About San Jose's New Almaden

Hiking in "Almaden Quicksilver County Park". It is located in New Almaden, which is in the Southern part of San Jose, CA.

This park is owned and maintained by the County of Santa Clara. It was purchased in the mid 70's and turned into a rich historical park full of trails and discovery.

The parking lot is spacious, and free. As you approach the trial head, you are greeted with a great board showing you the trails, and many handouts explaining the paths you can take.

Most of the beginning of the hike is in the shadows of the trees, and opens into a mixed chaparral forest with sage brush and other vegetation. Near the top it opens up to sunny vistas. Be sure to bring sunblock!

Mixed among the hike, are remnants of days gone by.

This furnace was used to heat the cinnabar and release the mercury from the sulfer leading eventually to liquid mercury.

Near English camp was this neat barn.

Several if no all of the mine tunnels and shafts were sealed, but this one allows you to vision history up close!

Near the top of the peak, you start to see stunning views of the City of San Jose and beyond. If you are planning on hiking in the park, be sure to bring lots of water, and dress in layers. Near the base of the trails can be poison oak, so keep a good eye out.

-Chris Alston

There are times that you decide to NOT read the signs...

So yeah, that is me at the end of this tunnel. I just walked in... It was pretty dark down there, and I kind of didn't think about the fact that I could have cornered a raccoon or cougar... So next time, I might just have to throw a rock down the tunnel before I just go walking down there... But I wasn't that concerned, as I would have been hard to look at as there would be bright light behind me, and I would have just backed out of the tunnel.

As I continued to walk to the end, it got colder and darker which felt good on this hot day. Even though it says "keep out", this tunnel is actually refurbished to allow hikers like me to see what it would have been like to work in the tunnels and shafts back in the day!

These pictures were taken in New Almaden, which is in South San Jose. It is at the Almaden Quicksilver Mines, and this particular day I did about a 10 mile loop and this was about 3/4 the way. Quicksilver is Mercury, which is mined from the rock cinnabar.