Trail Center Workday - Almaden Quicksilver County Park

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Almaden Quicksilver County Park

Almaden Quicksilver County Park, spectacular in natural diversity and a landmark of California history, is a very popular park in Santa Clara County. The park is the site of over 135 years of mining activities and former home to more than 1,800 miners and their families. The park encompasses 4,147 acres, occupying a majority of Capitancillos Ridge. During early spring, the park offers one of the most spectacular wildflower displays in the region. Remnants of the mining era also offer an exciting look into the mining operations of the latter part of the 19th century.

Location: Almaden Quicksilver County Park, New Almaden, California - New Almaden Trail

Directions: Almaden Quicksilver County Park is located in south San Jose, in the town of New Almaden. You can reach the park office at (408) 268-3883. You can reach the New Almaden Quicksilver Mining Museum at (408) 323-1107. Public transit is available to Almaden Quicksilver County Park.

The park may be accessed from three areas. The Mockingbird Hill entrance is accessed off Mockingbird Hill Lane. This entrance is accessible to all users, including bicyclists. From Highway 85, take the Almaden Expressway exit south 4.5 miles to Almaden Road. Proceed .5 miles on Almaden Road to Mockingbird Hill Lane, turn right and continue .4 miles to the parking area. The Wood Road entrance is accessed off Wood Road. From Hwy. 85 take the Camden Avenue exit south. Turn right on Hicks Road and follow for 6 miles. At the intersection of Wood Road and Hicks Road, turn left into the staging area. The Hacienda entrance is located at the south end of New Almaden. This entrance is accessible to all users, including bicyclists. From Almaden Expressway, proceed 3 miles along Almaden Road through the town of New Almaden to the unpaved staging area on the right.

See the Activity section below for the exact meeting location.

Agency: Santa Clara County Parks - Heidi McFarland, SCC Volunteer Coordinator, 408-355-2254

Supervisor: Dave Croker

Project Lead: Hank Magnuski, 650-714-2409

Additional Information: Wear closed toe shoes and bring work gloves if you have them. Boots and long sleeve shirts are recommended, but not essential. As with most Peninsula parks, exposure to some poison oak is possible, although every effort is made to minimize contact. The Trail Center will supply all tools and gloves.

Please arrive by 8:30 am for safety talks and crew assignments. We normally work until 3:00 pm and have lunch on the trail.

Bring lunch, two bottles of water, some energy snacks and sunscreen.

Saturday, April 19, 2008 - New Almaden Trail Reroute - Earth Day Event

Activities: SCC will be removing a substandard bridge on the New Almaden trail at Almaden Quicksilver park. The bridge will be replaced with a puncheon structure about 30' upstream from the current location. This new location will require a re-route of approximately 600' of new trail and obliteration of the existing alignment.

Meet at Castillero Middle School on the corner of Leyland Park and McAbee in San Jose. Volunteers will be shuttled from there to park border and hike into work site.

The site is 2 miles in from the Web Canyon trailhead so it is a 45 - 60 minute hike in.

The weekend work would involve building the new trail and removing the old trail. The puncheon should be in place by the weekend and the old bridge would be removed when the new trail meets up with puncheon.

It is a hiking only trail and the spec's would be a 36" trail bench with the corridor cleared of brush and limbs to our standard of 2' on each side of the trail and limbed to a vertical height of 8'. We will be stashing and scattering the debris out of view. There is a short stretch of poison oak.

This will be a fun project and a much needed improvement to the trail.

If you are under 18, you will need a waiver which can be downloaded from the Santa Clara County (www.parkhere.org) "Volunteer Opportunities" page. Due to the scope of work, volunteers for this project must be 16 and over.
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