Sanborn County Park is a 3,453 acre (13.97 km²) county park situated in the

Santa Cruz Mountains The Santa Cruz Mountains ( Mutsun Ohlone: Mak-sah-re-jah, "Sharp Ridged Mountain of the Eagle" or "People of the Eagle Mountain") are a mountain range in central and Northern California, United States, constituting a part of the Pacific Coast R ...

, managed by the Santa Clara County Parks and Recreation Department. The deeply forested park features over 15 miles of trails, second-growth

redwood Sequoioideae, commonly referred to as redwoods, is a subfamily of Pinophyta, coniferous trees within the family (biology), family Cupressaceae, that range in the Northern Hemisphere, northern hemisphere. It includes the List of superlative tree ...

s, and creeks that flow year-round. It offers hiking, RV camping, walk-in campsites, and picnicking/ BBQ sites. In the summer months, Sanborn County Park hosts the only outdoor

Shakespeare William Shakespeare ( 23 April 1564 – 23 April 1616) was an English playwright, poet and actor. He is widely regarded as the greatest writer in the English language and the world's pre-eminent dramatist. He is often called England's natio ...

an company in

Silicon Valley Silicon Valley is a region in Northern California that is a global center for high technology and innovation. Located in the southern part of the San Francisco Bay Area, it corresponds roughly to the geographical area of the Santa Clara Valley ...

. The park is located four miles west of the town of Saratoga and straddles the steep slopes of the Santa Cruz Mountains from Sanborn Road all the way up to

Skyline Boulevard A skyline is the outline or shape viewed near the horizon. It can be created by a city's overall structure, or by human intervention in a rural setting, or in nature that is formed where the sky meets buildings or the land. City skylines serv ...

. Adjacent properties include the Walden West Environmental Education Center, Castle Rock State Park, the Los Altos Rod and Gun Club Range and the Santa Clara County Peace Officers Association gun range.

Practical information

The park is open year-round, although there is no entry after sunset. Sanborn County Park is located on Sanborn Road. From the city of Saratoga, proceed two miles (3 km) west on Highway 9 to Sanborn Road, thence turning left onto Sanborn Road, traveling one mile (1.6 km) to the park entrance. Overnight camping is permitted and RV use is allowed for a limited number of

vehicle A vehicle () is a machine designed for self-propulsion, usually to transport people, cargo, or both. The term "vehicle" typically refers to land vehicles such as human-powered land vehicle, human-powered vehicles (e.g. bicycles, tricycles, velo ...

s at designated locations. Pets must be leashed and are permitted in

picnic A picnic is a meal taken outdoors (Al fresco dining, ''al fresco'') as part of an excursion, especially in scenic surroundings, such as a park, lakeside, or other place affording an interesting view, or else in conjunction with a public event su ...

and RV areas, and most trails. There are entry fees collected at all times. There are strictly enforced rules prohibiting the picking of vegetation or damaging of trees. All facilities are not handicapped accessible, although there is an all-access trail emanating from the visitor center. Picnic tables and some grassy lawn areas are available in a very small portion of the park.

History

The site was long-visited by native Americans including the

Ohlone The Ohlone ( ), formerly known as Costanoans (from Spanish meaning 'coast dweller'), are a Native Americans in the United States, Native American people of the Northern California coast. When Spanish explorers and missionaries arrived in the l ...

people as evidenced by the

grinding slab 250px, Stone slab in east-central California used to grind acorns In archaeology, a grinding slab is a ground stone artifact generally used to grind plant materials into usable size, though some slabs were used to shape other ground stone artifac ...

which forms half of the entry gate of to the rustic mansion on site. This log-style house was built in 1908 by the Honorable James R. Welch, Superior Court Judge for

Santa Clara County Santa Clara County, officially the County of Santa Clara, is the sixth-most populous county in the U.S. state of California, with a population of 1,936,259 as of the 2020 census. Santa Clara County and neighboring San Benito County form the ...

