The Webb Canyon Trailhead provides access into Almaden Quicksilver County Park in San Jose.
Parking for the Webb Canyon Trailhead
The Webb Canyon Trailhead is located in a residential neighborhood in San Jose (Google Maps link). There is street parking available on Webb Canyon Road and the nearby streets. When parking, make sure that you don’t block the fire lane that is also located at the entrance to Webb Canyon Trail.
A History of mining
Located in the hills of South San Jose, Almaden Quicksilver County Park provides 4,163 acres of open space and 37 miles of trails. All trails in the park are open to dogs on leashes.
Almaden Quicksilver County Park has a rich history tied to mercury (quicksilver) mining, which was vital to gold extraction during the Gold Rush. Several remnants of old mining operations, including buildings and machinery, can still be seen in the park.
The hike: Webb Canyon Trail – Cinnabar Trail – Mine Trail – New Almaden Trail
Trails inside Almaden Quicksilver County Park wind through open oak woodlands, denser mixed oak and bay laurel woods, grassy hills, and historic mining sites. The trails in this area offer a range of difficulties, with some steep inclines but generally accessible for moderate to advanced hikers.
The terrain is a mix of single-track paths and wider, more gravely trails, providing scenic views of the surrounding landscapes, including views of the Santa Cruz Mountains and the Santa Clara Valley.
The hike profiled is a roughly 4.5 mile loop (just under 8 kilometers) that alternates between sunny trails and shading provide by mixed California bay laurel and oak wooded area. For a moderately paced hike, it should take less than two hours to complete.
Along the way, there are some short segments with modest elevation gains of about 150 feet at most. Even hiking this loop on a hot day, starting in the morning wasn’t too bad as the trail alternates between full sun along the grassy and oak woodland segments with completely shaded segments through the mixed California bay laurel and oak woodlands.
Buzzing flies and other insects was an issue in the shaded areas so I recommend buying a bug balm and reapplying it liberally to keep the bugs out of your face while hiking.
Wildlife along the trails
Scrub jays screeching from the trees and shrubs, turkey vultures circling overhead, western fence lizards darting across the trails, and black-tailed deer noisily foraging in the woodlands were some of the common wildlife I saw during this hike.
The western gray squirrel (Sciurus griseus) is a species native to the western United States. These squirrels are a common sight in the shaded oak and California bay laurel woodland areas in Almaden Quicksilver County Park.
At this time of year, young squirrels can be seen tussling and playing with each other in the dried leaves of the woodland understory and on branches. Older western gray squirrels tend to be much shyer when humans are on the trail and hide, but this younger western gray was quite curious about my stopping to take a photo.
A fledging lesser goldfinch was demanding food from its parent on a dead tree along the sunny open oak woodland section of the New Almaden Trail.
Overall, this relatively moderate 4.5 mile loop is great for a short hike through a mixed grassland and oak woodland landscape.
If you have extra time, you can opt to walk further along the Mine Hill trail which will take you to one of the abandoned mining sites this park is known for.
