Visited on 3/29/2019
during a weekend camping trip with Jeff and our two Chocolate labs, Summer and
Skye. We camped at the southern
neighbor Coyote Lake – Harvey Bear Ranch County Park, Campsite #35 in the
Lakeview Campground. Anderson Reservoir
is the largest of the 10 water district reservoirs and provides a reliable
supply of water to Santa Clara County. It has a surface acreage size of 980 at an
elevation of 637 feet above sea level. Anderson
Dam was built in 1950 and named after the key founder and first president of
the water district, Leroy Anderson. A long, deep natural gorge located
three miles east of U.S. 101 in Morgan Hill provided a suitable dam site.
The reservoir was
created in 1950 by the construction of the Anderson Dam across Coyote Creek in
foothills of the Diablo Mountains east of Morgan Hill. The reservoir and dam
were named after Leroy Anderson, a key founder and first president of the Santa
Clara Valley Water District. It is the largest reservoir owned by the district.
The 235 feet high
earthen dam measures 1,430 feet long by 900 feet wide and sits along the Coyote
Creek Fault on Coyote Road, east of Morgan Hill. The
reservoir itself is situated parallel to the Calaveras Fault, which runs from
Hollister to Milpitas. It holds over 90,000 acre feet of water when
full, more than the other nine reservoirs in the county combined.
The 4,275-acre Anderson
Lake County Park is managed by the Santa Clara County Parks and Recreation
Department. Features in addition to the county's largest reservoir are the Coyote
Creek Parkway multiple use trails, the Jackson Ranch historic park site, the
Moses L. Rosendin Park, the Burnett Park area, and Anderson Lake Visitors
Center. Coyote Creek Parkway, a paved trail along Coyote Creek that heads 15
miles north to Hellyer County Park, is used for hiking, jogging, bicycling,
horseback riding, and skating.
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