During the month of February I have been hiking the trails that were designated for the 2020 PixInParks Challenge, a program sponsored by Santa Clara County Parks. The program consists of seven easy-to-moderate hikes, each in a different county park, selected to give or introduce participants to a range of experiences. The idea is that people go for a pleasant outing in one of the parks, hike along a specific trail to a particular location, and take a group picture or selfie – usually there’s a nice view. You then post the picture on social media with specific hashtags. It’s a nice way to get out and visit county parks. This year, due to a temporary issue that limits my walking, I have decided to do the shorter routes suggested for ADA visitors.
This post describes my seventh, and therefore last, PixInParks hike for 2020, in Almaden Quicksilver County Park. I have hiked in Almaden Quicksilver, AQ for short, numerous times from all three major staging areas. The park is over 4,000 acres in size and has a rich history, particularly including mining activities. There are numerous mine remnants and other mining artifacts, including a museum and a rotary furnace that is visible from almost halfway across the park. In the height of the mining era some 1,800 miners and their families lived within the current park boundaries.
The PixInParks hike begins and ends at the Mockingbird Hill staging area in the Almaden Valley. The short version that I did does not extend to the heart of the park, but there are 37 miles of hiking trails, some also open to bikers and/or equestrians, so there is a lot to see and enjoy on a more extended visit. It seems that there is always another trail that I haven’t yet hiked!
Almaden Quicksilver is known for having a nice wildflower display in the spring. I’ve never seen carpets of flowers there, but it seems that there is always a variety of flowers in bloom during the spring. On the day of my visit near the end of February, I found a nice variety. Almost before I left the staging area I found my first wildflower: chickweed (Stellaria media). This is actually a non-native wildflower; it has been naturalized in the wild, which means that it grows and propagates on its own without human encouragement or intervention. But unlike some other non-natives, it is not considered to be invasive – so it apparently co-exists nicely with native plants.
Chickweed near the Mockingbird Hill staging area of Almaden Quicksilver County Park
Almost immediately I also found some California buttercups (Ranunculus californicus), a California native.
California buttercup
And in the next hundred yards or so I found miner’s lettuce (Claytonia perfoliata), wavy-leaved soap root (Chlorogalum pomeridianum), hound’s tongue (Cynoglossum grande), and some poison oak (Toxicodendron diversilobium). The poison oak wasn’t blooming, but its leaves-of-three were shiny, as they often are in the early spring. February is a bit early for many of the flowers and plants I saw, but the growing and blooming seasons often adjust according to the timing and amount of winter rains.
Before continuing the description of my hike, I want to provide an overview. Here I show my GPS track for the hike, where the orange dot denotes the Mockingbird Hill staging area’s parking area. The hike was basically an out-and-back hike on the Hacienda Trail, though I took an alternate route on the New Almaden Trail for the final 0.2 mile of the return. My round-trip distance was 1.6 miles. The “regular” (non-ADA) PixInParks route was a 4.5-mile loop continuing much farther into the heart of the park. It would have been beautiful, but is simply beyond my range this season.
GPS track
The elevation profile shows that the Hacienda Trail climbs steadily away from the trailhead. The PixInParks photo location was at the highest point of my hike; as described below, I went a short distance beyond the photo location before beginning my return hike. The total elevation gain and loss were about 560 feet, mostly to arrive at the viewpoint. The elevation profile shows that the trail gradually gets steeper; the second half of the climb had an average grade of a little over 15%, which is definitely steep enough to notice. The average grade for the entire hike was 13%.
Elevation profile
Almost 1/4 mile from the trailhead Hacienda Trail crosses New Almaden Trail, where the regular route’s main loop returns if the loop is hiked in the clockwise direction. I continued straight on the Hacienda Trail. A little way past the junction I came across some purple sanicle (Sanicula bipinnatifida). The flower heads are delightfully quirky dark purple balls with long reproductive parts extending outward.
Purple sanicle
In quick succession I passed some blue witch (Solanum umbelliferum), toyon (Heteromeles arbutifolia), California man-root (Marah fabacea), and polypody ferns (Polypodium sp). Much of AQ is covered in trees, and the Hacienda Trail winds through a variety of vegetation, zigging and zagging to keep the grade reasonable.
