J
Sunday 27 Apr 08
Only a few days after I rode from Palo Alto to San Jose and up over
Mt. Hamilton in chilly weather with long sleeves and pants, the
weather changed to the opposite with temperatures in the 90F region.
Ray Hosler, Marc Brandt and I started from Milpitas at 07:30, taking
Piedmont Rd. south, literally at the foot of the Hamilton range to
Penitencia Creek Rd. taking a left and a quarter mile later, right on
Toyon Ave. across to McKee Rd that joins Alum Rock Ave, the approach
to HWY130, the Mt. Hamilton road to Lick Observatory and beyond.
http://tinyurl.com/54j5ye
Having started when we did, the day hadn't gotten more than
comfortably warm and as we climbed to the top of the ridge, remained
that way as we descended into Halls Valley and Grant Ranch Park, where
on a hot day, we often stop for a drink of water, but not today.
Halls Valley has an idyllic character with rolling meadows, lakes and
a few old farm houses, one of which is obviously a school house from
the days of the one room school (with belfry).
The Valley was lush green grasses and a blue tint from wildflowers, a
fitting foreground for Mount Hamilton and its observatory rising above
the next ridge.
Marc was riding a city bike with a fixed gear and a single speed
freewheel on the other side. It was his intention to ride only to the
top while Ray and I went on to Livermore, Pleasanton and Sunol to
return to the start in Milpitas. With green slopes and wildflowers,
we took a leisurely pace taking pictures as a couple of riders looking
like they were in a race wen huffing and puffing by at about twice the
speed.
In the fall we see migrating tarantulas on the mountain and in spring
rains, newts crossing the road, many of which get killed by traffic.
This time we saved a "potato Bug" that moved about as slowly as a
tarantula. We took its picture and moved it to the road shoulder in a
manner similar to my 2ft rattle snake with rodent in belly on my
previous ride a few days earlier.
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Jerusalem_cricket
Up at the observatory we rode through fairly thick swarms of small
flies that clung to arms, legs and jersey. One got in my eye and has
acrid irritating juices. Meanwhile small caterpillars that feed on
new foliage were on the road under trees. Birds don't like eating
these little furry bugs. That's what their hair is for.
In spite of sunshine, it was hazy and had high altitude humidity,
shown by the persistent vapor tails across the sky with bits of cirrus
clouds here and there. We hadn't hit the predicted high temperatures
as we proceeded down the steep back side of the mountain, stopping at
the "radiator refill" watering spring at the 3-mile marker. The ice
cold water went down well and assured us that we would have an easy
ride to the Junction Inn.
Wildflowers from two weeks ago (pinkies) were drying up but remained
in blossom in shady places. In contrast, there were more California
poppies and lupine that before. Clear water in Isabel Creek looked
great after which we had a short steep climb into Arroyo Bayo where
wildflowers abound. The road follows the west side of the valley to a
place where the river runs through a rocky defile around which the
steepest short grunt of the ride occurs before descending back to the
river at the Arnold Ranch at milepost 10.
Arnold ranch peacocks replied to my peacock imitation, about five or
six of them all giving their classic scream.
From here the road climbs gradually getting a bit steeper at the end
before descending into San Antonio valley. In spite of a relatively
dry winter, streams and ponds had plenty of water and some ducks were
still there before moving off to their summer haunts. The buffleheads
that are usually there all winter had already gone, as had the Canada
geese I saw recently.
At one place a paved driveway climbs up past a dam and because I
passed there too often to not know what was up there, we rode up the
road and saw a full lake with ducks and surprisingly many ~8inch trout
clearly visible near the shore. A farm house lies at the end of the
lake with a small jetty on which two small plastic skiffs were stored.
We stopped at the San Antonio Junction Cafe where we met plenty of
bicyclists and many more motorcyclists. When I came here last
Thursday the place was closed, even though they are open daily now.
The reason was a scheduled power outage that morning. I was told they
opened at 4:00 in the afternoon that day. I also has a chance to talk
to Ruthie of Ruthie's Emporium a mile farther on mines road. She has
a great collection of curios and hardware, all for sale.
