Julia Gaudinski & Janet Schwind – Mobile Ranger

Skyline Boulevard: The Ever Evolving Saratoga Gap

Julia Gaudinski & Janet Schwind — Mon, 30 Nov 2015 13:30:48 +0000

Saratoga Gap in 2015, looking northward.

Saratoga Gap is located in Northern California’s Santa Cruz Mountains at the intersection of Skyline Boulevard (Highway 35) and Highway 9. Today, the gap is a popular resting stop for bicyclists and travelers. Back in the late 1800s when this important junction was known as Saratoga Summit, horse drawn wagons loaded with redwood lumber from the Hubbard and Carmichael mills in the Pescadero basin passed through on their way to Saratoga and San Jose.

Harmonious hame bells, mounted on the lead horses’ collars, warned other drivers of their approach. The teamsters stopped to rest and feed themselves and their teams at the small inn at the summit. Ranchers along the ridge arrived on their way to market with smaller wagon loads of apples, prunes, and grapes.

Wallace Moody leaves Saratoga Summit on his way to the Santa Clara Valley with a load of firewood from his family’s ranch. Fairview School in the background. Photo courtesy of Louise Cooper.

All drivers had to pay a toll to use the private turnpike (twenty-five cents for one man with one horse and one dollar for a loaded wagon pulled by four horses). Officially known as the Saratoga and Pescadero Turnpike and Wagon Road, the road was opened in 1871 to access the redwood timber in the upper San Lorenzo Valley and the Pescadero basin. The turnpike never came close to its initial objective, the town of Pescadero. Later it became known simply as the Saratoga Toll Road. At one point there were separate toll houses on either side of the Santa Clara/Santa Cruz county line. There were numerous complaints about the condition of the toll road, and within twenty years, the roadway had been purchased by the respective counties and made public.

Summit Road, the forerunner of Skyline Boulevard, came through the gap in 1884, providing an important link to the toll road. Before this time there had only been a trail along the summit linking the different ranches. When one of the ranchers began charging a toll to pass over his property, his neighbors petitioned the county for a public road, putting an end to this practice.

A state survey shows Skyline Boulevard (dark line) plowing through a tangle of local roads at the gap in 1928. In the early 1930s, Skyline Boulevard was extended along the general route of Summit Road making it straighter and improving the experience. Map courtesy of CalTrans, modified by Janet Schwind.

Fairview School

From 1901 until 1914, children from nearby ranches and the Hubbard and Carmichael lumber company received their education at Fairview School. In the late 1800s and early 1900s there were many one room school houses serving all eight grades dotted around the mountain. Each school was its own district, built and governed by local ranchers and mill owners. The teacher usually boarded with a local family. Once a year, the county superintendent would make the rounds to see how the teacher was doing.

Education was a hit or miss affair for many pupils. They had to walk or ride miles to reach the school and often were absent due to childhood illnesses, or when their labor was needed on the the ranch. Even the teachers often came and went from these out of the way, and therefore undesirable assignments. For the children who attended, though, the schools provided valuable friendship for peers and opened a window to a wider world. If they wished to attend high school, many of them would have to live with a friend or relative in town for the term.

Highway 9

Highway 9, was seen by local as a superior modern highway when it replaced the old toll road in 1915. The Santa Cruz county portion of the highway, along with Route 236, was promoted as the entry to the redwoods at Big Basin. Early photos show a gateway to California Redwoods Park (now Big Basin State Park) at Saratoga Gap even though it is many miles from the park itself. When Highway 9 was designed, the state had reserved a 200 foot natural corridor into the park, along the highway. Years later, the Skyline-to-the-Sea Trail was fitted into this right-of-way.

An entrance to California Redwoods Park (now Big Basin Redwoods State Park) at Saratoga Gap, date unknown. Photo courtesy of Ronnie Trubek.

Changing Land Use

A comparison of then and now photos shows the difference in vegetation at the gap. On the northeast corner, native trees replaced an old vineyard. On the northwest corner, the fir trees that were planted in the early 1930s are dying off in 2015. Where these nursery trees not native to this locality?

