Where the Views are the Best and the Air is the Finest: Hiking the Eastern Ridge of Joseph D Grant Park

Yellow Mariposa Lily, Calochortus luteus

Date: May 23, 2024

Place: Joseph D Grant County Park, San Jose, California

Coordinates: 37.329300, -121.681252

Length: 7 miles

Level: moderate +  (one direction, downhill)

 

Joseph D Grant is a lovely county park tucked away in the curves and slopes of the Coastal Range, accessible by the narrow and winding road leading to Mount Hamilton and the Lick Observatory. I've been hiking in this park regularly for years now but up until this hike, I've only hiked the park's lower areas of the West Ridge, San Felipe Creek, and Grant Lake. In mid May, when I drove up Mount Hamilton along with half of the Bay Area population for the chance to view the northern lights on the rare south-reaching appearance, I was reminded that Joseph D Grant also had an upper part, an area I have not yet hiked. On the following week I reached out to my friend who happily accepted my invitation to go on a hike there. I met her at the Grant Lake parking area, where she hopped into my car, leaving hers behind, and we continued driving up to the Twin Gate trailhead.

Our hike as captured by my GPS

The day started windy but the sky was clear and the sun was shining brightly. I left my jacket in the car and didn't regret it, as the day warmed up while we hiked. 

At the Trailhead

The past winter was nicely wet, and other than the odd storm in the beginning of May, the rains pretty much ceased early in April. The East Bay hills were turning yellow on schedule with the maturing of the wild oats and other introduced old world grasses that have established in California so well.

The upper region of Joseph D Grant Park

I didn't know how much bloom I'll see at this time, but I did expect the stars of the third wave of spring bloom to be at their peak. A few steps into the hike I got affirmation of this expectation in the shape of yellow mariposa lilies. There were lots and lots of these exceptionally beautiful flowers, and I included in this post more photos of them than necessary, and way fewer than I actually wanted to

Yellow Mariposa Lily, Calochortus luteus

Being high above the San Felipe Valley we had an extensive view southwest. Way down below I saw a blue lake - that was Grant Lake, where we would finish our hike today.

View Southwest

The summit of Mount Hamilton isn't very visible from the lower part of the park. This hike however, from the height of the eastern ridge, we had a great view of the mountain top, easily identifiable by the domes of the Lick Observatory.

Mount Hamilton

The trail we walked on was a wide dirt road that extended on the eastern ridge of the park. Around us was a sea of matured wild oats, their empty husks shining in the sunlight. Seeing native wildflowers in this golden sea was nearly impossible, unless of course, the flowers extended taller than the oats.

Narrow-leaved Mule Ears, Wyethia angustifolia

The lovely yellow patch that shone through the wild oats blanket was narrow-leaved mule ears, a sunflower-like plant that blooms in the late spring in the Bay Area.

Narrow-leaved Mule Ears, Wyethia angustifolia 

Another wildflower that extended tall above the wild oats was what used to be called 'blue dicks' but has been split into a separate species a few years ago.

Fork-toothed Ookow, Dichelostemma congestum 

There were very few trees up on the ridge, all of them oaks. The view stretched out forward for a long distance. My friend and I debated possible routes for the way down. She needed to be back at a certain hour to pick up her kid from school We decided not to do the longer trail that had an additional 5 miles loop around the peak ahead of us. Not today, anyway.

Canada de Pala Trail

From a distance it was hard to tell where wildflowers bloomed but near the trail we could see even the shorted wildflowers that didn't tower over the wild oats.

Yellow Glandweed, Belladia viscosa, non-native

We walked at a good pace. The day grew warmer and my friend shed off her jacket. I was looking for a suitable place to sit for a break because I left home in a bit of a hurry and hadn't have breakfast yet. We saw a little cattle pond that was almost full still, but there was no good place to sit there so we continued on.

Past the pond stood a huge oak tree. We didn't find a place to sit there either, but I did find a bright yellow bird preening its feathers on one extended branch of that tree. It was a juvenile oriole, and I didn't have a camera suitable for birding with me.

Bullock's Oriole, Juvenile

Violets usually bloom earlier in the season, so I was a bit surprised seeing violets in full bloom by the trail. On the other hand, we were quite high up the mountain slope so possibly spring got here a bit later.

Goosefoot Violet, Viola purpurea 

  Another wildflower I was happy to see there but not surprised at all to see because this one was in season - was the purple clarkia. There are several clarkia species in the East Ba and on this hike we saw two of them.

Purple Clarkia, Clarkia purpurea

 

Being on the higher ridge gave us also a nice view to the northeast, an area I know very little because most of it is private ranch land. It looked like much of the East Bay - oak savanna coated hills, well on their way to summer-wear.

Eventually we found a bench looking over to the west and we sat down to eat and hydrate. The dark and hazy mountain range on the horizon was Sierra Azul and I could see the Loma Prieta double peak on the left.

