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Lakes in the Southern Cal area


Intense

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Hey all,

Thinking about re-locating to the LA-ish area. Wanted to know what options I had for ski/wakeboarding/boat access around that area? I know it's a pretty broad area question. But I'm just tossing around the idea right now, so I'm not set on the LA area. I just happen to know that area of Cali the best.

thanks

mike

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If lake activities are what you’re looking for LA is going to be difficult and day trips just about impossible. There aren’t many lakes that aren’t going to require a several hours of driving depending upon where exactly you end up. The nearest lakes to LA area north (Piru, Castaic, Pyramid are the closer others head up to Nacimiento or San Antonio) to the east is Mojave or Lake havasu (huge party scene). Up in Norcal area there are plenty of lakes/rivers to choose from.

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Lake Perris or Lake Elsinore (Smellsomore) are in Orange County. Their rideable..... but suck. Nasty, filthy water.

Also look into Canyon Lake. 5000 homes with their own private lake, golf course, & equestrian area. The riding sucks on the weekends but it's nice early in the morning or off season.

http://randyanddenise.com/

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Lake Perris or Lake Elsinore (Smellsomore) are in Orange County. Their rideable..... but suck. Nasty, filthy water.

Also look into Canyon Lake. 5000 homes with their own private lake, golf course, & equestrian area. The riding sucks on the weekends but it's nice early in the morning or off season.

http://randyanddenise.com/

Actually all of these lakes are in Riverside County, if you go looking for them on a map.

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Lake Perris or Lake Elsinore (Smellsomore) are in Orange County. Their rideable..... but suck. Nasty, filthy water.

Also look into Canyon Lake. 5000 homes with their own private lake, golf course, & equestrian area. The riding sucks on the weekends but it's nice early in the morning or off season.

http://randyanddenise.com/

Actually all of these lakes are in Riverside County, if you go looking for them on a map.

I stand corrected....... Smellsomore still sucks. I had to get a tetanus shot after riding in that skank a few years ago.

Canyon not too bad.... lots of talent living there. I used to see Ricky Gonzales, Randy Harris, Tony Klarich & Mike Murphy quite a bit. Tony & Mike still live there but it seems like I heard that Ricky & Randy moved to Florida.

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Castaic and Pyramid aren't bad on weekdays or in the off season, and Castaic is only an hour from the San Fernando Valley. (North part of L.A.)

There's also Buena Vista a little further north.

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Pyramid and Castaic are the 2 lakes I frequent the most.

Go durring the week. For the most part the lake is pretty empty of boats durring the week. It's only like 45 minutes from home in the San Fernando valley.

Like everyone else said there are alot more lakes in central/northern California including Pine Flat, Don Pedro, Success (kind of a s-hole), Shasta, the Delta... California can't be beat for lakes. The seasons are long and it's always warm! :)

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When I lived in San Diego my hobbies where riding dirt bikes in the desert (Glamis) and beach/Ocean related, we had a sail boat and spent alot of time on the bay.

I don't know if I'd have a wakeboard style boat down in So-Cal unless I was regularly going to drive for hours up North to use it.

Maybe a small DONZI 16'-22' off shore type boat, then you could hit the bay and Havasu.

post-149-1227119867_thumb.jpg

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Jeff-

Diamond is a no-contact lake the last time I heard.

I used to live down there, so I guess this would explain why I don't remember anyone boating there.

I see a launch ramp with 4 lanes and three docks on Google maps. I take it then only fishing goes on there??? Like Lake Pardee up here?

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When I lived in San Diego my hobbies where riding dirt bikes in the desert (Glamis) and beach/Ocean related, we had a sail boat and spent alot of time on the bay.

I don't know if I'd have a wakeboard style boat down in So-Cal unless I was regularly going to drive for hours up North to use it.

Maybe a small DONZI 16'-22' off shore type boat, then you could hit the bay and Havasu.

Theres a pretty good group of people who ride in Marine Stadium.... including a waterski/wakeboard club. Wish I could remember the name of it.

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I didn't mention Perris or Smellsomemore since really they aren't worth anything. A real decent body of water just isn't easily accessible in the LA basin w/o a drive period. I forgot about Canyon Lake.

Lake Elsinore is not that bad now. That's where I go. They installed some water aerators in the lake a couple of year ago. It has really made a BIG difference. For the lakes available in the area, Lake Elsinore is a great place to go.

Lake Perris is way down and the launch ramp is long and very steep. I was told that the water quality at Lake Perris was worse than Lake Elsinore. Lake Perris was having a problems with day use people. Used diapers were washing up on the shores. Back in the 90's, Lake Perris was an awesome place. Not no more.

Canon Lake is a private lake and a private community. You cannot access the lake or the community unless you are a resident. Boats are limited to 21 feet and have restrictions on wave sizes.

Diamond Valley Lake, Lake Matthews and Lake Skinner are non-contact bodies of water. Fishing boats only. No skiing or bathing.

Now, there is Vail Lake near Temecula. That is a private lake. They sell lake access memberships. Memberships are $3500 per year.

There is Big Bear lake. Kinda cold even in the summer

There is Lake Silverwood. Haven't been there in 10 years so I dont know too much about it.

Puddingstone Lake in Pomona. No details. They used to have boats on that lake a long time ago.

There's a lake in Carlsbad. Its near the beach so the water is kinda brackish(half fresh/half salt) I dont remember the name.

San Diego has a couple of inland lakes. El Capitan Lake and San Vicente Lake. San Vicente Lake is close for 3 years for dam repair and recreation area construction. El Capitan Lake is still open.

Mission Bay in San Diego is nice. Big area to ski. It's all salt water. Peak summer weekends and holiday weekends are a nightmare. Too many people, jetskis, drunks, etc. Overall, a nice place to go if you dont have a problem taking your boat in saltwater.

You can drive the 5-6 hours to Laughlin, Lake Mojave or Lake Havasu. Well worth the drive. Clean water and hot weather. Great combo. That's were I go alot. I love the Colorado River.

Well. That's a good list of lakes south of LA. Keep us posted on where you move to and maybe we can hook up for a mini-Malibu regatta.

Edited by Clutch-n-Throttle
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Here you go. Prices have dropped!!

http://re.ocregister.com/for-sale/listing/666-U200709255/int

Not sure if you could get access to Canyon - but if so, that could be a nice place...

Definitely no access to Canyon from Elsinore. If you want access to Canyon, get a hold of a realtor who sells inside Canyon. It's not bad if you can deal with all the rules.

Speaking of rules..... Elsinore still have all the rules about which way you have to drive your boat & in which area of the lake? Man, it used to be a zoo with the high speed run in the middle & every wakeboard boat under the sun going counterclockwise.

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After reading all these posts, I would find a different southern cal. hobby other then fresh water related sports.

Maybe you could be a firefighter in your spare time, you'd be busy. or figure out a cheap and efficient desalination technique so you can stop stealing my water Biggrin.gif

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When i relocatd to LA from NorCal I basically gave up boating for 5 years. Biggest mistake ever!

This year I relocated to Long Beach and began riding marine stadium with my cousin every once in a while. Did a house boat trip on Don Pedro in June and realized I needed to get back into boating asap. I now ride marine stadium every weekend.

It's a horrible place. Water is always witecaps, overcrowded and don't forget about the risk of sharks since it's saltwater connected to the ocean. Really nobody should ride here....

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