Alum Rock Park - A Local Treasure.
We are lucky to live within walking distance of Alum Rock Park, San Jose, CA. California's first municipal park offers great walks and nice picnicking. Located along a canyon in the East Foothills of San Jose it was formed by Penitencia Creek. There are steep hikes on both sides with a nice, cool, shaded flattish walk along the creek.
Designated a public park in 1872 Alum Rock park has an interesting history stretching back much earlier. See: Alum Rock Park History. I have some old postcards from the early days of the park. Some photographs of the cards are below. As usual click the photos to see a larger version.
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Above is an old car driving to the park. These old postcards have had the color enhanced. At right is Penetencia Creek.
Below is a postcard of a full Alum Rock Falls. It must have been photographed after the winter rains. The trail to this is now closed as shown by my photo at right. The trail eroded and people kept falling down into the river and couldn't get out causing expensive rescues. When I first visited the park there was a simple trail closed sign and just past that an old post marking the start of a 50 mile long hiking trail to Livermore. I'd love to backpack from there to Livermore!
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Above is a neat postcard of a dapper man in front of a mineral spring. At right is a photo of the same spring taken from where the man is standing. You can see there is a pretty good flow of sulfurous water coming out from the hillside. There are lots of smelly mineral springs. You can tour many of them if you walk the short mineral springs loop that starts at the very end of the parking area.
Several stone bridges cross the creek. There are several shrine like rock structures that showcase the mineral springs and concentrate the smells. A few rock wading pools were also built. All the original stone work is just beautiful. It must have taken highly skilled craftsmen a lot of time to build them all!
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Animals abound. If you venture on the trails just a bit away from the main picnic area you are likely to see black tail deer. Squirrels are also very common. Rabbit, fox, bobcat are also common but are shy and much better at hiding. Seller's jays, turkey vultures, red tailed hawks, robins, wild turkeys and pileated woodpeckers are frequently seen. Rattlesnakes, king snakes, tarantulas and other scary creatures can occasionally be seen. Mountain lions and feral pigs are rare. I saw a group of pigs once but never have seen a mountain lion.
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Above left are some black tail deer. If you look closely you can see a fawn by the tree trunk. Above right is a rattlesnake we saw on a trail leading to the Bocardo trail. On the Bocardo trial one often sees cows. This is shared use land. You may open gates to follow the trail but please make sure to close them securely after you go through. Later on we saw the king snake above.
Poison oak thrives throughout the park. Deer love to eat it but, despite the large number of deer, there is still a lot of poison oak. Madrone trees have beautiful red bark which peels off. They are often on outcroppings exposed to the wind and weather usually on the north facing slopes. There are beautiful oak trees. The southern slopes are drier with scattered among grass.
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Above right is a photo of Eagle Rock. There are microwave repeaters there. This is a short steep hike from the parking lot. Skip to the right, deeper into the park then go for a real climb up to the Bocardo trail. Below left is a view from the peak reached by the Bocardo trail on the North Rim. You can see all of San Jose from there. While the air is much cleaner than in the '80s you can easily see a heavy layer of pollution. Breath deeply while there, the air is very clean! The photo on the lower right is taken from the top of the South Rim trail. This is as deep as you can get in the park. The South Rim trail has good views too but is a bit more shaded and not as high up as the Bocardo trail.
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Please support Alum Rock Park! Visit, picnic and play. All the hikes are worthy. The mineral springs trail at the end of the parking lot is a must. Walking along the creek trail is easy, pleasant and cool - super refreshing on a hot summer day.
8/1/2009 (c) Copyright Carl Wohlforth
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