Pretty much all the trees up on that ridge we were hiking on were oak trees, but there were more than one species of oak there. Of the oaks, there were the live oak species that are evergreen, and other, deciduous oak species of which I recognized only the valley oak. Most deciduous oaks there were already fully foliaged, but up on the ridge I did see one straggler.

When not crammed together with other trees, the oaks develop unique and beautiful shapes. The older the tree is, the more interesting its shape , or 'personality' is. I could totally see how the ancient people saw spirits in these trees. Perhaps they weren't wrong, either.

We saw plenty of butterflies on our hike as well, but most of them were very active and wouldn't sit still for a photo shoot. I did get lucky a few times though.

Copper Butterfly

We resumed our hike. A few trail curves further we got a nice view downhill all the way to Grant Lake. It looked very far and my friend questioned whether we would get there on time. We already decided not to do the upper loop but there was still more than one choice of trails to descend on.

Grant Lake View

Two of the possible choices were coming right up, but we both felt that it would be too soon to start our descent. We decided to go up to the highest point on the ridge and turn back from there, then take one of the two trail options to get down to Grant Lake.

Canada de Pala Trail

 

Each step of the way I would see more and more wildflowers . I could only imagine how this area would look like, had looked like, without the wild oats that drowned the sight of everything shorter.

Harvest Brodiaea, Brodiaea elegans

There were even more mariposa lilies on this part of the trail than there were in the beginning. I couldn't stop stopping to admire each and every one of them that was close enough to the trail.

Yellow Mariposa Lily, Calochortus luteus 

I'm pretty sure there were more of the owl's clover blossoms than the few I've seen along the trail. They were simply hidden by the tall wild oats.

Dense Flower Owl's Clover, Castilleja densiflora

One thing I was completely surprised to see was the huge mushroom that sprouted from the bone dry earth at the side of the trail. The mushroom was very big and I post here the photo with the fly that landed briefly on it, for the scale.

Humongous fungus

I was very happy to see a wildflower there that I didn't know, or at least, one that I didn't remember from any other hike in the past.

Purple Navarretia, Navarretia pubescens 

That I was focused on wildflowers didn't mean that I kept a blind eye to everything else. A turkey vulture circled the sky above us and I managed to get a photo even without a strong zoom lens.

Turkey Vulture

We made our way uphill toward the peak which would be the highest point of our hike.I kept photographing mariposa lilies but now I was telling myself that I was doing it because of other reasons, such as interesting pollinator bugs. That was true, I guess.

I could never get tired of seeing California poppies, and we sure did see plenty of them on this hike, although not carpets of them.

California Poppy, Eschscholzia californica

Half way up I heard a familiar bird song. It didn't take me long to locate the singer - it was a meadowlark perched on top of a rusty pole. He let me approach quite close before eventually flying away.

Western Meadowlark

We reached the highest point in the hike, which possibly was the highest point in the park as well. resisted the temptation to complete the loop - we would have never made it down to the Grant Lake in time. I snapped a few longing photos at the continuing trail and we turned around and started descending.

The first part of our descent was backtracking the trail we went up the peak on. On the way down I had another opportunity to look at the wildflowers I've seen on the way up.

Wild Hollyhock, Sidalcea malviflora 

On our way down I also had a nice view point on the beautiful Mount Hamilton. The night I went to see the northern light I couldn't remain awake. I slept that night in my car up on the mountain while everyone else got to see the lights. On the other hand, I got to see a glorious sunrise, lots of wildflowers, and the upper trailhead which inspired this hike.

Mount Hamilton

AT the bottom of the main slope we descended was a bench, and thinking we had some time to spare, we sat down for a break. We planned to keep it short but our light chat turned into a passionate debate at the end of which we resumed our hike about twenty minutes later.

View east

Going down the first part we were facing the southwest. There on the horizon I spotted the double bump of the Loma Prieta mountain, the area that was the epicenter of the deadly earthquake of 1989.

Loma Prieta

Since we were in a bit of a hurry now, I tried not to stop at every mariposa lily on the way. I did pause for the lovely gumweed we saw blooming by the trail side.

Hairy Gumweed, Grindelia hirsutula

My friend wondered aloud if we could also see Mount Umunhum from where we were. With some eye straining I was able to detect the mountain in question, which I identified by the large cubical building on top, which used to be an air force radar.  I've hiked Mount Umunhum once before with my family. That trail too we preferred to do one way that day, using two cars.

Mount Umunhum

Well, I add here just one more photo of the yellow mariposa lily. That's because of the butterfly inside, of course.

Yellow Mariposa Lily, Calochortus luteus

Near the trail junction stood a sole huge valley oak. Its boughs were so heavy they were leaning dangerously low to the ground. Oaks are keystone species in this ecosystem, and a single oak like this one is relied upon by a multitude of animals, as well as some other organisms. The tree itself is a mini ecosystem in this manner.