Saratoga Gap during the construction of Skyline Boulevard, 1933. Photo courtesy of Chuck Schoppe.

Saratoga Gap in 2015, looking northward. Photo © Mobile Ranger.

More Trailheads!

Several trails head out from the gap. A trail on the west side of Skyline, very close to Highway 9, leads to the Skyline-to-the Sea Trail in Castle Rock State Park. It starts out following the path of the old Saratoga Toll Road.

One of the several trailheads at Saratoga Gap. Photo © Mobile Ranger.

The Saratoga Gap Trail leaves Highway 9 on the northeast side and leads to Charcoal Road in the Saratoga Gap Open Space Preserve with access to the Long Ridge Open Space Preserve.

The Skyline Trail, a section of the Bay Area Ridge Trail, leaves the parking area on the southeast side. This trail parallels the boulevard with several access points along the way. In a little over three miles, it reaches the entrance to Castle Rock State Park (across the boulevard) and continues beyond in Sanborn County Park.

Take the Self-Guided Mobile Tour

This piece is part of the South Skyline Boulevard (Highway 35) Tour by the Skyline Historical Society. Download the free app with many tours of the Santa Cruz area and beyond.

Much of the information in this tour comes from a book called The South Skyline Story by Janet Schwind and the Skyline Historical Society, 2014. It is a well written, fun and informative read from the Native Americans, through the early loggers and ranchers, commune dwellers, wine makers, conservationists and homebuilders. You can get a copy at Alice’s Restaurant in Skylonda (the junction of Highways 35 and 84) or by contacting Skyline History President Chuck Schoppe, email: chuck_sch@hotmail.com or phone: 408-867-9229.

Sources Used
- The South Skyline Story. Janet Schwind and the Skyline Historical Society. 2014.

Grizzly Flat: Why so much Open Space?

Julia Gaudinski & Janet Schwind — Mon, 16 Nov 2015 13:30:39 +0000

The hills right before the Jikoji Zen Center and the former home of the alternative Pacific High School. Photo © Mobile Ranger.

Located in the Santa Cruz Mountains of California, Skyline Boulevard (Highway 35), is a great place within the San Francisco Bay area to access a vast array of open space districts. If you drive along this scenic route with stunning vistas west towards the ocean and east to the Santa Clara Valley, you cannot help but wonder why there is so much parkland so close to a hugely urban area.

Grizzly Flat Trailhead area, about 2 miles north of the intersection with Highway 9, is a great example of open space galore. It has an entrance to the Upper Stevens Creek (Santa Clara) County Park where trails connect to the Montebello Open Space Preserve to the north and the Saratoga Gap Open Space Preserve to the south. On the west side of Skyline Boulevard is an entrance to the Long Ridge Open Space Preserve which is close to the point where three counties of San Mateo, Santa Cruz, and Santa Clara converge.

The entrance area to the Stevens Creek Open Space Preserve. Photo © Mobile Ranger.

Grizzly Flat itself is located about a mile east of the trailhead near the headwaters of Stevens Creek. The creek is named in honor of Elisha Stephens — despite the difference in spelling. Stephens was the captain of the first successful wagon train to cross the Sierra Nevada over Donner Pass in 1844. He settled down on a farm lower down on the creek in what is now Cupertino. He is said to have entertained a succession of visitors whom he enjoyed feeding such local delicacies as rattlesnakes and frogs.

On the west side of Skyline Boulevard is an entrance to the Long Ridge Open Space Preserve and its network of trails. A short distance down this trail will take you to picturesque Peters Creek, a cool haven in the summer heat.

Elisha Stephens. Photo from the collection of Janet Schwind.

Named for the Grizzly Bear

According to local lore, Grizzly Flat was named in honor of a bear whose scratches were noted on a bay tree near the creek. The grizzly bear was both feared and revered by the indigenous tribes who inhabited the area, but they presented a special problem to the Spanish and Mexican settlers. In the late 18th Century grizzly bears thrived in the Santa Cruz Mountains, feeding on the rancheros’ plentiful herds of cattle. Extensive hunting by European settlers eventually wiped out the population in California.

