U.S. National Park Service
Juan Bautista de Anza National Historic Trail
  On the
Trail with Anza


Artist:
David
Rickman
On the Trail with Anza, by artist David Rickman
  Getting Back - The East Bay through the Mount Diablo Range


Counties on the trail from south to north: 


To download as a PDF, click here (840 Kb). Viewable with Adobe Acrobat Reader 
Map of Juan Bautista de Anza trail - Getting Back


Driving Directions for Auto Route

In the East Bay, you can head south via a driving route that parallels that of Anza and his exploratory band of soldiers.

Contra Costa County
From the northeastern portion of Contra Costa County, follow CA 4 east until the town of Oakley and then follow CA 4 south through Brentwood (Brentwood Blvd. to Byron Highway).When CA 4 makes a sharp left turn east, continue straight (south) on Byron Highway (County Road J4) to Byron. At Mountain House Rd., exit County Road J4 and turn right (south).

Alameda County

Travel south on Mountain House Road. At the junction of Altamont Pass Road, continue south on Midway Road. At Midway, turn right (west) on Patterson Pass Road to Cross Road. Turn left (south) on Cross Road to its intersection with Tesla Road. Turn right (west) on Tesla Road/County Road J2 to Mines Road. At Mines Road, turn left (south). Follow Mines Rd. to the Santa Clara County line where it becomes San Antonio Valley Road.

Santa Clara County
Continue south on San Antonio Valley Rd. until it makes a sharp right (westward) turn. At this point, the historic route continues south to meet Coyote Creek and follow it through Henry Coe State Park. The auto tour route continues on roadways. Continue west on San Antonio Valley Road/CA 130, which passes over Mount Hamilton (elevation 4209 ft.), to Alum Rock Avenue. Make a left turn at Alum Rock Avenue, which is the continuation of CA 130 to US 101. From here, one can join north or south on the auto route. For the latter, turn south on US 101 through Morgan Hill and San Martin. To continue in this county and visit Henry Coe State Park, please see below.

Download a finer resolution map of this portion of the trail in pdf format (310Kb).


Driving Directions for Auto Route (continued)

Continuing in Santa Clara County
If you would like to bypass Henry Coe State Park, then simply continue on 101. If, however, you would like to visit the park, take the Leavesley exit east off 101. At New Avenue, turn left (north). At Roop Road, turn right (east). Follow Roop Road to Gilroy Hot Springs Road. Turn left on Gilroy Hot Springs Road to the intersection of Cañada Road. Continue on Gilroy Hot Springs Road to the Hunting Hollow entrance to Henry Coe State Park, where you can hike parallel to the historic route of the expedition along Coyote Creek and see their noontime stop at Los Cruzeros. Turn right (south) on Cañada Road and follow it south and west. In this section, the road follows the historic route. At Ferguson Road (Pacheco Pass Highway), turn left (south) to Bloomfield Avenue/County Road G7. At Bloomfield Avenue/ County Road G7, turn right (west). At the intersection of CA 25 turn right (west) to US 101. From there, you can go south to San Benito County, or to the northern portion of Santa Clara County.

  About Your Visit to Anza's Bay Area Back Country


Anza and the small band of soldiers started their return trip to Monterey in April of 1776 after their exploration of the East Bay area. He received a warm welcome by the American Indians at each end of this segment, and he gave colored beads to each of these tribes. You can follow part of their path by driving the Juan Bautista de Anza National Historic Trail in Eastern Contra Costa, Alameda and Santa Clara Counties.

