Almaden Quicksilver County Park is in the southern end of San Jose, California, in the hills overlooking Silicon Valley. The park occupies the site of a former quicksilver (aka mercury) mine that at one time was among the largest of its kind in the world. Relics of the mine still stand at the park.
Trails
Summary
Difficulty
Distance
Mining Sites at Almaden Quicksilver County Park
Remnants of San Jose's mercury mining history lie in the hills of Almaden Quicksilver Park.
Remnants of San Jose's mercury mining history lie in the hills of Almaden Quicksilver Park.
Difficult
6.9 mi/
11.1 km
11.1 km
Mockingbird Loop - Almaden Quicksilver County Park
3.7 mile trail around Almaden Quicksilver County Park
3.7 mile trail around Almaden Quicksilver County Park
n/a
5.3 mi/
8.5 km
8.5 km
Guides
Remnants of San Jose's mercury mining history lie in the hills of Almaden Quicksilver Park.
3.7 mile trail around Almaden Quicksilver County Park
Community Trips
One of my favorite things about Almaden Quicksilver County Park is that there is always a hike option, whether you want something short and easy or something long and steep. The park offers both nature and an interesting history so it's fun to wander around and see what you come across.I decided to take advantage of a nice afternoon and get in a short hike. The goal was to gauge my condition...
My main target was a walk along New Almaden to check out the waterfalls during the latest storm once up there I decided to loop around Mine Hill to see if I could see mucho crazy ass Sammydee up on Sombroso :-) Unlike Sam I waited for the main front to pass to start my hike today but still got completely soaked by the secondary storms. Along Mine Hill the rain was near horizontal and the wind...
Almaden Quicksilver quick loop out of Mockingbird entrance
English Town, California, United States
3.2 miles
3.2 miles
My 5 year old wanted to hike with me today so I had to come up with a short (less than 4 miles) hike nearby. The Mockingbird area of Almaden Quicksilver County Park seemed a good choice.I initially intended to hike up the Hacienda trail (it's very steep for a 5 year old but Emilie hiked it before), then take the Cape Horn Pass trail, the Randol trail to Buena Vista Shaft...
This was a nice fall weather hike in Almaden Quicsilver with Mike and Dwayne. We had an early deadline today so we kept the hike short (7 miles, 3 hours) and because AQ is only about ten minutes from me we were able to minimize drive times.This hike took us up the relatively short but steep trail to Cape Horn Pass right off the bat, but after than any elevation gains were...
A nice exploration of Almaden Quicksilver, off the beaten path
New Almaden, California, United States
4.3 miles
4.3 miles
Sunday, we decided (with Joe and Antony) to go hiking in Almaden Quicksilver and see if we could find old forgotten structures from the time the park was a mining ground.We were particularly targeting the North-East area of Mine Hill, where old aerial pictures from the 50's revealed what seemed to be roads and man-made structures.We started our hike at the Hacienda and chose to take Deep Gulch trail to climb up...
Family walk along New Almaden Trail, from Mockingbird to Webb Canyon
English Town, California, United States
4.4 miles
4.4 miles
A part of the family was in town (from Overseas), and we were looking for a few hours hike we could all do. With so many of us, we needed two cars so I thought we could try to find a nice through hike in Almaden Quicksilver. Staging a car would be easy.New Almaden Trail, from Mockingbird to Webb Canyon seemed quite ambitious (4.5 miles with some elevation) but everybody thought it looked...
Been a while since Roo(my Boxer dog) has been hiking as he doesn't like the heat so we came out for a quick jaunt through quick. We headed across New Almaden which is an awesome trail, never crowded and beautiful views. I'd recently read about wasp galls so I was out looking for them today, I only had to check a few live oaks to find some. If you've never seen them...
A couple weeks back, a friend (Chris) suggested that my daughter and I join he and his daughter the next time they went geocaching. We finally managed to pick a date that worked for both of us, and off we went on a remarkably temperate, foggy January Saturday morning.Almaden Quicksilver is the closest park to my house for a decent hike, so I know the park and its trails quite well. I've...
Several weeks ago Laurent and I hiked from Gudalupe Lake to Hicks Road via the Sierra Azul Openspace. We were both astonished by the variety and quantity of amazing wildflowers .. almost all of them in the last 2 miles! Today I brought Elaine back for a peek. We drove up to the Hicks Road trailhead and headed down Woods Trail. The trail zigzags in and out of small valleys, and thus...
After being out of town on vacation for a week, I needed a hike. Almaden Quicksilver seemed like a good place. I started at the Hacienda, and made a tour of the south part of the park on the Mine Hill, Castillero, and Randol trails. There were a lot more flowers than I had expected. The Scotch Broom was amazing ... the sweet smell to strong it made me cough in spots....
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