Tag Archives: observatory

Drive down Quimby Road – Review

IMG_0168quimby road san jose - Google SearchThis is one of San Jose’s best drives, Quimby Road.  It’s got a lot of history.  I wouldn’t venture on a recreational drive with the phone on.  Checking it and texting will be dangerous.  Your reception will be shotty, so who cares.  You’re not going to want to be checking your phone anyways.  I like to think of this drive as a 30 minute vacation.  If you grew up camping and hiking, if you appreciate your relationship with nature, you’re going to like to bite-size journey.  You can return to your day to day totally renewed.

IMG_0147This drive is gorgeous!  Go grab your camera!  If you want to take photos, do be polite.  Pull to the side of road in a turn out or find a driveway and your flashers.  This is a narrow windy road.  Quimby Road also isn’t entirely lifeless, meaning you’ll find other cars passing and people live out here.  Be careful if you’re getting out of the car, check your mirrors before getting out  and use your flashers every time.

CAM12894IMG_0187Your trip out of town doesn’t really begin until you reach Murillo Avenue.  From Eastridge Mall to Murillo Avenue, this area of Quimby Road is completely developed. That’s changed since my childhood.  There’s  high school where there were once cow pastures.  Just west of Murillo Avenue are newer homes and the Sikh Gurdwara.  Murillo Avenue would mark the boundary of the Pellier Ranch and upon your first curves, you’ll find vineyards and a monastery.  You’re on the right path.  Keep going.

IMG_0145The hills are steep and windy.  Because they are, your views will be spectacular right away.  There’s no where to really pull over and park on the way up, so you’re going to have to wait for these shots on your way back when you can find room on a turn.  Or bring a friend and keep your eye on the road.  Really, that’s safest.  You’ll have to muscle up a few switchbacks back to back.  Don’t go too slow, and don’t get nervous.  I do think in 4 cylinders with ease.  Don’t be overwhelmed by the steep curves.  And when you get comfy with them, you’ll enjoy them.

IMG_0169After the switchbacks are shaded valleys and wavy roadways up here.  This is the Northeastern corner of Rancho Yerba Buena.  Picturesque barns and livestock populate Quimby Road.  This is nearly untouched wilderness and the drive is pretty relaxing from here out.  You can’t entirely take your eyes off the road, but turn offs are plentiful.

IMG_0184Watch out for deer.  Actually, there’s plenty of indigenous wildlife on Quimby – vultures, turkeys, squirrels and lovely deer.  In the past and in the evening, you can see owl, bobcat and deer galore.  I’ve found deer here, Chaboya Road and at the Wehner Mansion.  This was taken at 2pm, so they’re pretty brazen up here.  Photograph deer with caution.  This guy was calm, but I felt uncomfortable at the Wehner Mansion.  It just depends, but always remember – that’s not Bambi.  Photograph at a distance.  If you’re a serious photographer, you should take all your lenses anyway.

CAM12900CAM12899Further down Quimby Road, you will pass some stunning, old school ranches to the left and right where you reach the Summit.  These ranch entrances alone are beautiful.  They’re not open to the public, so don’t go wandering up a driveway.  This far removed from civilization, hunting is a reality and serves a huge purpose in wildlife control and conservation.  It’s simply not safe to have unplanned visits.  Stick to the road and take all the pictures of hundreds of year old Evergreen oaks and historic barns you want.  This portion of Quimby is fun to drive, but not without well marked turns and elevation changes.  You gotta stay alert.

IMG_0166IMG_0163Beyond the Summit and just outside of the Rancho Yerba Buena, you drop down into a Valley.  You’re officially out of Evergreen.  A beautiful lake in Halls Valleys reveals itself and Quimby Road soon ends at Mt. Hamilton Road, Highway 130.  By turning right, you’ll reach Joseph Grant Park nearly immediately.  This park entrance is a great spot to pull over for pictures of the lake.

IMG_0159James Lick Observatory is another 30-45 minutes away, depending on how you drive on windy roads.  Like we discussed in our Best Drive List, this is where this drive becomes tremendously difficult.  This is not for new drivers.  This is not for texting.  This is not for the timid.  This is not for the car sick or just eaten.  This is not for old tires or weak brakes.  If you have any questions or doubts, stop off at Joseph Grant Park and collect your thoughts.  This isn’t a fun drive beyond this point, but it’s worth it if you’re curious about the Observatory.  During this drive, it’s fun watching it come into focus as you get closer.

 

 

 

Evergreen’s Best Drives – Road Reviews

P1300723Evergreen’s rolling, green hills and stunning vistas do not only provide its suburban gold a splendorous backdrop.  These beautiful hillsides and over a hundred year old paths are endless entertainment for motorists, experienced and not, since their creation.  As a teen, I never had a mischievous side but rather an intense curiosity.  I would drive until I had to turn around in every direction.  I could get to San Francisco without hitting a single freeway, and only later did I find out I had taken a 200 year old path by California’s settlers.  I practiced on Quimby Road before driving over Highway 17 to Santa Cruz.  I’d rather be close to home and stuck than far away and stuck.  Today and throughout this research, I use these Evergreen roadways as pallet cleansers for the creativity and for a sense of what Evergreen is and was.  I review from a place of experience.

