San Andreas Lake
San Andreas Lake is an artificial lake adjacent to the San Francisco Peninsula cities of Millbrae and San Bruno when you are here with your cheap San Francisco car rental. The lake gets its name because it is located directly on the San Andreas Fault, which you can explore by foot or bike.
Picture it
Originally, this area was a small natural sag pond, which is where water collects in the lowest parts of a depression between two strands of an active strike-slip fault, such as the one you will find along the San Andreas Fault. When you are here with your cheap San Francisco rental car, you may learn that Gaspar de Portola camped near here when he was in the area in 1769, just before he discovered the San Francisco Bay. In 1875, the construction of a dam helped to expand the lake.
What you can do here
When you visit with your cheap car rental San Francisco, you will find the lake itself is closed to the public. However, if you choose to hike or bike along the eastern shore of the lake on the paved trails, you will get a good view of it. There is also a connecting trail, the Sawyer Camp Trail, which crosses the rift valley on the San Andreas Dam and reaches the eastern shores of the Lower Crystal Springs reservoir and the Crystal Springs Dam.
More about the fault
When you are here with your cheap San Francisco rental car, you may be interested in learning about the San Andreas Fault that stretches through the area. The valley around the fault is very straight with the fault line running down the center. The two sides of the fault move past each other horizontally, for the most part. On either side of the lake, the vegetation will look different because of the different rock underneath. Today, the San Andreas Lake is used to hold the city's water supply which comes from the Sierra Nevada mountains.
Millbrae
Millbrae is a city in San Mateo County that borders the lake. This was once a large estate for a wealthy land owner in the area. But the family began to sell the land for development. For many years, the city was largely independent - they had their own private patrol which was financed by fees from merchants and residents in the area until 1941 and a volunteer fire department until 1938. There are many small shops and restaurants that you can enjoy here. However, the city is primarily known for proximity to the San Francisco International Airport with your cheap rental car San Francisco.
San Bruno
When you are here with your cheap San Francisco car rental, you can also visit the city of San Bruno, which the San Andreas Lake is located on. The city has a number of municipal parks with shaded walkways, hiking trails, picnic areas, playgrounds, and more. A major landmark here is the Tanforan Racetrack where famous racehorses such as Seabiscuit once raced. The track was closed in 1964 and destroyed by a fire later that year. Today, there is a shopping mall here where you can pick up a few things.
When you are here with your cheap San Francisco car rental, you will find that the beauty of the area around the San Andreas Fault can be seen when you bike or hike in the area. Be sure to take your camera with you so you don't miss some of these unique photos. You can also explore the cities of Millbrae and San Bruno while you are here.
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