Photo Credit Katheen Leo Ball

The Santa Fe Dam Reservoir is a hidden oasis nestled inside a 836-acre park with the picturesque San Gabriel Mountains in the background. The reservoir is located in southern Los Angeles County, in the City of Irwindale, at the foot of the San Gabriel Mountains within the Santa Fe Dam Recreational Park. This scenic 70-acre reservoir is considered by many to be one of the best paddling destinations in Los Angeles County.

The park is complete with California native cacti and succulents, and wildlife including cactus wrens, California gnatcatchers, scissor-tail flycatchers, horned lizards, and kangaroo rats. The park is maintained by the Parks and Recreation Department of California. It’s definitely worth a visit if you happen to find yourself in the area.

It’s rare to find a beautiful place to paddle like this in Los Angeles County. When residents are ready to escape the hectic pace of Los Angeles, Santa Fe Dam Reservoir offers the perfect escape. Excursions to this enchanting reservoir near the San Gabriel Mountains can take visitors from stress-filled days to a special mountain reservoir where time stands still and worries vanish.

If you are an active person, venture along awesome trails in and around the recreation area, with your bicycle or on foot, and enjoy the great beautiful outdoors in a place isolated from the world outside the dam. The reservoir itself is a u-shaped 3-mile stretch. Santa Fe Dam Recreational Area is 6.3-miles all the way around. There is no actual path to go all the way around, but there are a series of trails that allow you to make it most of the way.

The Santa Fe Dam Recreation Park has many recreational activities for outdoor lovers to enjoy. It offers year-round kayaking, fishing and non-motorized watercraft usage.

Map of Santa fe Dam