When the Reservoir was formed about six decades ago, several ranches had been forced to sell their land, and I was intrigued to read that ruins of some of the old structures had resurfaced. Certainly the old road was visible (this happens by August most years), but now vast areas of the shallow reservoir were dry, and walkable. I wanted to explore.
I invited my friend Kathy to join me, and two weeks ago we parked near the dam, skirted around the fencing, and took a closer look. Initially, we had trouble getting close to the water, as the edge was steep and rocky. We walked along what seemed to be a path, though the grass was high and we were a bit repulsed by the ticks on our legs. Soon, we were able to scoot down along the exposed shoreline to the water’s edge.
Two layers of reservoir bed were obvious, one for each of the two recent years of draught. The upper stratum had larger and more abundant vegetation, the lower one was just starting to sprout. I later heard these described as “bathtub rings”, an apt metaphor, indeed.
We kept going, occasionally scrambling over exposed boulders and tree stumps and changing from one stratum to the next to secure the easiest footing. We were entering a section we didn’t even appreciate had existed before, when we encountered rusted old pipes and a raised area that might have initially drawn water from Nicasio Creek before it was dammed. Then came a pileup of broken concrete, what seemed to be the foundation for a barn.
With a little Googling, Kathy later found an article by our local historian, Dewey Livingston, telling the tale of these sunken ranches. Turns out that we had stumbled upon the remains of the Garzoli Ranch.
According to Dewey, there were more to be discovered, and my friend Gail was eager to get in on the look-see. This time, we headed to the southern-most edge of the would-be reservoir. Dewey had told me that there was an overrun trail near the Nicasio School, but we had trouble finding the trailhead. We stopped in for help at the Nicasio Valley Cheese Company, and met Dorothy Drady who gave us more detailed directions to the trailhead, as well an alternate approach. We found the trailhead near the school and embarked on the trail, but gave up when we hit overgrowth and poison oak in every direction.
Plan B was to find a way in somewhere near the West Marin Compost site. Bingo, we were on it. We parked the car near a little bridge and climbed through a barbed wire fence. With a little walking in what seemed to be the right direction, we found a path and continued it over a small hill, down a bushy area, and then there appeared before us the vast Reservoir bed.
Parts of it were incredibly lush with newly grown tall grasses, still squishy to walk on, while other parts were stone dry, with deep cracks that actually seemed a bit scary (think Indiana Jones and the golden idol). Fortunately the cracks, though deep, were not too wide, so we made good progress. A little bit of research later confirmed that clay riverbed cracks in quadrilaterals (OK, nerd heaven).
With Dewey’s map in hand, we easily found the charred remains of the Gallagher Ranch at the southern-most end of the Reservoir. Working our way toward the northwest, we found the Tognalda Ranch and then the Tomasini Ranch, with a large extant base of what must have been a barn and a smaller one nearby, likely the creamery. At this point we made it to the water itself, where a squadron of white pelicans was hiding. Had we continued, we would have made it to the Garzoli Ranch.
Instead, we tramped back through overgrowth, always seeking out the easiest route, and after scrambling around a bit we found our path back to the car. Gail made the brilliant suggestion of a refreshing beer at Rancho Nicasio, but I declined, eager to get home, check for ticks, and wash myself clean of poison oak residue, as I had accidently walked into a thicket of it.
I have at least two more sections of the Reservoir to explore, and I am excited about the prospect. Even better, I have two friends who want to join me!
