Surrounded by Redwoods in Sanborn County Park

This afternoon, I took a tour through the forested Sanborn County Park, located off Highway 9 west of Saratoga. After less than a half an hour’s drive from downtown San Jose, I stood on a pristine dirt trail with enormous redwood trees shooting above my head.

Sanborn County Park offers the only walk-in campground in the entire county park system. Other campgrounds allow visitors to drive directly to the campsite. At Sanborn, campers park their cars at the main park entrance and hike along the park’s extensive trail system for a quieter camping experience.

Even with Sanborn’s 19 miles of trails, some areas of the park are hard to reach without driving to a different park entrance. County Parks and Recreation Department Director Lisa Killough and several parks planners showed me where they will connect Sunnyvale Mountain in the southwest corner of the park to the Lake Ranch Reservoir to the east.

Completing this trail, purchasing land for new trails, and extending existing trails will nearly double the miles of pathways in the park. Hikers will be able to use 38 miles of trails, all within a half-hour drive from San Jose.

Many of these trails connect to trails in adjacent parks in San Mateo County and nearby state parks, adding even more opportunities for recreation. I hope you get a chance to experience Sanborn’s beautiful greenery.

A Vision of Integrated Trails throughout Santa Clara County

The Friends of the Guadalupe River Park and Gardens had a lot to celebrate last night at their annual Window on the River Park event. Executive Director Kathy Muller and hundreds of volunteers could all be proud to hold the event in the River Street Historic Park for the first time.

I have worked with the organization for 10 years now to extend trails throughout our entire valley, and I was pleased to announce that the Guadalupe River Park’s trails will connect to Alviso by November.

The trail will also extend south to connect to Almaden Lake and eventually to the Los Alamitos Trail, allowing anyone to hike, jog, or bike the trail from north San Jose to Almaden Valley.

The grand vision I have is an integrated trail network that connects together the Guadalupe River Trail, the Los Gatos Creek Trail, the Penitencia Creek Trail, the Coyote Creek Trail, the Willow Glen Spur and many others.

I also got a chance to catch up with Leslee Hamilton, president of the Friends’ board of directors and a member of my Team Bike Challenge team, the Rainbow Riders. Our team is eighth out of more than 40 teams competing in Santa Clara County. Leslee and I took a short walk along the Guadalupe River Trail to talk about how bicyclists can incorporate trails into their daily commutes.
Corinne Winter, executive director of the Silicon Valley Bikes Coalition, joined us and reminded us about the official Bike to Work Day festivities on May 17. Energizer stations with free beverages and giveaways will help bicyclists in the morning, and the Silicon Valley Bikes Coalition is throwing a Bike Away from Work Bash from 5 p.m. to 8 p.m. that evening at Gordon Biersch in downtown San Jose. I hope to see many of you there.

Serenity and Fresh Air in Grant County Park

Santa Clara County residents can roll over the east foothills and dip into a valley utterly untouched by the urban lifestyle of the Bay Area.

Joseph D. Grant County Park lies less than 10 miles from San Jose. Its rolling hills, ancient oak trees, and green wetlands are the rewards for driving about 30 minutes the winding road east from Silicon Valley.

After biking to morning meetings in Santa Clara, I hitched a ride with staff from the Santa Clara County Department of Parks and Recreation to Grant Park. I thought I had landed in the foothills of the Sierra Nevada Mountains when I stepped into the quiet, serene atmosphere of the county’s largest park.

With nearly 10,000 acres of land and more than 50 miles of trails, visitors can walk for an entire day without retracing their steps. Grant Park also provides a great workout for mountain bikers with more than 23 miles of biking trails.

Local history buffs can learn about the Grant family at the restored family house next to the park office. The county purchased the Grant family property in 1975, and the park officially opened in 1978.

Since then, the park’s natural vegetation has slowly been restored. Park rangers and volunteers have been eradicating non-native plants and replacing them with the wetland vegetation that used to thrive in the area.

Park officials have built campgrounds, and many of the trails have been restored in recent years. Parks and Recreation Director Lisa Killough and Natural Resource Supervisor Don Rocha showed me the wet meadow that the department is in the process of rehabilitating.

With the park so close to the Bay Area, I hope many of our residents have seen the natural beauty resting only a few miles away. Grant Park holds many events throughout the year, and volunteers and park rangers are gearing up for the next stargazing party from 8:30 to 11 p.m. this Saturday. As beautiful as the park is during the day, it is a real sight to see at night.