Nature’s Pick: Blackberry Trail

Tucked away in the rolling foothills of the Santa Lucia Mountains, Lopez Lake offers the hiker some inspiring trails as well as superb bird-watching opportunities.

The lake provides water for the “Five Cities” of the Central Coast. (California trivia buffs, can you name them? Arroyo Grande, Morro Bay, Pismo Beach, Grover City, Shell Beach.) Lopez Lake Recreation Area’s excellent trail system and educational nature pamphlets could serve as a model for other lake-centered parks.

The best family walk is the three-quarter-mile-long Blackberry Springs Trail. This nature path provides an introduction to the local flora.

I had a funny moment recently on the nature trail. No sooner had I paused at interpretive stop No. 4 and read “Mule deer are common in the park and frequently seen along the ridge,” than a large doe bounded past me.

For a scenic return route, hikers should continue past the last interpretive stop on the nature trail, ascending briefly but steeply to a ridge top and joining the signed Turkey Ridge Trail, which descends to near the entrance station. Hundreds of often raucous wild turkeys roam the park and this ridge is one of their favorite habitats.

A more ambitious tour of Lopez Lake (described below) can be made via four trails that explore the park’s oak woodlands, grasslands and chaparral environments. The goal of this hike is Duna Vista, a view point offering a panorama that includes the Pismo Dunes.

Directions to trail head: From U.S. 101 in Arroyo Grande, take the Grand Avenue/California 227 exit. Turn right (inland) on Grand (which soon becomes East Branch Street) and drive a mile through old town Arroyo Grande to a signed junction. California 227 branches left, but you veer right onto Huasana Road. At a junction a half a mile farther, Huasana Road splits off to the right, but you continue straight onto Lopez Drive and proceed eight miles to Lopez Lake Recreation Area. Park in the lot behind the entrance station. Day-use fee is $4 per vehicle.

You’ll spot the trail head for Turkey Ridge Trail on the east side of the parking lot. To reach the Blackberry Springs Trail, walk over a footbridge from the parking area to Squirrel Campground and continue 75 yards up the campground road to the signed trail head on your left.

To reach the trail head for the Duna Vista trek, continue past the entrance station up the main park road 1 1/2 miles to some roadside parking just before a “No Parking Beyond This Point” sign.

The hike: Walk up the paved road a short distance to a (sometimes closed) gate. The road, dirt from this point and known as Wittenberg Trail, follows the lake shore. An easy, level one-mile walk brings you to Camp French, operated by the Boy Scouts of San Luis Obispo County.

You’ll walk along a fence topped by wood signs listing the 12 points of the Scout creed, then veer left onto signed Tuouski Trail. After passing the Scouts’ campfire circle with the motto “Be Prepared” etched into stone in the huge hearth, the trail parallels, then follows the Walk of Eagles.

At the edge of Camp French, join signed Tuouski Trail that follows lakeside bluffs on the north side of the Wittenberg arm of Lopez Lake. (Because the lake level is so high from this year’s rains, short stretches of the trail are boggy.) Walk 1 1/4 miles from Camp French to the signed junction with Two Waters Trail. Two Waters Trail ascends in earnest three-fourths of a mile up the oak-dotted ridge dividing the Lopez and Wittenberg arms of the lake. At a saddle, signed Duna Vista Trail heads south, climbing another half a mile to the Duna Vista view point.

After taking in the view, from Pismo Beach to the crests of the Santa Lucia Mountains, return the way you came.

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Blackberry, Turkey Ridge, Duna Vista Trails Where: Lopez Lake, 10 miles east of Aroyo Grande. Distance: Blackberry Springs- Turkey Ridge Loop is 1.8 miles round trip; to Duna Vista is 7 miles round trip with 500- foot elevation gain. Terrain: Rolling foothills of Santa Lucia Mountains. Highlights: Fern- lined canyons, superb wildlife- watching, Central Coast vistas. Degree of Difficulty: Easy to moderate. Precaution: Poison oak is plentiful along the trails. For More Information: Lopez Lake Recreation Area, tel. (805) 489- 1122.