Valley Oak, Quercus lobata

We reached the trail junction with the Halls Valley Trail and started downhill right away, descending towards Grant Lake. Right away the mild slope we were going down on from the peak steepened considerably.

Grant Lake

It was only on this part of the hike that I started seeing fiddleneck flowers, which also surprised me a bit. Fiddleneck usually comes in large numbers and it loves the open fields. Perhaps there were more in the oats and I simply missed them.

Fiddleneck, Amsinckia menziesii

As soon as we descended low enough we started seeing other wildflowers. The first of which was the seep monkeyflower, a plant that loves wet areas. The ground was bone dry but perhaps it was wet enough not too long ago, wet enough for this plant to grow and mature in that spot.

Seep Monkeyflower, Erythranthe gutatta 

Our pace was faster now, a combination of going downhill with a sense of urgency and a concern that we might not reach the Grant Lake trailhead on time for my friend to leave. My friend was also concerned about not having cellular reception so she couldn't set a back up plan for picking up her child, so she trotted ahead fast and I did my best to keep up.

Halls Valley Trail

Eventually my friend had to slow down too - the trail was quite steep in places and some loose gravel and dry leaves rendered it slippery.  I slowed down too for the same reason, but I also had the excuse of seeing more wildflowers of species I have not yet seen on this hike.

Western Larkspur, Delphinium hesperium ssp.

My friend has been hiking with my for years now, and some of the name dropping I've done over these years stuck with her. She pointed at the plants that she had recognized with great pleasure. The Chinese houses was one of them, although the had the paler presentation here.

Chinese Houses, Collinsia heterophylla

The buckeye tree was another one of the instantly recognizable plants, especially when in full bloom, which is was at the time of our hike there. I was also suddenly aware that although the oaks still dominated the tree community still, there were now other trees  growing now in between them.

Buckeye, Aesculus californica 

On the higher part of Halls Valley Trail we kept moving between small gullies with small groves of trees and more open areas that were exposed to the sun. The shaded places under the trees offered a different niche for herbaceous plants to thrive in, but even on the open spaces in between there was more diversity of wildflowers.

Slender Clarkia, Clarkia gracilis ssp. gracilis

After what looked like going down forever my friend raised her concerns once more. We were sure walking at a good fast pace, but it looked like we still had a long way to go. I sneaked a quick look at the paper map that I took at the trailhead and confirmed that Halls Valley Trail was two miles long. The other one might have been somewhat shorter, but it would have necessitate going back a bit further just to get to the trail junction. I said that we probably shouldn't have taken the break up on the ridge as we did, or at least, not have sat there fro that long. Either way, there was nothing we could do about it now except for keeping our fastest pace and not take any more breaks unless we absolutely needed too.

Halls Valley Trail

We reached the lower part of the trail and the oak forest was now continuous. My navigator app showed Grant Lake to be near, but we couldn't see it with our eyes because of the trees.

Halls Valley Trail

My friend pointed out the sticky monkeyflower. She remembered that one as well. I remembered that after reaching the Grant Lake I would still have to get back to my car which was parked at the upper, Twin Gate trailhead. I suggested to my friend that she should drive off as soon as we get to the Grant Lake parking area and I would hitch hike my way up, but she turned it down flatly, saying she'd take me up as we planned. Later I was grateful for this because there was hardly any traffic on the road hat day and who knows how long it would have taken me to hitch a ride up.

Sticky Monkeyflower, Diplacus aurantiacus 

In one shaded spot I saw a few white globe lily plants. They were the only other species of Calochortus, relatives of the yellow mariposa lilies that I saw on this hike. They look quite different as their petals form a closed ball that hangs from the stem, unlike the open saucer shape of the mariposa lilies. It's this hangnig ball shape that gave the globe lily its other common name - the fairy lantern.

White Globe Lily, Calochortus albus 

When we finally came out of the trees we saw Grant Lake right below us. It was close, but not as close as I'd hoped we would be by now. We quickened our pace.

Grant Lake

When we finally reached the lake itself we did need a short break to drink some water. There we've connected already to the lower loop that I usually hike and also often take my family hiking group and the 4H Hiking Project that I lead. For the last quarter mile we were hiking on familiar ground.

My friend was on turbo now, walking almost as fast as a jog. We would be about 20 minutes late when we reach her car. I didn't pause any more either, all my last photos were on the go, shot while moving.

Grant Lake

On the move is also how I took the photo of the last wildflower I saw on the hike, right by the parking lot. I didn't get enough of the leaves to get a clear identification of this pretty morning glory blooming there. Perhaps I'll have the opportunity to go back there soon enough and take a closer look if it would still be blooming by then.

Morning Glory, Calystegia sp. 

My friend took my up to the Twin Gate trailhead where I was parked and departed immediately. I sat in my car for a few more minutes before starting my drive back home. It was a lovely hike and I felt relaxed and happy there, not at all eager to return to my daily duties. We parted with the promise of doing it again soon.