as a summer retreat for his family. The judge added orchards and modified a

sag pond A sag pond is a body of fresh water collected in the lowest parts of a depression formed between two sides of an active strike-slip, transtensional or normal fault zone. Formation A sag pond is formed along a strike-slip fault, which may creat ...

into a decorative pond with a waterfall. In the 1956 the property was purchased by "America's Uranium King", Vernon J. Pick, who established a 200-person electronics company on site and named it Walden West after the cabin by a pond in

Henry David Thoreau Henry David Thoreau (born David Henry Thoreau; July 12, 1817May 6, 1862) was an American naturalist, essayist, poet, and philosopher. A leading Transcendentalism, transcendentalist, he is best known for his book ''Walden'', a reflection upon sim ...

's book

Walden ''Walden'' (; first published as ''Walden; or, Life in the Woods'') is an 1854 book by American transcendentalism, transcendentalist writer Henry David Thoreau. The text is a reflection upon the author's simple living in natural surroundings. T ...

. Sanborn County Park was purchased in the late 1970s in an expansionary era of the Santa Clara County Parks and Recreation Department under the leadership of Robert Amery and Charles Rockwell. A series of land acquisitions throughout the county, with the intention to develop a greatly expanded set of county parks emphasizing large land area and low intensity uses. The Sanborn County Park master plan was developed in this era. The county retained Earth Metrics Inc. to prepare an

Environmental Impact Report An environmental impact statement (EIS), under United States environmental law, is a document required by the 1969 National Environmental Policy Act (NEPA) for certain actions "significantly affecting the quality of the human environment". An EIS ...

(EIR) for the land use change, pursuant to requirements of the

California Environmental Quality Act The California Environmental Quality Act (CEQA ) is a California statute passed in 1970 and signed in to law by then-governor Ronald Reagan, shortly after the United States federal government passed the National Environmental Policy Act (NEPA), ...

. Fairly soon thereafter the County Board of Supervisors approved the park plan and began development of necessary road and trail improvements. From 1976 to 2010 the main house was the site of the Sanborn Park Hostel, entirely renovated by volunteers, which was proud to charge the lowest rate of any

hostel A hostel is a form of low-cost, short-term shared sociable lodging where guests can rent a bed, usually a bunk bed in a dormitory sleeping 4–20 people, with shared use of a lounge and usually a kitchen. Rooms can be private or shared - mixe ...

in the United States ($14/night at the time of closing).Remembering Sanborn Park Hostel
/ref> The hostel was forced to close in the face of increasing insurance costs and reduced international travel after

9/11 The September 11 attacks, also known as 9/11, were four coordinated Islamist terrorist suicide attacks by al-Qaeda against the United States in 2001. Nineteen terrorists hijacked four commercial airliners, crashing the first two into ...

Sanborn Science and Nature Center

Opened in 1982, the Youth Science Institute - Sanborn Science and Nature Center is a science and nature education facility operated by the Youth Science Institute. The center features live animals found in the

earthquake An earthquakealso called a quake, tremor, or tembloris the shaking of the Earth's surface resulting from a sudden release of energy in the lithosphere that creates seismic waves. Earthquakes can range in intensity, from those so weak they ...

and

geology Geology (). is a branch of natural science concerned with the Earth and other astronomical objects, the rocks of which they are composed, and the processes by which they change over time. Modern geology significantly overlaps all other Earth ...

exhibits, an

arthropod Arthropods ( ) are invertebrates in the phylum Arthropoda. They possess an arthropod exoskeleton, exoskeleton with a cuticle made of chitin, often Mineralization (biology), mineralised with calcium carbonate, a body with differentiated (Metam ...

zoo and a regional plant garden. The center offers nature and science school and group programs, after-school science and summer camp programs. The center hosts an annual Insect Fair in May.

