Volunteers to improve Waterdog Lake trail

A popular trail around Belmont’s Waterdog Lake will get volunteer help to ease use during the winter when wet weather usually floods it, according to a City Council decision last night.

The city wants to move the trail that circumnavigates the lake to higher ground because it often floods, forcing people to navigate streams and push sediment into the lake. The city plans to provide all the equipment necessary for the improvements while having volunteers do the work scheduled to be completed next year.

Currently the west side of the Lake Loop Trail travels through a wetland area which results in increased sediment being pushed into the lake by hikers. The current trail is also unusable during wet winters because the water held at the dam backs up and inundates the trail, according to a city report.

The current trail also lacks a uniform width, requiring hikers to negotiate low tree crossings and often leads hikers to get lost because the trail is overgrown, according to the report.

The new trail will be at least 15 feet above the waterline — allowing for year-round use — and will avoid the water quality impacts that are currently occurring from visitors walking in streams and wet soils. The trail will be wide enough for strollers and will attempt to maintain a steady grade. The existing trail along the far west end of the lake will be re-vegetated to improve the quality of the wetlands, according to the report.

The project includes four small bike and pedestrian bridges that are four- or five-feet wide. Lumber for the bridges will be driven to the lake via Lake Road and would be moved into place with a grip hoist system. In addition to the bridges, one retaining wall will be needed along the trail to avoid cutting into a slope more than a few feet, according to the report.

The trail will be built with volunteer labor. The volunteers will mostly cut the tread by hand with shovels and rakes, and create some simple retaining walls to support the loose dirt. The volunteer groups have flagged the trail and have started some poison oak clearing while the plant is dormant, according to the report.

The city is planning to spend $40,000 on the project, according to the report.

"I think it’s a wonderful idea. We’re going to ask for volunteers from all parts of the community. I wouldn’t mind helping myself,” said Belmont Councilwoman Coralin Feierbach.

Belmont has more than 300 acres of open space mainly in the western hills, including Hidden Canyon Park, Waterdog Lake and the John Brooks Open Space. Planning efforts related to the open space areas were conducted in 1990 as part of the Western Hills Area Plan, 1992 as part of the Parks and Open Space Master Plan and in 1994 in the report of the Belmont Ad Hoc Open Space Preservation Task Force.