Highway 280 to San Fransisco Bay

Searsville Dam has plugged up the headwaters of San Francisquito Creek where several tributaries came together and carved their way through a confined gorge that is the dam site. The dam itself is a 65 foot high and 275 foot wide wall of concrete blocks within Stanford University's Jasper Ridge Biological Preserve. Searsville Dam no longer provides any functional benefits and has lost over 90% of its original water storage capacity as approximately 1.5 million cubic yards of sediment has filled it up. The creek hosts the most viable remaining native steelhead population in the South San Francisco Bay and dam removal would double this habitat. Paddlers have explored the creek from Highway 280 down to San Fransisco Bay, a run that takes about 3 hours and inludes a few class III rapids. There are some hazards including one old, small diversion dam.