1876 MapUntil the 1880’s, these roadways were unpaved horse carriage and cattle driving passages.  King Road, Quimby Road, White Road, San Felipe Road, Chew Lane, Evergreen Road, Fowler Road, Cadwallader Avenue, Norwood Avenue and Silver Creek Road were the major roadways.  King Road would’ve taken you into Downtown San Jose.  Tully Road would’ve gotten you to Monterey Highway and either Downtown, Gilroy, San Francisco, or Oakland.  Norwood Avenue, Fowler Road and Quimby Road would’ve snaked into the hillside and provided passage for farmers.  When these weren’t direct enough, farmers were friendly enough to let others walk through their properties or boundary roads.

early_summitJames Lick Observatory’s necessary roadway through one of the most complicated stretches of mountain terrain made paving Evergreen’s rolling hills were no longer insurmountable tasks.  James Lick, philanthropist and business mogul, dedicated a Trust with the funds for the Observatory and Telescope in 1874.  The trip was made by horseback in 1875 to the summit of Mt. Hamilton, though no previous trail had been blazed, and won out against several Bay Area mountain peak options.  Alum Rock’s original roadway to the Observatory’s construction site was completed in 1876 for $70,000.00.  That was fairly astronomical in 1870’s dollars.  By 1879, the engineers and scientists worked the numbers and construction was underway.  The James Lick Observatory with its Alum Rock Avenue access was completed in 1881.  The early 1900’s saw plenty of paving of Evergreen roads, but it’s these roads which have not been altered in route or direction that make the best driving today.

03OVER-master675Since we’re talking about it and it’s so close to Evergreen, Alum Rock Avenue is not for the car sick.  Do not blindfold your best friend and try to bring her closer to the stars.  Do not be surprised if one or both of the following happen if you do this – she vomits in your car or she gets really upset with you and convinces herself that you’re not her friend and this isn’t fun.  Alum Rock Avenue connects San Jose to Mount Hamilton most directly through the curvaceous mountainside.  The Mt. Diablo Mountain Range, for which Evergreen is a foothill, is aptly named and deviously windy.  Now also known as Highway 130, this roadway leads over the summit and into Livermore eventually, this little time to have a good time.  It’s conditions for driving aren’t always great.  There’s sometimes snow on the summit and black ice making it  dangerous.  On a good day, the constant turning roadway isn’t one of the ones I remember super fondly.  You worked to get to the Observatory, where views are spectacular.  Heavily wooded areas make photos along the way difficult, but if you can look back towards San Jose, it can be stunning.  Sunsets are beautiful.

CAM10919P1300635San Felipe Road has the keys to my heart and its been well documented.  Sunsets over oak trees and grazing land are spectacular.  Reports of haunting and phantom hand prints are reported at night on the windy drive.  Do not, I report, do not do anything silly on this roadway.  Just watch it on youtube and laugh.  This stretch of road is a photographer’s dream complete with indigenous wildlife and awesome sunsets.  The curves, speed limits and turn offs are clearly marked making it a driver’s heartthrob eventually turning into Metcalf Road.  The turns and inconsistencies of elevation and scenery make it a delight for the casual driver, but think about your ambitious bikers along the way.  Deer also frequently cross.  Be careful, but enjoy.

P1320017IMG_4183Tully Road is not a great drive.  Steep inclines make it awesome fireworks views and Santa Clara Valley vistas, but it doesn’t go on long enough for any decent ride.  Recent development also delays scenic gratification for photographers searching antique views.  These are great vantages of Downtown San Jose.  Similar reviews can be had of Fowler Road, as its route has been so heavily revised and cut short.  Oh, what those hills could say if we could them from up there.

night tourDeer Valley - Joseph D. Grant County ParkQuimby Road is windy but enjoyable.  This is the perfect casual drive with four wheel drive.  Turns are sharp, but the vistas are spectacular.  Farmers and Open Space still exist in Evergreen and this short vacation drive will prove it to you.  A few miles from civilization, you’ll have to decide if you’re blood is pumping enough for one joy ride or if you’re ready to endure more.  This road meets Mt. Hamilton Road and continues into Joseph Grant Park just outside of Evergreen.  This is a place where you can appreciate the natural beauty of what was here before all of us were.  There are also ghost stories of Joseph Grant Park and easily persuaded Park Rangers with a fascination for the macabre.

CAM09485CAM09492Those were long drives to sink your tires into.  Little known and fun-sized rides through rustic glory can be taken in following Aborn Road to the end and Chaboya Road by the Sikh Gurdwara.   These are awkward U-turns but worth the trouble.  These nearby and awesome drives host fantastic, antique barns, spotted horses, and thunderous oak trees.  Wildlife also make this a photographer’s haven.  It’s seen deer, quail, owls, turkeys and bobcats on these drives.  It’s superb.

The corner of Yerba Buena Road and Edenwood Drive where 24-year-old Kiran Pabla was killed in an accident is blocked off from traffic in San Jose, Calif., on Tuesday, Jan. 27, 2015. Pabla, a bystander, was killed in an accident involving two speeding cars thought to be racing. (LiPo Ching/Bay Area News Group)I only have one truly negative driving review from Evergreen.  Yerba Buena Road has luscious turns that drivers enjoy but it dissects the Silver Creek Community.  Pedestrians,  students, bikers and motorists alike share these windy inclines and declines.  Sadly, fatal accidents occur on Yerba Buena Road due to reckless or careless driving.  It’s happened to someone near to me.  Don’t take this everyday Evergreen roadway lightly.  There is nowhere to pull over and photograph until you pass the college.  It’s reasonable scenery but nothing to write home about.  These walls across from Silver Creek Linear Park and Fire Station may be a second project once the Evergreen Mural Walk become profitable.