Overview for hikers

Exposed on the steep canyon eastern slopes of the Santa Cruz Mountains, Sanborn County Park has one of the coolest summer climates of Santa Clara County's parks. Towering redwood forests add to this eastern slope exposure in keeping hiking

trail A trail, also known as a path or track, is an unpaved lane or a small paved road (though it can also be a route along a navigable waterways) generally not intended for usage by motorized vehicles, usually passing through a natural area. Ho ...

s comfortable in the heavy use period, from June to September; moreover, there are abundant

mixed forest Temperate broadleaf and mixed forest is a temperate climate terrestrial habitat type defined by the World Wide Fund for Nature, with broadleaf tree ecoregions, and with conifer and broadleaf tree mixed coniferous forest ecoregions. These ...

locales having

Coast live oak ''Quercus agrifolia'', the California live oak, or coast live oak, is an evergreen live oak native to the California Floristic Province. Live oaks are so-called because they keep living leaves on the tree all year, adding young leaves and sheddi ...

Pacific madrone ''Arbutus menziesii'', or Pacific madrone (commonly madrone or madrona in the United States and arbutus in Canada), is a species of broadleaf evergreen tree in the family Ericaceae. It has waxy foliage, a contorted growth habit, and flaky bark ...

Big leaf maple ''Acer macrophyllum'', the bigleaf maple or Oregon maple, is a large deciduous tree in the genus ''Acer (plant), Acer''. It is native to western North America. In addition to uses by animals, it is of some culinary and woodworking interest. De ...

and

Tanbark oak ''Notholithocarpus densiflorus'', commonly known as the tanoak or tanbark-oak, is a broadleaf tree in the family Fagaceae, and the type species of the genus ''Notholithocarpus''. It is a hardwood tree that is native to the far western United Sta ...

. The park features the first segment of the regional

Bay Area Ridge Trail The Bay Area Ridge Trail (shortened as Ridge Trail) is a multi-use trail along the hill and mountain ridgelines surrounding the San Francisco Bay Area, in Northern California. It is planned to extend ; , have been established. When complete, ...

in Santa Clara County, which extends along the ridge of the Santa Cruz Mountains to become the

Skyline-to-the-Sea Trail The Skyline-to-the-Sea Trail is a hiking trail that descends from the ridge of the Santa Cruz Mountains in California to the Pacific Ocean, passing through Castle Rock State Park and Big Basin Redwoods State Park. Big Basin is California's ...

, which continues to the

Pacific Ocean The Pacific Ocean is the largest and deepest of Earth's five Borders of the oceans, oceanic divisions. It extends from the Arctic Ocean in the north to the Southern Ocean, or, depending on the definition, to Antarctica in the south, and is ...

. This Bay Area Ridge Trail ultimately circumnavigates the entire Bay Area at a length of . The Sanborn and San Andreas trails ascend the eastern mountain slope, eventually joining the

Cactus to Clouds Trail The Cactus to Clouds Trail (C2C) is a hiking route in California. It begins in Palm Springs, California, and ascends to San Jacinto Peak. With a net elevation gain of roughly , it has one of the greatest elevation increases among day-hike routes i ...

(AKA Skyline Trail) and

. Summit Rock, which is an established

rock-climbing Rock climbing is a climbing sports discipline that involves ascending routes consisting of natural rock in an outdoor environment, or on artificial resin climbing walls in a mostly indoor environment. Routes are documented in guidebooks, and ...

venue offers a

panoramic A panorama (formed from Greek πᾶν "all" + ὅραμα "view") is any wide-angle view or representation of a physical space, whether in painting, drawing, photography (panoramic photography), film, seismic images, or 3D modeling. The word ...