 
 


Sites of Interest

A. East Bay Regional Park District and Expedition Camp #101
There are several places to access the Delta de Anza Regional Trail of the East Bay Regional Park District. The Antioch/Oakley Regional Shoreline contains the area of Camp #101. It is commemorated with a plaque placed on the edge of the shore on the east side of the fishing pier. On April 3, 1776 a Bay Miwok Village of the Julpun was visited nearby. Father Font writes, "…we came to a good-sized village, whose Indians, who in color and all other respects are like the rest, welcomed us as friends although timidly…We stopped for a while at this village, whose huts were not of grass and dilapidated like those we had seen during this journey, but rather large, round, and well made, like those [Chumash] of the Channel …"

B. Livermore Valley and Expedition Camp #102
Father Font writes on April 4, 1776, "…we came to some bare hills…From the top of them we saw at our right a spacious valley [Livermore Valley] formed by the hills which we were crossing and those which on going to the mouth of Puerto Dulce we had on our right…we descended from the top of the hills [Patterson Pass]. We continued through them for about two leagues to the southwest and entered other hills, which are the beginning of the sierra which we afterward crossed…and having traveled through them some two leagues to the south-southwest we halted on a small elevation near a cañada in which a little water was found." The location of the camp is near Tesla Rd. south of Livermore. 1 league = 2.56 miles.

C. Henry Coe State Park and Expedition Camps #103 & #104
On the return trip to Monterey, the route closely follows the eastern Santa Clara county line after entering from the north. It passes through the beautiful San Antonio Valley, and then to the East Fork of Coyote Creek near Henry Coe State Park. This is the second largest California State Park next to Anza Borrego. Trails within it include a two-mile segment near Los Cruzeros, Anza's mid-day stop. Anza called the Mt. Hamilton range the Sierra del Chasco, which translates as the mountains of disappointment. Apparently, he was disappointed as to how long it took to cross these rugged mountains. Camps #103 and #104 are near the park's northern and southern borders, respectively. Camp #104 is near Cañada Rd. at the confluence of Coyote Creek and Cañada de los Osos. It was near here that American Indians greeted them again. Font's Diary of April 7, 1776, Easter Sunday, states, "...When we finished our descent, some ten or twelve Indians came out on the road to salute us, from a village which was near there on the banks of a lagoon. They gave us amole and two fish from the lagoon…In return for them, the commander gave the Indians some glass beads..." This group was likely from the Mutsun tribe. More can be learned about this tribe at Chitactac-Adams Heritage County Park (Hwy 152 east to Watsonville Rd.; north of Gilroy in Santa Clara County).

  Learning On The Trail in the Mt. Diablo Range


Additional Resources

Delta de Anza Regional Trail and East Bay Regional Park District - P.O. Box 5381, Oakland, CA 94605-0381;
tel.: 925-625-5479,
web: ebparks.org


Livermore Heritage Guild, Carnegie Library Building - P.O. Box 961, Livermore, CA 94551;
tel.: 925-449-9927,
web:
livermorehistory.com


Henry Coe State Park - 9000 East Dunne Ave., Morgan Hill, CA 95037;
tel.: 408-779-2728,
web: coepark.org


National Park Service
web: nps.gov/juba/

View near Patterson Pass Road
The view along the trail near Patterson Pass Road

Photo: NPS

San Antonio Valley east of Mount Hamilton
San Antonio Valley east of Mount Hamilton

Photo: NPS

Map with pre-Spanish contact village names


People of the Bay

Over the past 10,000 years, the region between Monterey and San Francisco was occupied by successive generations of American Indians who adapted to the diverse ecosystems of the coast, mountains, and interior valleys. With the expansion of the Spanish Empire into Alta California after 1769, the development of these native societies changed dramatically within a fifty year period as individuals were placed in various Missions. During early contact, the Spaniards referred to the inhabitants of the Monterey Bay area as Costeños or People of the Coast. Around the San Francisco Bay region, other tribal groups were encountered speaking similar dialects that language scholars later classified as Costanoan. Descendants prefer to use "Ohlone" as a term applying only to the tribe around the village of Oljon between today's Santa Cruz and San Francisco. At left is shown a map with some of the pre-Spanish contact village names reconstructed from Mission records.

Photo: Chitactac-Adams Heritage County Park
 

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Look up names, locations and terms in the Glossary.

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