The Santa Cruz Mountains are a mountain range in central and Northern California, United States, constituting a part of the Pacific Coast Ranges. They form a ridge down the San Francisco Peninsula, south of San Francisco. They separate the Pacific Ocean from the San Francisco Bay and the Santa Clara Valley, and continue south to the Central Coast, bordering Monterey Bay and ending at the Salinas Valley. The range passes through the counties of San Mateo, Santa Clara, and Santa Cruz, with the Pajaro River forming the southern boundary.
Loma Prieta is 3,790 feet (1,160 m) high and is the highest peak in the Santa Cruz Mountains in Northern California.
Mount Umunhum is a peak in the Santa Cruz Mountains, located in Santa Clara County, California. It is the fourth-highest peak in the Santa Cruz Mountains, after Loma Prieta, Crystal Peak, and Mt. Chual. Most of the mountain is located within the Sierra Azul Open Space Preserve.
Mount Hamilton is a mountain in the Diablo Range in Santa Clara County, California. The mountain's peak, at 4,265 feet (1,300 m), overlooks the heavily urbanized Santa Clara Valley and is the site of Lick Observatory, the world's first permanently occupied mountain-top observatory. The asteroid 452 Hamiltonia, discovered in 1899, is named after the mountain. Golden eagle nesting sites are found on the slopes of Mount Hamilton. On clear days, Mount Tamalpais, the Santa Cruz Mountains, Monterey Bay, the Monterey Peninsula, and even Yosemite National Park are visible from the summit of the mountain.
Formed in 1972 by voter initiative, the Midpeninsula Regional Open Space District (MROSD) is a non-enterprise special district in the San Francisco Bay Area. It has acquired and preserved a regional green belt of open space land and provides opportunities for ecologically-sensitive public enjoyment and education.
Black Mountain is a summit on Monte Bello Ridge in the Santa Cruz Mountains of west Santa Clara County, California, south of Los Altos and Los Altos Hills, and west of Cupertino; it is within the Palo Alto city limits though not near the developed part of the city. It is located on the border between Rancho San Antonio Open Space Preserve and Monte Bello Open Space Preserve, with the summit located in the former. Early Spanish explorers commonly named tree- or chaparral-covered summits which look black in the distance Loma Prieta, from the Spanish . The Spanish also called the middle portion of the Santa Cruz Mountains the Sierra Morena meaning, extending from Half Moon Bay Road south to a gap at Lexington Reservoir, and which includes a summit called Sierra Morena. There are over 100 "Black Mountains" in California.
Kings Mountain is an unincorporated community in San Mateo County, California, located along State Route 35 between Skeggs Point and Pise Mountain. This is about 5 miles (8 km) north of Woodside Road (SR84). In the U.S. Geological Survey, National Geographic Names Database, the area is identified only as a geographic feature of type "summit" and not as a populated place. The community is inside area code 650 and uses the Woodside ZIP Code 94062.
Purisima Creek is an 8.0-mile-long (12.9 km) stream in San Mateo County, California which rises 1.3 miles (2.1 km) north of Sierra Morena, a mountain in the Santa Cruz Mountains, and flows westward to the Pacific Ocean 2.3 miles (3.7 km) south-southeast of Miramontes Point. Much of its watershed has been incorporated in the Purisima Creek Redwoods Open Space Preserve.
La Honda Creek is a 7 miles (11 km) long stream on the Pacific slope of the Santa Cruz Mountains and is a tributary of San Gregorio Creek. From its source near Bear Gulch Road and Skyline Boulevard (CA 35) in San Mateo County, California, La Honda Creek's water flow south to its confluence with Alpine Creek to form San Gregorio Creek in La Honda, and thence to the Pacific Ocean.
Pomponio Creek is a 7.2 miles (11.6 km) westward flowing stream in San Mateo County, California that originates on the western slope of the Santa Cruz Mountains and flows into the Pacific Ocean at Pomponio State Beach.