outlook over Saratoga and the South Bay, lies at the upper limit of the park, but is readily reached from the Skyline Boulevard side. At the southeastern corner of Sanborn County Park sits Lake Ranch Reservoir, an attractive tiny mountain lake, accessible via either a steep canyon trail at the terminus of Sanborn Road, or by way of a longer, more level trail originating at Black Road. The latter trail, which sinuates high up along the flanks of Lyndon Canyon, is a lightly used trail, but extremely lush and forested; it crosses numerous small

riparian zone A riparian zone or riparian area is the interface between land and a river or stream. In some regions, the terms riparian woodland, riparian forest, riparian buffer zone, riparian corridor, and riparian strip are used to characterize a ripari ...

s, whose creeks tumble into the steep-sided canyon, originally formed by the

San Andreas Fault The San Andreas Fault is a continental Fault (geology)#Strike-slip faults, right-lateral strike-slip transform fault that extends roughly through the U.S. state of California. It forms part of the tectonics, tectonic boundary between the Paci ...

. Shorter, less strenuous trails extend through the redwood stands and along creeksides within the lower reaches of Sanborn County Park.

Vegetation

Besides the tree

species A species () is often defined as the largest group of organisms in which any two individuals of the appropriate sexes or mating types can produce fertile offspring, typically by sexual reproduction. It is the basic unit of Taxonomy (biology), ...

noted above, the park contains a variety of native plants, first surveyed in the Earth Metrics EIR. Examples of this

flora Flora (: floras or florae) is all the plant life present in a particular region or time, generally the naturally occurring (indigenous (ecology), indigenous) native plant, native plants. The corresponding term for animals is ''fauna'', and for f ...

are: * Blue elderberry, ''Sambucus mexicana'' *

California maidenhair fern ''Adiantum jordanii'' is a perennial species of maidenhair fern, in the Vittarioideae subfamily of the Pteridaceae. The species is known by the common name California maidenhair. It is native to California and Baja California. ''A. jordanii'' is ...

, ''Adiantum jordanii'' *

California mugwort ''Artemisia douglasiana'', known as California mugwort, Douglas's sagewort, or dream plant, is a western North American species of aromatic herb in the Asteraceae, sunflower family. Distribution and habitat The herbaceous perennial is native to ...

, ''Artemisia douglasiana'' *

California poppy ''Eschscholzia californica'', the California poppy, golden poppy, Mexican poppy, California sunlight or cup of gold, is a species of flowering plant in the family Papaveraceae, native to the United States and Mexico. It is cultivated as an or ...

, ''Eschscholzia californica'', the state flower * Elk clover, ''Aralia californica'' *

Flowering currant ''Ribes sanguineum'', the flowering currant, redflower currant, red-flowering currant, or red currant is a North American species of flowering plant in the family (biology), family Grossulariaceae. It is native plant, native to the western United ...

, ''Ribes sanguineum'' *

Miniature lupine ''Lupinus bicolor'' is a species of Lupinus, lupine known as the miniature lupine, Lindley's annual lupine, pigmy-leaved lupine, or bicolor lupine. It is a showy flowering annual or perennial plant native to western North America, from northwes ...

, ''Lupinus bicolor'' * Miner's lettuce, ''Claytonia perfoliata'' *

Poison oak Poison oak refers to two plant species in the genus '' Toxicodendron,'' both of which can cause skin irritation: *'' Toxicodendron diversilobum'' or Pacific poison oak, found in western North America *'' Toxicodendron pubescens'' or Atlantic po ...

, ''Toxicodendron diversilobum'' * Slender tarweed, ''Madia gracilis'' *

Sticky cinquefoil ''Drymocallis glandulosa'', formerly ''Potentilla glandulosa'', known by the common names Douglas' wood beauty and sticky cinquefoil, is a plant species in the family Rosaceae. It is native to western North America from southwestern Canada thro ...

, ''Potentilla glandulosa'' *

Toyon ''Heteromeles arbutifolia'' (, more commonly by Californian botanists), commonly known as toyon, is a perennial shrub native to Coastal California. It is the sole species in the genus ''Heteromeles''. Description Toyon typically grows from , r ...

