Mountain Home, also known as Casa Loma (

Spanish Spanish might refer to: * Items from or related to Spain: **Spaniards are a nation and ethnic group indigenous to Spain **Spanish language, spoken in Spain and many countries in the Americas **Spanish cuisine **Spanish history **Spanish culture ...

for "Mountain Home"), is a sparsely populated area located on the eastern side of the

Santa Cruz Mountains The Santa Cruz Mountains ( Mutsun Ohlone: Mak-sah-re-jah, "Sharp Ridged Mountain of the Eagle" or "People of the Eagle Mountain") are a mountain range in central and Northern California, United States, constituting a part of the Pacific Coast R ...

in unincorporated southwest

Santa Clara County, California Santa Clara County, officially the County of Santa Clara, is the sixth-most populous county in the U.S. state of California, with a population of 1,936,259 as of the 2020 United States census, 2020 census. Santa Clara County and neighboring Sa ...

near Mount Chual and Rancho Canada del Oro Open Space Preserves. The Loma Fire burned about one half of the region in 2016.

Geography

The area is situated within the upper

Llagas Creek Llagas Creek is a perennial stream in Santa Clara County, California, United States. The headwaters rise on the eastern side of Crystal Peak near Loma Prieta. From there, the creek flows northeast along Casa Loma Road, until it reaches Uvas Road ...

watershed, bounded by Mount Chual and Rancho Canada del Oro Open Space Preserves toward the north,

Loma Prieta Loma Prieta (from Spanish ''loma'' -hill, ''prieta'' -dark) is the highest peak in the Santa Cruz Mountains in Northern California, measuring in height. Although the 1989 Loma Prieta earthquake was named for this mountain, the actual epicent ...

Road on the west,

Loma Chiquita Loma Chiquita is an unincorporated rural area along the ridge leading to Loma Chiquita summit in southwest Santa Clara County, California. The area covers the associated ridgeline and hillsides, from the eastern base of Loma Prieta, towards th ...

Road on the south, and Twin Creeks Road on the east. The region includes small communities along

Casa Loma Casa Loma (Spanish for "Hill House") is a Gothic Revival castle-style mansion and garden in midtown Toronto, Ontario, Canada, that is now a historic house museum and landmark. It was constructed from 1911 to 1914 as a residence for financier S ...

Road, Mt Chual Spur Road, and Twin Falls Road. The area is mostly mountain ridges with steep, sloping terrain and narrow canyons. The Berrocal Fault runs diagonally through the center of the area. Native vegetation ranges from a mixed

conifer Conifers () are a group of conifer cone, cone-bearing Spermatophyte, seed plants, a subset of gymnosperms. Scientifically, they make up the phylum, division Pinophyta (), also known as Coniferophyta () or Coniferae. The division contains a sin ...

oak woodland An oak woodland is a plant community with a tree canopy dominated by oaks (''Quercus spp.''). In terms of canopy closure, oak woodlands are intermediate between oak savanna, which is more open, and oak forest, which is more closed. Although the c ...

along the mountain ridges, to

chaparral Chaparral ( ) is a shrubland plant plant community, community found primarily in California, southern Oregon, and northern Baja California. It is shaped by a Mediterranean climate (mild wet winters and hot dry summers) and infrequent, high-intens ...

and

coastal scrub Coastal sage scrub, also known as coastal scrub, CSS, or soft chaparral, is a low scrubland plant community of the California coastal sage and chaparral subecoregion, found in coastal California and northwestern coastal Baja California. It is ...

along the slopes, to riparian flora along the canyon floors.

Climate

According to the

Köppen climate classification The Köppen climate classification divides Earth climates into five main climate groups, with each group being divided based on patterns of seasonal precipitation and temperature. The five main groups are ''A'' (tropical), ''B'' (arid), ''C'' (te ...

system, Mountain Home has a

warm-summer Mediterranean climate A Mediterranean climate ( ), also called a dry summer climate, described by Köppen and Trewartha as ''Cs'', is a temperate climate type that occurs in the lower mid-latitudes (normally 30 to 44 north and south latitude). Such climates typic ...

, abbreviated "Csb" on climate maps.

History

In 2016, the Loma Fire burned through approximately half the region, with multiple homes damaged or destroyed.

References

{{SF Bay Area Unincorporated communities in Santa Clara County, California Unincorporated communities in California