Ruthie ran the Branding Iron road house about 20 miles down the road
as many years ago. It was painted deep red and had a good following
from the bikers. The ceiling was about 8ft high and was papered with
geologic survey maps of the area. Today the place is a private
residence. What a loss. Ruthie also said that the infamous
"Jot-em-down" store was burned to the ground by hunters the day before
hunting season opened back in those days.
In all, although a bit scarce, we saw beautiful birds all along the
way. Bullocks orioles, black headed grosbeaks, meadow larks, western
king birds, bluebirds, yellow billed magpies, lewis and acorn
woodpeckers, humming birds at the junction cafe, and finally a pair of
bald eagles.
After climbing the two passes that got us over into Arroyo Mocho, that
we would follow all the way to the Livermore valley for the next 30
miles. The road (Mines Road) crosses the creek a couple of times
before the Alameda County line that lies below a short descent and one
more creek crossing. Oaks in this area are just budding out from
their leafless winter and wildflowers color the roadside.
Farther down, at about 2000ft elevation, we crossed the creek once
more after which it dives down its huge canyon while the road stays
high on the east slope, wending its way in and out of small tributary
gulches.
http://tinyurl.com/3tsfmf
Mines Rd. is mostly on a slight descent with a couple of dips as it
stays near 2000ft before making its final descent to the Livermore
Valley where we crossed Arroyo Mocho again and Del Valle Rd. Before
the road descends, water tanks of the SF water department mark the
place next to the creek where the Tesla Cutoff, the worlds longest
tunnel (22miles) in its day passes beneath the mountains on its way to
Irvington. This replaced the conspicuous surface aqueduct adjacent to
the road through Niles Canyon.
http://tinyurl.com/54mx2f
Interestingly we rode into increasing headwinds regardless of our
direction until late in the day. Livermore greeted us with 94deg heat
but reasonably dry, so it was no problem. Parallel to the RR right of
way where formerly Western Pacific and Southern Pacific lines ran
parallel but to day Union Pacific remains on the WP tracks, the SP
track being sued to store container rack freight cars from Oakland.
At times there are more than a mile of parked empties.
http://tinyurl.com/49zmz9
We stopped at the Milk Store in Pleasanton across the street from the
historic former Sp Depot before rolling on down to Sunol and turning
south on Paloma Way that turns into Calaveras road at I680. White
throated swifts nest in the vents under the freeway bridge. Calaveras
Rd. has a line of Cork Oaks on its west side and for some reason, dead
mans foot mushrooms grow under these trees on the barren dry road
shoulder.
http://www.mykoweb.com/CAF/species/Pisolithus_tinctorius.html
We saw groups of four or five as we rode along, many of these looking
more like horse apples than mushrooms, but in one spot a fresh one was
emerging in its typical white skin of a "puffball" mushroom.
http://www.mykoweb.com/CAF/species/Bovista_plumbea.html
After crossing Alameda Creek and Geary Rd. that goes into the park,
Calaveras road begins its climb out of the narrow valley that ends at
the base of Calaveras Dam of the SF Water Dept. (Hetch Hetch Sys.).
The high point of the road is at about 1200ft giving a grand panorama
of the Mountains to the east above which eagles and turkey vultures
soar gracefully.
Today we cam upon a couple of birders with powerful optics and cameras
who were obviously on to a good sighting. It turned out, they were
observing a pair of bald eagles, the symbol of the USA who had an
aerie on top of a high voltage tower a few hundred yards away. First
on, then both took wing and flew overhead in a striking display of
their black and white plumage better than the one on the US Postal
Service logo.
http://tinyurl.com/3maryh
http://www.bluevalhalla.com/v/wildlife/raptors/bald/calares/
From here it is a few miles to the pass out of this valley and all
down hill to the car parked just off Calaveras Rd. in Milpitas.
http://tinyurl.com/4b97ju
That's a 103mile loop with 7800ft climb.
