is a reservoir formed by Pyramid Dam on Piru Creek in the eastern San Emigdio Mountains, near Castaic, Southern California. This reservoir lies on the border between the Angeles National Forest in the northwestern portion of Los Angeles County. It is to the west of Interstate 5 (I-5) south of Tejon Pass. The former alignment of US 99 is below the waters here, replaced by I-5.   It is a part of the West Branch California Aqueduct, which is a part of the California State Water Project. Its water is fed by the system after being pumped up from the San Joaquin Valley and through the Tehachapi Mountains.  This 1,360 acre lake is at an elevation of 2,579 feet above sea level.

In 1843, gold was discovered near what is now Pyramid Lake, in the Santa Feliciana Canyon, just south of what is now Pyramid Dam. The small find failed to trigger a rush to the mountainous countryside. Only Francisco Lopes, owner of Rancho Temescal, a Mexican land grant, and a handful of ranchers attempted to settle the region.

This lake was created in 1972, and completed in 1973, as a holding reservoir for the California State Water Project. The lake was named after a pyramid-shaped rock carved out by engineers building U.S. Route 99. Travelers between Los Angeles and Bakersfield christened the landmark “Pyramid Rock,” which still stands just adjacent to the dam.

Pyramid Lake is the deepest lake in the California Water Project system, built up along the steep canyon walls surrounding Piru Creek.

Just below the dam, Piru Creek returns to its natural state as it winds down through the Topatopa Mountains to feed into the Lake Piru reservoir and later the Santa Clara River. Pumps carry water from Pyramid Lake to Castaic Lake, which is the terminus of the west branch of the aqueduct. Pyramid and Castaic act as the upper and lower reservoirs for a 1,495-megawatt pumped storage hydroelectric plant.

The 387 foot earth and rock dam was built by the California Department of Water Resources and was completed in 1973. Pyramid Lake is part of the California Aqueduct, which is part of the California State Water Project. Outflow goes downstream to Castaic Lake, which is the terminus of this West Branch aqueduct line.

 

The Department of Water Resources has a wonderful Visitors Center and Museum called Vista Del Lago explaining the construction of the Nation's largest water project in the California Aqueduct at Pyramid Lake Lake.  It is a wonderful, free to the public museum.  Check it out if you are driving to Los Angeles on Interstate 5.