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We took the shortest approach possible, from the
TH parking off Old Almaden Rd
at the SE end of the park. There are several trails to choose from leading up
either side of Deep Gulch, we took one going up, the other heading down. Church
Hill, the lower and eastern of the two summits was our first visit. There is no
maintained trail leading to the top, but a weak use trail starting near an old
brick chimney worked nicely.
Unfortunately the
summit rocks are buried under a
canopy of tree cover and the grounds around the use trail are riddled with
poison oak - one must watch one's step. Near the summit was a bright orange and
white
checkpoint marker
for an orienteering event, quite probably forgotten by the event organizers.
Between the two summits we explored the remains
of what was first
English Camp
(a small town of English immigrants come to work in the mines in the late
1800s) and later Madonna Camp (a CCC training site dating from the 1930s). Aside
from a few dilapidated
buildings
and pieces of rusting equipment, little else remains of the once bustling sites.
We headed up to Mines Hill following a series of trails that circumnavigated the
hill in a counterclockwise direction. We stopped at the
San Cristobal Mine on
the north side, finding all but the first 20 yards of the mineshaft permanently
closed with a heavy iron gate welded shut. We looked around outside the tunnel
for a use trail leading to Mine Hill, but finding things brushy and full of
poison oak, we backed off. We continued around the hill on the trails, next
looking for an approach up the
grassy west slope.
This lead to more thick brush
and nastiness before we got anywhere near the summit. I still had fresh
memories of my last bout of poison oak that took more than two weeks to get
rid of, so I wasn't about to lead us through another bushwhack of the stuff.
I was ready to leave the summit unclimbed when we finally got around to the
south side of the hill near an old bit of mine works called the Rotary Furnace
on the park map. Above the fenced-in
furnace works to the left was the sculpted
face of the highpoint, bulldozed and carved out in a fashion leaving an open
scar on the hillside. A few steep roads, long abandoned,
led up
through the
mine scar to a grassy top. Climbing this, we found ourselves at
the highpoint
of Mine Hill, minus all the bushwhacking we thought it would take. Just below
the summit was a modest
rock cairn
with the remains of colorful prayer flags (or
something similar), along with dried grain offerings and a collection of
cyrstals and colorful rocks. A wiccan offering, possibly? There were no other
markers or a register to be found. The summit had a fine view of the main
Santa Cruz peaks to the south and west, including Loma Prieta, Umunhum, and
others. The Santa Clara Valley was spread out to
the north,
though partially obstructed by intervening trees.
After returning to the car we had a few other minor hills to visit in the area. One was Blossom Hill, which until recently I'd thought was just the name of a major road in the southern part of the valley. Turns out there is an actual Blossom Hill at the northwest end of the small ridge that forms the majority of the Almaden Quicksilver park. The summit of it is hard to pinpoint thanks to a long, meandering ridgeline, but a row of houses at the apex of the ridge makes it almost certain that the highpoint is on private property. We drove the highest road that joins Shannon Rd where the latter crosses over a saddle. This private road is labeled Sky Lane on Google Maps, but there was nowhere to get out and climb to - all private homes on either side of the road. Later I learned there is a second road (Santa Rosa Dr) that may go up to a water tank close to the highpoint. I may have to visit this one a second time.
The last hill of the day was Lone Hill, a thoroughly residentialized piece
of land just north of Blossom Hill. In the days when orchards stretched across
the valley this hill might have been a familiar landmark, but now that it has
been completely tamed by pavement and homes, the hill is barely noticeable, and
then only when driving right up to it. We found
the highpoint appears to be in
the middle of a road ending in a cul-de-sac. A nearby park with the name Lone
Hill Park is the only remaining suggestion that there was something slightly
significant on this spot. At 320ft, Lone Hill has the distinction of being the
lowest named summit in Santa Clara County. Ok, actually it shares that
distinction with a Christmas Hill of the same height located near Gilroy. I'll
be looking in on Christmas Hill sometime in the future...
This page last updated: Fri Aug 26 16:04:51 2016
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