The Bay Area Ridge Trail winds past parking and picnic tables along the wooded banks of Penitencia Creek at Alum Rock Park before ascending, more steeply than anticipated, more than 1,500 feet into the pastures and chaparral of the Sierra Vista Open Space Preserve. The parking lot was full when we arrived at 10 a.m. on a weekday. But we found a curbside spot in the San Jose neighborhood just outside the park. Trail traffic was minimal once we began hiking uphill.
We are hiking the 407-mile Bay Area Ridge Trail. Sign up to follow our progress here.
RAIL MAP: Alum Rock Park and Sierra Vista Open Space (Dec. 11, 2023)
Our Journal
Known for its mineral hot springs back in the day, Alum Rock is the oldest municipal park in California. According to a KQED article, an early park visitor misidentified sulfite encrusted rocks along the creek as alum. The name stuck.
Hiking the Bay Area Ridge Trail through the park was on our “to do” list for last winter. But damage from the string of atmospheric rivers that soaked the region a year ago closed the park for months. When it reopened in the summer, it was too hot to be hiking in the South Bay hills. Enjoying the park on a cool, sunny December morning was ideal.
The hike up the fire road was fine, with the usual views, scrub and pasture. If the trail passes any of the park’s hot springs, we missed them. The outing was most notable for bruising the big toe of Dan’s left foot. He blamed new, thicker hiking socks and a wrong turn that put us on a brief but very steep toe-jamming stretch of trail. The toenail is ugly but remains intact.
After hiking nearly 400 miles of the ridge trail in the same shoe brand, size and style, he rejected the idea of changing shoe sizes. The new socks, however, have been relegated to flatland hikes.
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