-----------------------
Jobst Brandt
Only a few days after I rode from Palo Alto to San Jose and up over
Mt. Hamilton in chilly weather with long sleeves and pants, the
weather changed to the opposite with temperatures in the 90F region.
Ray Hosler, Marc Brandt and I started from Milpitas at 07:30, taking
Piedmont Rd. south, literally at the foot of the Hamilton range to
Penitencia Creek Rd. taking a left and a quarter mile later, right on
Toyon Ave. across to McKee Rd that joins Alum Rock Ave, the approach
to HWY130, the Mt. Hamilton road to Lick Observatory and beyond.
http://tinyurl.com/54j5ye
Having started when we did, the day hadn't gotten more than
comfortably warm and as we climbed to the top of the ridge, remained
that way as we descended into Halls Valley and Grant Ranch Park, where
on a hot day, we often stop for a drink of water, but not today.
Halls Valley has an idyllic character with rolling meadows, lakes and
a few old farm houses, one of which is obviously a school house from
the days of the one room school (with belfry).
The Valley was lush green grasses and a blue tint from wildflowers, a
fitting foreground for Mount Hamilton and its observatory rising above
the next ridge.
Marc was riding a city bike with a fixed gear and a single speed
freewheel on the other side. It was his intention to ride only to the
top while Ray and I went on to Livermore, Pleasanton and Sunol to
return to the start in Milpitas. With green slopes and wildflowers,
we took a leisurely pace taking pictures as a couple of riders looking
like they were in a race wen huffing and puffing by at about twice the
speed.
In the fall we see migrating tarantulas on the mountain and in spring
rains, newts crossing the road, many of which get killed by traffic.
This time we saved a "potato Bug" that moved about as slowly as a
tarantula. We took its picture and moved it to the road shoulder in a
manner similar to my 2ft rattle snake with rodent in belly on my
previous ride a few days earlier.
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Jerusalem_cricket
Up at the observatory we rode through fairly thick swarms of small
flies that clung to arms, legs and jersey. One got in my eye and has
acrid irritating juices. Meanwhile small caterpillars that feed on
new foliage were on the road under trees. Birds don't like eating
these little furry bugs. That's what their hair is for.
In spite of sunshine, it was hazy and had high altitude humidity,
shown by the persistent vapor tails across the sky with bits of cirrus
clouds here and there. We hadn't hit the predicted high temperatures
as we proceeded down the steep back side of the mountain, stopping at
the "radiator refill" watering spring at the 3-mile marker. The ice
cold water went down well and assured us that we would have an easy
ride to the Junction Inn.
Wildflowers from two weeks ago (pinkies) were drying up but remained
in blossom in shady places. In contrast, there were more California
poppies and lupine that before. Clear water in Isabel Creek looked
great after which we had a short steep climb into Arroyo Bayo where
wildflowers abound. The road follows the west side of the valley to a
place where the river runs through a rocky defile around which the
steepest short grunt of the ride occurs before descending back to the
river at the Arnold Ranch at milepost 10.
Arnold ranch peacocks replied to my peacock imitation, about five or
six of them all giving their classic scream.
From here the road climbs gradually getting a bit steeper at the end
before descending into San Antonio valley. In spite of a relatively
dry winter, streams and ponds had plenty of water and some ducks were
still there before moving off to their summer haunts. The buffleheads
that are usually there all winter had already gone, as had the Canada
geese I saw recently.
At one place a paved driveway climbs up past a dam and because I
passed there too often to not know what was up there, we rode up the
road and saw a full lake with ducks and surprisingly many ~8inch trout
clearly visible near the shore. A farm house lies at the end of the
lake with a small jetty on which two small plastic skiffs were stored.
We stopped at the San Antonio Junction Cafe where we met plenty of
bicyclists and many more motorcyclists. When I came here last
Thursday the place was closed, even though they are open daily now.
The reason was a scheduled power outage that morning. I was told they
opened at 4:00 in the afternoon that day. I also has a chance to talk
to Ruthie of Ruthie's Emporium a mile farther on mines road. She has
a great collection of curios and hardware, all for sale.
