Crystal Springs Regional Trail is a

county park A park is an area of natural, semi-natural or planted space set aside for human enjoyment and recreation or for the protection of wildlife or natural habitats. Urban parks are green spaces set aside for recreation inside towns and cities. N ...

located between

San Bruno San Bruno (Spanish for " St. Bruno") is a city in San Mateo County, California, United States, incorporated in 1914. The population was 43,908 at the 2020 United States Census. The city is between South San Francisco and Millbrae, adjacent to ...

to the north and Woodside to the south. The park comprises three main trails: Crystal Springs Trail on the south,

Sawyer Camp Trail Sawyer Camp Trail is a popular trail located in the San Andreas Fault rift valley in San Mateo County, California near Hillsborough and the San Mateo Highlands. Officially, it is a segment of the longer Crystal Springs Regional Trail. Approxima ...

in the middle, and San Andreas Trail in the northern section, which run along the eastern shore of

San Andreas Lake San Andreas Lake is a reservoir adjacent to the San Francisco Peninsula cities of Millbrae and San Bruno in San Mateo County, California. It is situated directly on the San Andreas Fault, which is named after the valley it is in. History Afte ...

San Mateo County San Mateo County ( ), officially the County of San Mateo, is a county located in the U.S. state of California. As of the 2020 census, the population was 764,442. Redwood City is the county seat, and the third most populated city following Daly ...

. Settled thousands of years ago by the Shalshone Indians, the

Crystal Springs Reservoir Crystal Springs Reservoir is a pair of artificial lakes located in the northern Santa Cruz Mountains of San Mateo County, California situated in the rift valley created by the San Andreas Fault just to the west of the cities of San Mateo and H ...

(separate from

to the north) is currently part of the City of

San Francisco San Francisco (; Spanish for " Saint Francis"), officially the City and County of San Francisco, is the commercial, financial, and cultural center of Northern California. The city proper is the fourth most populous in California and 17th ...

Hetch Hetchy Reservoir Hetch Hetchy is a valley, a reservoir, and a water system in California in the United States. The glacial Hetch Hetchy Valley lies in the northwestern part of Yosemite National Park and is drained by the Tuolumne River. For thousands of years bef ...

water system. Crystal Springs reservoir is long and narrow because it lies atop the San Andreas Fault. The famous fault runs right through the

. Satellite images and maps show the long narrow San Andreas rift continuing north of San Francisco in Tomales Bay, in

Point Reyes National Seashore Point Reyes National Seashore is a park preserve located on the Point Reyes Peninsula in Marin County, California. As a national seashore, it is maintained by the US National Park Service as an important nature preserve. Some existing agricult ...

in a straight line. The

Crystal Springs Dam Crystal Springs Dam is a gravity dam constructed across the San Mateo Creek which is in San Mateo County, California. It impounds water to form the Lower Crystal Springs Reservoir which sits atop the San Andreas Fault in a rift valley created ...

survived both the 1906 earthquake and the 1989 Loma Prieta quake with no damage whatsoever, according to the

U.S. Geological Survey The United States Geological Survey (USGS), formerly simply known as the Geological Survey, is a scientific agency of the United States government. The scientists of the USGS study the landscape of the United States, its natural resources, and ...

External links

County of San Mateo: Crystal SpringsSan Francisco Public Utilities Commission: Crystal Springs history
{{Coord, 37.53525, N, 122.37053, W, region:US-CA_type:landmark, display=title Municipal parks in California Parks in San Mateo County, California Hetch Hetchy Project