Hacienda Trail in Almaden Quicksilver County Park
Occasionally there is a small break in the vegetation that reveals a view of the nearby Almaden Valley, here a few hundred feet lower in elevation.
Almaden Valley
I found a nice patch of California maidenhair fern (Adiantum jordanii), with characteristic skinny dark stems resembling hair and with fan-shaped leaves.
California maidenhair fern
There was also a patch of milk maids (Cardamine californica) approaching peak bloom, with fully open blossoms and buds on each plant.
Milk maids
Through another break in the vegetation there was a nice view, generally southwest, upward into the heart of the park, where Capitancillos Ridge dominates the landscape.
View of Capitancillos Ridge
I found an amazing oak tree, I presume valley oak (Quercus lobata) since it was clearly a deciduous individual. I thought the branch structure was rather striking, so I tried taking some pictures looking upward through some of the branches. The texture of the bark was also beautiful.
Valley oak branches
Continuing my climb, I passed a number of blue dicks (Dichelostemma capitatum), with tight clusters of light purple blossoms.
Blue dicks
Near the blue dicks there were numerous common fiddlenecks (Amsinckia intermedia), with 1/2 cm diameter blossoms with yellow petals and a red-orange area on each petal.
Common fiddleneck
A few minutes later I found some common lomatium, or hog fennel (Lomatium utriculatum). This plant has feathery leaves, visible in the background of this picture, and numerous compact flower heads on varying-length stems radiating from the top of the main stem.
Common lomatium, or hog fennel
Above 900 feet elevation the trail became somewhat steeper, and I was secretly glad to have an excuse to pause for nice views, from near a high point in the trail, of El Sombroso, a peak in Sierra Azul Open Space Preserve, and Mt Umunhum.
Mt Umunhum
The PixInParks photo location is a bench at the high point in the trail. When I first approached, another park visitor was sitting on the bench enjoying the view. I was reluctant to interrupt her solitude, so I continued down the other side of the mini-ridge for 0.1 mile or so, then turned around and began my return back toward the trailhead. I took my time, stopping to look at more fiddlenecks and other wildflowers. When I returned some 10 minutes later I finally asked if she would mind stepping away for long enough for me to take my official PixInParks photo – so I explained the PixInParks program to her, and she seemed to appreciate that. I usually take a picture of my day pack at the designated location; this time I could have asked her to take a picture of me, but I decided to continue my “tradition” of photographing my day pack. The view of the edge of AQ and the Almaden Valley was beautiful and peaceful.
PixInParks photo for Almaden Quicksilver County Park (ADA route)
Then I continued downhill and back toward the trailhead. As sometimes happens, on the return leg of an out-and-back hike I notice different things from on the outbound leg. In this case I noticed a nice view to the northeast across the lower Santa Clara Valley toward Mt Hamilton, in the Diablo Range. The bright white buildings of Lick Observatory are visible on the top of Mt Hamilton.
Mt Hamilton and Lick Observatory across the Santa Clara Valley
Part way back along Hacienda Trail I noticed some Pacific sanicle (Sanicula crassicaulis). At first I thought it might be some more lomatium, but a more detailed study of the flower heads and leaves indicated that it was Pacific sanicle. Like purple sanicle, the flower heads are compact balls, this time with yellow petals, and again with long reproductive parts.
Pacific sanicle
Farther along I noticed some more ferns, probably polypody (Polypodium sp), and a pretty, early-blooming bay laurel tree (Umbellularia californica). When I arrived at the New Almaden Trail crossing I decided to descend on the New Almaden Trail, just for something a little different, and shortly I arrived back at the staging area.
I had selected a pleasant late-February day for my outing, and the final PixInParks hike was very enjoyable. I was glad to see so many early-spring wildflowers. And I appreciated that County Parks selected photo locations and, in some cases, alternate routes that made it feasible for visitors to participate in, and complete, the challenge in spite of physical limitations. Most of all, I appreciated the very existence of an entire network of County Parks that are available for the public to enjoy year-round.
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