, ''Heteromeles arbutifolia''

Geology

The

runs directly under the park. The entrance station and main parking lots are on the North American Plate. As you walk uphill across the broad sloping lawn you are crossing the

fault zone In geology, a fault is a planar fracture or discontinuity in a volume of rock across which there has been significant displacement as a result of rock-mass movements. Large faults within Earth's crust result from the action of plate tectonic f ...

. The fault is not visible below your feet as it is covered by an

alluvial fan An alluvial fan is an accumulation of sediments that fans outwards from a concentrated source of sediments, such as a narrow canyon emerging from an escarpment. They are characteristic of mountainous terrain in arid to Semi-arid climate, semiar ...

of material that have eroded from the mountain. Once you reach the kiosk at the bottom of the campsite path you have crossed over to the Pacific Plate. In terms of

fault block Fault blocks are very large blocks of rock, sometimes hundreds of kilometres in extent, created by Tectonics, tectonic and localized stresses in Crust (geology), Earth's crust. Large areas of bedrock are broken up into blocks by Fault (geology) ...

s you parked the car on the New Almaden Block which featured rocks of the

Franciscan Complex The Franciscan Complex or Franciscan Assemblage is a geology, geologic term for a late Mesozoic terrane of heterogeneous rock (geology), rocks found throughout the California Coast Ranges, and particularly on the San Francisco Peninsula. It was n ...

. You are now standing on the

Salinian Block The Salinian Block or Salinian terrane is a geologic terrane which lies west of the main trace of the San Andreas Fault system in California. It is bounded on the south by the Big Pine Fault in Ventura County and on the west by the Nacimiento Fau ...

which features sandstones of the

Vaqueros The ''vaquero'' (; , ) is a horse-mounted livestock herder of a tradition that has its roots in the Iberian Peninsula and extensively developed in what what is today Mexico (then New Spain) and Spanish Florida from a method brought to the Americ ...

and

San Lorenzo San Lorenzo is the Italian and Spanish name for Saint Lawrence, the 3rd-century Christian martyr, and may refer to: Places Argentina * San Lorenzo, Santa Fe * San Lorenzo Department, Chaco * Villa San Lorenzo, town and municipality in Salta P ...

formations. Subtle evidence for earthquake activity may be found at numerous locations within the park as described in USGS publication "''Where's the San Andreas Fault? A Guidebook to Tracing the Fault on Public Lands in the San Francisco Bay Region''", chapters 5 and 6. The guide shows where to spot evidence of

offset drainage Offset or Off-Set may refer to: Arts, entertainment, and media * "Off-Set", a song by T.I. and Young Thug from the '' Furious 7: Original Motion Picture Soundtrack'' * ''Offset'' (EP), a 2018 EP by singer Kim Chung-ha * ''Offset'' (film), a 200 ...

fault scarp A fault scarp is a small step-like offset of the ground surface in which one side of a fault has shifted vertically in relation to the other. The topographic expression of fault scarps results from the differential erosion of rocks of contrastin ...

stream capture Stream capture, river capture, river piracy or stream piracy is a geomorphological phenomenon occurring when a stream or river drainage system or watershed is diverted from its own bed, and flows down to the bed of a neighbouring stream. This ...

shutter ridge A shutter ridge is a ridge which has moved along a fault line, blocking or diverting drainage. Typically, a shutter ridge creates a valley corresponding to the alignment of the fault that produces it. Shutter ridges occur exclusively at strike-sl ...

s, and

s as you venture through the park.

References

External links

Sanborn County Park Official Site

Sanborn County Park Guide Map

Sanborn County Park Walk In Campground Guide Map

Sanborn Science and Nature Center
{{coord, 37, 14, 30, N, 122, 5, 15, W , region:US-CA_dim:4000 , display=title County Parks in Santa Clara County, California Regional parks in California Nature centers in California Bay Area Ridge Trail Coast redwood groves