Diamond Valley Lake is a man-made reservoir 4 miles southwest of the city of Hemet, CA. Its volume capacity is 800,000 acre-feet. (en.m.wikipedia.org)

According to watereducation.org, an acre-foot is the amount of water that would cover an acre of land, about the size of a football field, 1 foot deep. That is the equivalent of approximately 326,000 gallons of water.

Diamond Valley Lake is a domestic water supply source for drought, the peak of summer, and emergency needs.

The Metropolitan Water District of Southern California began construction of the reservoir in 1995. It took 4 years, from 1999 – 2003, to fill the lake with water supplied by the Colorado River Aqueduct. Today the Inland Feeder delivers water to Diamond Valley Lake. (en.m.wikipedia.org)

In our search for places to hike in the San Jacinto area, Jeff discovered DVL and its 21.8 mile trek for hikers and bikers around the lake.

DVL is about 10 miles away from Diamond Valley RV Resort where we are parked for the winter months.

To access the trail along the lake, you have to park at the Marina and pay a $9 fee. An additional $2 per person hiking fee brings the total to $14. But we don’t mind. We’re giving back to the environment.

The trail is a litter-free wide dirt path that follows the outline of the lake. There is no drinking water available but port-a-potties are scattered about 5 miles apart. Now and then canopied shade stations appear, and depending upon the direction of the sun, they offer a reprieve. Fishing is allowed along a designated portion of the shoreline.

We enjoy an out and back hike of 5 1/2 miles.

                                                       a natural dried flower arrangement

Looking back towards the marina, Mt. San Jacinto photo bombs the 2 pictures below:

Any guesses as to what the circled object in this next picture is?

Here’s a zoomed-in view:

 Give up?

It’s a floating bathroom!