Temescal Regional Recreation Area: Cascade and Waterfall – Oakland CA

Description

As part of general improvements at Lake Temescal Park, Works Progress Administration (WPA) relief workers created a lovely stone cascade and waterfall alongside the elegant stone beach house.  The park is now known as Temescal Regional Recreation Area and is part of the East Bay Regional Parks District. 

The cascade starts about 50 feet above the waterfall, which is on the main path along the lake. There is a small waterfall and pool at the top, then a lovely little stream about a yard wide, another pool above the falls and then the final waterfall into a basin.  

To see the full cascade and waterfall in operation, click on these videos in order!
Cascade, Part 1
Cascade, Part 2
Cascade, Part 3
Cascade, Part 4
Waterfall, Part 5

There are stone paths around and over the cascade, which far too few park visitors seem to know about and enjoy.  

The waterfall/cascade was restored to working order in 2013 by the Friends of the Regional Parks, but is not always in operation.  When the still photos here were taken in 2020, it was not running; but in early 2022, we had the good fortune to happen upon it in operation.   

When the East Bay Regional Parks District was created in the early 1930s, the WPA and Civilian Conservation Corps (CCC) were called in to improve the first parks of the system, including Lake Temescal, to make them ready for public use.  Temescal Park opened to the public in 1936.