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This ride was rather a last minute idea that we had not considered too much before, but it turned out to be quite enjoyable. This park is in southern San Jose and is very close to a major residential area. The first time we rode here was the result of a last minute decision. It was a beautiful spring day when everything is moist and green just before the wildflowers start blooming. We have gone back several times since.
The land of this park is on was a quicksilver (mercury ore) mine in heavy production from 1845 to 1927 and at lower levels of production from 1927 to 1976. The mercury produced was used to extract gold from other components of pulverized gold ore through the California gold rush and in a variety of other applications. This was also the site of a CCC camp during the Depression. There are many abandoned mine buildings, tunnels, trestles and other remants of this rich mining history still visible in the park. These mines were the subject of lots of legal cases all the way to the Supreme Court due to conflicting claims between Mexian land grants and later claims and various business issues. This mine produced the great total value of any mine in all of California, including the famous gold mines.
The park consists of 3,977 acres with about 10 miles of bike accessible trail. The trails are basically fairly well maintained fire roads. There is a fair amount of climbing, but it is not particularly steep or technical. We stopped in several places to take pictures or explore some of the local history.
The Hacienda entrance is the only one available for bicycles (it can also be accessed by Wood Trail from Sierra Azul, but this is not as direct). This has a very large parking lot that is shared by bicyclists, hikers, and equestrians. This is the only place in the park that potable water is available, so fill up here if you didn't bring some with you.
The climb up Mine Hill Road starts right at the parking lot and winds its way up the hill. The initial climb is about 900 feet in 1.8 miles to the junction with Castillero. At the junction, veer left and continue climbing on Castilerro another 350 feet over the next mile to the top. Along the way, you will pass English Camp and Mexican Camp, two abandoned ethnic mining towns. We took a detour on a little used path above the Mexican Camp mine building to the top of a tailings heap (this is the first peak on the profile) that provided a great view! If you head downhill here, you connect to Wood Trail and Sierra Azul open space.
The rest of Castillero is a very pleasant, easy ride to the junction of Mine Hill Road. This section is very scenic with a great very across an uninhabited canyon to another set of hills in the Sierra Azul Open Space.
We wanted to explore some of the old mines, so rather than continuing on we went down (right) Mine Hill Road to abandoned San Cristobal Mine. This tunnel goes in only a few yards before is it blocked, but it is still fun to explore. We continued on to April Road and went past the old Powder House to the April Mine and a train trestle used to remove ore to a common point for transport to the reduction furnaces (this is the first valley in the ride profile). We continue riding on April Road and then retraced our path up Mine Hill Road/Castillero junction (the second peak in the ride profile).
The rest of Mine Hill Road is a fast, easy downhill to Guadalupe Reservoir (no swimming or fishing due to mercury levels). The biggest danger is being distracted by the scenery. At the bottom almost at the reservoir, bicyclists are forced onto Randol Road (near the bottom of the second valley in the ride profile). Randol Road is an easy non-technical scenic ride that passes the Day Tunnel before it rejoins Mine Hill Road to take us back to the parking lot.
Total distance for this ride was 14.17 miles with a little over 3,200 feet of climbing. This was a really fun ride at a great time of year. We were very glad we chose this at the last minute.
Quicksilver Park is near El Sombroso in Sierra Azul and they are connected by Wood Trail, so you can do both rides together. Quicksilver is also close to Santa Teresa, but this requires a road ride between the two. Some maps show trails or access roads between these parks, but they are fenced off by the water company.