Why the Open Space is Here

There is a sign at the south end of the parking area welcoming you to the City of Palo Alto with a population of 57,000 people and an elevation of 58 feet. Uhm, where are all those people, and the elevation right here is actually 2300 feet?

In 1959, the city of Palo Alto, annexed the western foothills. The idea was to provide more residences for the people employed in the city’s burgeoning industries. The city then hired a planning firm from Los Angeles (groan) to make recommendations for the “development” of the foothills. The planners did just that, and in 1961 came up with four scenarios, all of which would have radically changed the character of the area.

Instead of open space full of trails, oak woodlands and grass, what was planned was very different. A wide expressway was to wind its way toward Grizzly Flat and over to Montebello Ridge to a community of large residential lots served by neighborhood schools and a shopping center. Down near Grizzly Flat a dam was going to be built to create a mile-long recreational lake. Up on the meadows of Montebello Ridge, the residents of high rise townhouses were to enjoy a view of the entire San Francisco Bay Area. This was the proposal that called for most intense development, but all of the alternatives submitted by this planner would have transformed the foothills into suburbia.

Conservationists Spawn Open Space District

A backlash to this plan helped spawn the conservation movement in Palo Alto. Another firm was hired to plan for the “development” of the foothills. The new study reflected the mood of the citizenry, as well as the city’s economics, when it concluded that it would be less expensive to purchase the land outright than to develop it. Residential development in remote, difficult terrain does not generate sufficient tax revenue to cover necessary city services, in contrast to downtown industrial areas. With this conclusion, the environmental and fiscal conservatives were on the same page. The solution of the conservationists was to form the Midpeninsula Regional Open Space District (MidPen) in 1972. The district now owns much of this foothill land and surrounding open space up and down the San Francisco Peninsula.

Alternative Education on the Ridge

Along Skyline Boulevard is the Jikoji Zen Center. This property was home to the experimental Pacific High School founded in 1961 by a group of parents on the San Francisco peninsula whose teenagers were languishing in public school. It was based on the ideals of freedom, democracy, love of learning, compassion, and social accountability. In 1966 the group moved to this site, and parents, students, and staff began building classrooms. In a few years students and staff began living on site, and Pacific became a boarding school. LLoyd Kahn moved in and oversaw the building of geodesic domes as living spaces. Based on his experiments at Pacific, Kahn and crew published Domebook One and Domebook Two.

Teachers and students erect the Egg Dome at Pacific High School, circa 1969. Photo courtesy of Nanette Biers.

From the beginning the school struggled with the ideal of freedom. When grades are not given and class attendance is voluntary, some students bloom and others get lost. Many were inspired by teachers who led construction, art, and gardening projects and field trips to Canada and Mexico. Others used their freedom to do very little at all, except experiment with drugs. The school attracted teenagers who were already disaffected with society during the Vietnam War. Gradually, classes were suspended, and the site morphed into a commune, attracting more counter culture types. Looking back, the former students most valued their time at Pacific by the personal relations developed among students and staff.

A local Buddhist group purchased the land from the former Pacific High School in 1979. Jikoji was named after the Temple of Compassionate Light in Japan. Please respect the peace and quiet of the meditators who visit this retreat, and do not enter the driveway.

Demarcation of the end of the scenic highway designation close to the Santa Cruz County line. Don’t worry there are California poppies in Santa Cruz too! Photo © Mobile Ranger.

Take the Self-Guided Mobile Tour

This piece is part of the South Skyline Boulevard (Highway 35) Tour by the Skyline Historical Society. Download the free app with many tours of the Santa Cruz area and beyond.

Sources Used
- The South Skyline Story. Janet Schwind and the Skyline Historical Society. 2014.

Julia Gaudinski & Janet Schwind – Mobile Ranger

Skyline Boulevard: The Ever Evolving Saratoga Gap

Fairview School

Highway 9

Changing Land Use

More Trailheads!

Take the Self-Guided Mobile Tour

Sources Used

Grizzly Flat: Why so much Open Space?

Named for the Grizzly Bear

Why the Open Space is Here

Conservationists Spawn Open Space District

Alternative Education on the Ridge

Take the Self-Guided Mobile Tour

Sources Used