Sierra Azul Open Space Preserve
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Sierra Azul Open Space Preserve is managed by the
Midpeninsula Regional Open Space District 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 o ...
in
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 ...
. It is approximately in area. The preserve is named for the
Sierra Azul The Sierra Azul is a mountain range in Santa Clara County, California. It is the southern half of the Santa Cruz Mountains range, which is divided into two parts by California Highway 17 into what the colonizing Spanish called the Sierra Morena or ...
or "Blue Mountains", the name the colonizing Spanish used for the half of the
Santa Cruz Mountains The Santa Cruz Mountains, part of the Pacific Coast Ranges, are a mountain range in central and Northern California, United States. They form a ridge down the San Francisco Peninsula, south of San Francisco. They separate the Pacific Ocean from ...
south of today's
California Highway 17 State Route 17 (SR 17, locally known as Highway 17) is a state highway in the U.S. state of California that runs from State Route 1 in Santa Cruz to I-280 and I-880 in San Jose. SR 17, a freeway and expressway, carries substantial ...
. The park features the peaks of
Mount Umunhum Mount Umunhum (Ohlone languages, Ohlone for "Resting Place of the Hummingbird") is a peak in the Santa Cruz Mountains, located in Santa Clara County, California, Santa Clara County, California. It is the fourth-highest Mountain, peak in the Santa ...
,
Mount Thayer 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 ...
, and El Sombroso peak . El Sombroso is about north by northeast of Mount Umunhum. Trails connect from
Lexington Reservoir Lexington Reservoir is an artificial lake on the Los Gatos Creek near Los Gatos, California. The James J. Lenihan Dam, a high, thick earthen dam, forms the third-largest reservoir in Santa Clara County. Background The reservoir is in ...
, on the western edge of the park, to Hicks Road on the eastern edge. The preserve protects the upper watersheds of two important tributaries of the Guadalupe River. The upper headwaters of Los Gatos Creek originate just south of
Loma Prieta Loma Prieta (from Spanish ''loma'' -hill, ''prieta'' -dark) is high and is the highest peak in the Santa Cruz Mountains in Northern California. Although the 1989 Loma Prieta earthquake was named for this mountain, the actual epicenter was fi ...
, wrapping around the preserve on the western side before emptying into Lexington Reservoir. Guadalupe Creek originates just east of Mount Umunhum and flows into Guadalupe Reservoir then follows Hicks Road as it wraps around the eastern side of the preserve. Parts of Sierra Azul Open Space Preserve are not yet open to the public, but many sections are, and these include miles of trails, old roads (some paved, some not), a man-made lake, and other amenities. The terrain varies from wooded creek canyons to
chaparral Chaparral ( ) is a shrubland plant community and geographical feature found primarily in the U.S. state of California, in southern Oregon, and in the northern portion of the Baja California Peninsula in Mexico. It is shaped by a Mediterranean c ...
hills with views to open meadows.


References


External links


Sierra Azul
Midpeninsula Regional Open Space District 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 o ...
Sierra Azul Open Space Preserve webpage

Downloadable map of the preserve {{Coord, 37, 10, 07, N, 121, 15, 42, W, type:landmark_region:US-CA, display=title Midpeninsula Regional Open Space District Parks in the San Francisco Bay Area Protected areas of Santa Clara County, California Nature reserves in California Bay Area Ridge Trail