East Bay Explorer: Lakes

Yesterday Idriss and I meandered up to Lake Temescal for the first time. It's a small lake in the middle of the Oakland Hills, well, almost at the top of the hills.


It doesn't take long to stroll around it and take in the scenery, and it's super close to us. Two big pluses. The minus: the nearby freeway noise echos through the valley, which you can't see in these pictures but was a little annoying to me.

This morning, I took a walk at Lake Merritt, which is almost in downtown Oakland.


It's a more urban setting, but it's about 4 miles around, making for great exercise. I saw a really cool heron there, too. I think I will start running here. What else? Other East Bay park recommendations?