No photos from this hike yet but to see more photos from other hikes I've done to: www.LCPhoto.SmugMug.com.
Hike Stats
Length:
Terrain: some slightly steep hills. Mostly moderate up and down or fairly level.
Trail Type: Mostly single track dirt. Brief section of asphalt road (closed to auto traffic)
Elevation Change:
Total Ascent/Descent:
Cut-Off Points: One to shorten hike.
Getting There
coming soon
Turn-By-Turn
coming soon
Downloads
coming soon
Related Hikes
coming soon
Description and Map
As I said this one is still incomplete due to several factors. One my GPS batteries died about 3/4 of the way through so no elevation profile. Pus I found a possible alternate park point outside the park that I want to check out that will save the $6 parking fee.
All that said I was surprised to find much the same vegetation as in the foothills of the Santa Cruz Mountains across the valley. Oaks and Bayberry where in great abundance with most of the hike being in full to part shade. Something about the forest cover looked different though and the only thing I could come up with was that it looked drier. This makes sense given that these east foothills get considerably less rainfall than the westside Santa Cruz Mts.
As you reach the higher elevation the vegetation thins out to more scrub vegetation, the Bayberries disappear but scrub varieties of Oak are still prevalent. You get some views of both the more barren grasslands of the North Rim of the canyon the park is in (trails to hike there too) and, in the other direction, views of East San Jose all the way across the valley to the Santa Cruz Mts.
On the parts of the trail that parallel the Arroyo Aguague and the Upper Penitencia Creeks, in addition to the Oaks and Bayberries are some groves of Maple. There is a Sycamore Grove picnic area so I assume there must be some sycamore trees around (not sure what they look like so I'll have to check 'em out next time around). There are several picnic areas next the the creeks as well as several old bridges crossing the creeks.