Ruthie ran the Branding Iron road house about 20 miles down the road
as many years ago. It was painted deep red and had a good following
from the bikers. The ceiling was about 8ft high and was papered with
geologic survey maps of the area. Today the place is a private
residence. What a loss. Ruthie also said that the infamous
"Jot-em-down" store was burned to the ground by hunters the day before
hunting season opened back in those days.
In all, although a bit scarce, we saw beautiful birds all along the
way. Bullocks orioles, black headed grosbeaks, meadow larks, western
king birds, bluebirds, yellow billed magpies, lewis and acorn
woodpeckers, humming birds at the junction cafe, and finally a pair of
bald eagles.
After climbing the two passes that got us over into Arroyo Mocho, that
we would follow all the way to the Livermore valley for the next 30
miles. The road (Mines Road) crosses the creek a couple of times
before the Alameda County line that lies below a short descent and one
more creek crossing. Oaks in this area are just budding out from
their leafless winter and wildflowers color the roadside.
Farther down, at about 2000ft elevation, we crossed the creek once
more after which it dives down its huge canyon while the road stays
high on the east slope, wending its way in and out of small tributary
gulches.
http://tinyurl.com/3tsfmf
Mines Rd. is mostly on a slight descent with a couple of dips as it
stays near 2000ft before making its final descent to the Livermore
Valley where we crossed Arroyo Mocho again and Del Valle Rd. Before
the road descends, water tanks of the SF water department mark the
place next to the creek where the Tesla Cutoff, the worlds longest
tunnel (22miles) in its day passes beneath the mountains on its way to
Irvington. This replaced the conspicuous surface aqueduct adjacent to
the road through Niles Canyon.
http://tinyurl.com/54mx2f
Interestingly we rode into increasing headwinds regardless of our
direction until late in the day. Livermore greeted us with 94deg heat
but reasonably dry, so it was no problem. Parallel to the RR right of
way where formerly Western Pacific and Southern Pacific lines ran
parallel but to day Union Pacific remains on the WP tracks, the SP
track being sued to store container rack freight cars from Oakland.
At times there are more than a mile of parked empties.
http://tinyurl.com/49zmz9
We stopped at the Milk Store in Pleasanton across the street from the
historic former Sp Depot before rolling on down to Sunol and turning
south on Paloma Way that turns into Calaveras road at I680. White
throated swifts nest in the vents under the freeway bridge. Calaveras
Rd. has a line of Cork Oaks on its west side and for some reason, dead
mans foot mushrooms grow under these trees on the barren dry road
shoulder.
http://www.mykoweb.com/CAF/species/Pisolithus_tinctorius.html
We saw groups of four or five as we rode along, many of these looking
more like horse apples than mushrooms, but in one spot a fresh one was
emerging in its typical white skin of a "puffball" mushroom.
http://www.mykoweb.com/CAF/species/Bovista_plumbea.html
After crossing Alameda Creek and Geary Rd. that goes into the park,
Calaveras road begins its climb out of the narrow valley that ends at
the base of Calaveras Dam of the SF Water Dept. (Hetch Hetch Sys.).
The high point of the road is at about 1200ft giving a grand panorama
of the Mountains to the east above which eagles and turkey vultures
soar gracefully.
Today we cam upon a couple of birders with powerful optics and cameras
who were obviously on to a good sighting. It turned out, they were
observing a pair of bald eagles, the symbol of the USA who had an
aerie on top of a high voltage tower a few hundred yards away. First
on, then both took wing and flew overhead in a striking display of
their black and white plumage better than the one on the US Postal
Service logo.
http://tinyurl.com/3maryh
http://www.bluevalhalla.com/v/wildlife/raptors/bald/calares/
From here it is a few miles to the pass out of this valley and all
down hill to the car parked just off Calaveras Rd. in Milpitas.
http://tinyurl.com/4b97ju
That's a 103mile loop with 7800ft climb.
-----------------------
Jobst Brandt