Mount Bielawski or Mount Bielewski is located in the Santa Cruz Mountains of California, near the San Francisco Bay Area. The mountain reaches an elevation of 3,234 feet (986 m) just to the southwest of the Santa Cruz – Santa Clara county line and Highway 35. It is the highest point in Santa Cruz County. Some snow falls on the mountain during winter.
Sierra Azul Open Space Preserve is managed by the Midpeninsula Regional Open Space District in Santa Clara County, California. It is approximately 19,300 acres (7,800 ha) in area. The preserve is named for the Sierra Azul or "Blue Mountains", the name the colonizing Spanish used for the half of the Santa Cruz Mountains south of today's California Highway 17.
Mount Thayer is a mountain in the Santa Cruz mountain range located in Santa Clara County, California. The summit is in a section of the abandoned Almaden Air Force Station, about 1 mile west of Mount Umunhum. The elevation of the summit is at 3,479 feet (1,060 m) feet. An old derelict building, surrounded by telephone poles, is located on the summit. Mount Thayer, along with the surrounding property, is off limits to the public.
The Phleger Estate is a park in San Mateo County, California. The park is located outside the town of Woodside and adjacent to Huddart County Park. The park was acquired in 1991 by the Peninsula Open Space Trust (POST) for $25 million and is now part of the Golden Gate National Recreation Area (GGNRA).
Bear Creek, or Bear Gulch Creek, is a 6.6-mile-long (10.6 km) southeastward-flowing stream originating north of the summit of Sierra Morena in the Santa Cruz Mountains, near the community of Kings Mountain in San Mateo County, California, United States. It flows through the town of Woodside. Bear Creek and Corte Madera Creek join to become San Francisquito Creek in the Jasper Ridge Biological Preserve at Stanford University.
Alamitos Creek or Los Alamitos Creek is a 7.7-mile-long (12.4 km) creek in San Jose, California, which becomes the Guadalupe River when it exits Lake Almaden and joins Guadalupe Creek. Los Alamitos Creek is located in Almaden Valley and originates from the Los Capitancillos Ridge in the Santa Cruz Mountains, near New Almaden. This creek flows through the Valley's Guadalupe Watershed, which is owned by the Santa Clara Valley Water District. The creek flows in a generally northwesterly direction after rounding the Los Capitancillos Ridge and the town of New Almaden, in the southwest corner, before ambling along the Santa Teresa Hills on northeast side of the Almaden Valley. Its environment has some relatively undisturbed areas and considerable lengths of suburban residential character. Originally called Arroyo de los Alamitos, the creek's name is derived from "little poplar", "alamo" being the Spanish word for "poplar" or "cottonwood".
Thornewood Open Space Preserve is a small regional park located in the Santa Cruz Mountains in San Mateo County. The park lies in the San Francisco Bay Area and is operated by the Midpeninsula Regional Open Space District. It offers approximately 1.5 miles (2.4 km) of hiking and equestrian trails and is dog-friendly. The Schilling Lake Trail leads to Schilling Lake, a protected wildlife habitat. This trail offers brief views of the southern San Francisco Bay, Palo Alto and surrounding cities, and the Diablo Range. From Schilling Lake, the Bridle Trail leads to Old La Honda Road.
Trout Creek is a 1.8-mile-long (2.9 km) southeastward-flowing stream originating in the Santa Cruz Mountains, a tributary of Los Gatos Creek in Santa Clara County, California. From its confluence with Los Gatos Creek, its waters flow to the Guadalupe River and thence through San Jose, California to south San Francisco Bay.
Pheasant Creek is a perennial to intermittent 1.8 miles (2.9 km) north-by-northeast flowing stream in Santa Clara County, California, United States. It is tributary to Guadalupe Creek, which is in turn, tributary to the Guadalupe River and south San Francisco Bay at San Jose, California.
Hicks Creek, also known as Reynolds Creek, is a perennial 1.9 miles (3.1 km) northeast flowing stream in Santa Clara County, California, United States. It is tributary to Guadalupe Creek, which is in turn, tributary to the Guadalupe River and south San Francisco Bay at San Jose, California.
