The Salt Marsh Safari is free, though you have to sign up for tickets online in advance. The hour and a half boat ride through the Alviso slogh, which is the Guadalupe River flowing through the marsh lands on its way to the San Francisco Bay, comes with county park staff to guide the learning.In the San Francisco Bay, looking south east. Flowing towards us from the left comes the Coyote Creek water as it mixes with the Guadalupe River water coming in from the right. In other words, this is all water that has already flowed flowed through several of the county parks we have been visiting.
Ed Levin County Park
Penitencia Creek County Park
Joseph D. Grant County Park
Lick Observatory from the ranch house garden. So many humming birds in here.Black-tailed deer.A family of nine wild boar. This day had so much wild life!Turkey Vulture above. There were also countless wild turkeys on the ground.
Hellyer County Park
Martial Cottle County Park
Wow. That was all 28 Santa Clara County Parks. That was a great adventure for us. We saw so much wildlife, so many reservoirs supporting our drinking water, played and explored in some of our favorite places, found new places, and learned much. In fact, I continue to learn as I research the parks we visited and things we read, saw, or heard from park rangers and other visitors.
Visiting them all, one after the other, was an arbitrary challenge I came up with… And it turned out wonderfully… And it became a sweet and memorable family experience.
Technically, the train station pictured here for the one-third scale train is in the city park adjacent to the county park, though most of the track runs through the county park.
The arbitrary mission I assigned myself was to pack lunches, snacks, water, and kids into a car and visit, or revisit, each of the 28 Santa Clara County Parks within a few days. I don’t know how arbitrary missions and the accomplishment of them can be so satisfying, but it was a wonderful adventure.
The first California State Park, it opened in 1902 to protect old growth forest in the Santa Cruz Mountains. In the beginning it was known as California Redwood Park and changed its name to Big Basin Redwoods State Park a few decades later.
About 20 miles from San Jose through the air, the beautiful winding roads make it about 34 miles of great driving.
Many of the old growth redwood trees here are over 1,000 years old. Wow!
That tall tree in the center of the photo, out in the sun, is believed to be about 2,000 years old. So, it was there close to year 0.Local resident and docent Barry led a tour. Here on a trail a group of 12 at arms length estimate the circumference of one of the older trees in the park.
Much of the credit for the creation of the first California State Park goes to a San Jose photographer named Andrew P. Hill. All of these years I had heard of Andrew Hill high school in San Jose and never thought to ask who he was. Now I know. Andrew Hill was amazed at the sight of the old redwood trees, tallest trees on earth and able to live over 2,000 years. Through his photography and connections, he supported the preservation of these special forests. He led excursions of influential people to the trees that led to the funding and legislation that secured our first state park. Today, there is approximately 3% of the old growth redwood forests remaining in California and most of that is now on protected state public lands.
Ranger programs and marshmallows.The roots of a fallen redwood tree.The redwood trees are well suited to live through years, storms, fires, and more. This redwood tree, and a few of its clones and relatives nearby, has a genetic mutation that gives its bark this wavy shape.
The park is beautiful. The trees are beautiful. The guided walk we went on added so much to the entire experience. I found myself trying to identify trees afterwards and seeing new things around me as I contemplated the life cycles of the rain forest. Also cool, I now know what a huckleberry is and what it tastes like.
On highway 152 on Pacheco Pass, a beautiful large reservoir greets you. Depending on the day and season, a great place to see the sunrise, star gaze, look for wild flowers, smell and enjoy nature, or just appreciate as you drive by. The water is pumped up to the reservoir from the central valley creeks below during the rainy season, and then gravity fed right back down to the central valley to water crops during the dry season.
