Mission Peak gets throngs of hikers but only a few trekkers take this route to the summit — an eight-mile out-and-back that stretches out the 2,000-foot ascent to the summit (the most-popular route ascends a similar height in a 5.2-mile out-and-back). It starts from the parking lot at Ohlone College along Mission Boulevard in Fremont, California. Just one trail — …
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Duveneck Windmill Pasture OSP is oak meadowland at the top of a ridge, 1200 feet up Black Mountain, between Rancho San Antonio OSP and Hidden Villa. In 1867 G.W. Moody built a road from the Mountain View train station and a stagecoach stop and inn (the White House) for a stage running from San Jose to Pescadero. The White House was also known …
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Windy Hill is named for its distinctive, breezy grass-covered hilltop, which can be seen from many areas of the peninsula. The 1,335-acre preserve features open grassland ridges and forests of redwood, fir, and oak. Peninsula Open Space Trust, a local non-profit land trust, provided major support for acquisition of this preserve. DIRECTIONS AND PARKING Windy Hill Open Space Preserve is …
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Long Ridge OSP is a scenic section of the Bay Rim Trail system. From its grass-covered hills, you can see the Pacific Ocean beyond the deep canyon that holds Portola State Park. On the way there, you pass through two miles of forest with Douglas Fir, Redwood, Madrone, and several species of oak and tanbark. From the south: Park at …
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A flock of wild parrots hang out most often in the area near El Camino Ave and Mathilda Ave, in Sunnyvale, where Matilda turns into Saratoga-Sunnyvale Road. At various times and, particularly, towards the end of the day, they congregate in Los Palmas Park, just a few blocks away. A cluster of palm trees in the park provide a safe …
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William Wright’s redwood framed, two story, side-gabled farmhouse is the oldest extant residence in Sunnyvale. Located at 1234 Cranberry Avenue. It probably was constructed in 1862 and certainly prior to 1876, when it appears as an illustration in Thompson and West’s Historical Atlas of Santa Clara County. It is a simplified version of the Gothic Revival style. Its original centered …
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In 1850, the Martin Murphy Jr family had a 20-room house in what is now Sunnyvale. Because there were no lumber mills at that time, Murphy ordered the home to be built in Bangor, Maine; disassembled; shipped around Cape Horn; and reassembled. Because there were also no suppliers of nails, man named Dawson managed to put the house together using …
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Sunnyvale thoughtfully has preserved its heritage as bountiful agricultural land by reserving a large block of orchards and a replica of the house of some of the earliest Sunnyvale pioneers: the Murphy family. In 1994, the City of Sunnyvale preserved ten acres of Blenheim apricot trees to celebrate the important contribution of orchards to the early development of the local …
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Originally constructed in the 1870s for George H. Briggs and extensively reconstructed in the 1920 for the Henry S. Stelling family, the mansion recounts the history of Sunnyvale. Briggs was one of the earliest pioneers who came from Boston in 1854. Stelling, the son of one of San Jose’s first orchardists, grew pears and award winning cherries. This large Redwood …
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The Monkey Puzzle tree is an exotic conifer. You can see a young example at 545 S. Sunnyvale. Araucaria araucana (commonly called the monkey puzzle tree, Chilean pine, or pehuén) is an evergreen tree growing to 40 m (130 ft) tall with a 2-m (7-ft) trunk diameter. The tree is native to central and southern Chile and western Argentina. It …
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