The Cupertino Courier

News

Photograph by Jacqueline Ramseyer

On this map, the red line charts the De Anza Trail, which passes through Cupertino. A trail marker commemorates Juan Bautista de Anza's trip through the area as he made his way to San Francisco from Mexico. The marker memorializes the trip as 'the journey that shaped Bay Area history.'

New trail in Cupertino follows De Anza's

By HUGH BIGGAR

Cupertino now has a walkable timeline to its past.

A new trail in the hills above Cupertino leads to the site where Spanish colonists led by Capt. Juan Bautista de Anza first spotted the San Francisco Bay after marching 1,200 miles.

The expedition of about 300 men, women and children (and 1,000 livestock) was on its way from Sonora, Mexico to establish a presidio and mission in San Francisco.

"From the top of a hill we had in sight a large part of the southeastern estuary. ... Near here we saw something that looked like a building," a member of the party, Padre Pedro Font, wrote of seeing the Bay and Ohlone huts made of laurel branches on March 25, 1776.

The San Francisco Bay Area and Cupertino haven't been the same since. Stan Bond, superintendent of the trail for the National Park Service, hopes the trail provides a ready reminder.

"California has always been a melting pot, and the trail links a variety of people who settled California and historical sites," Bond said, pointing out de Anza's original route followed existing Indian trails.

As a part of that process, the trail in Cupertino is a part of a national trail system known as the Juan Bautista de Anza Trail. Beginning in Arizona, the trail roughly follows the overland route traveled by the de Anza party on its way to San Francisco. It had been sent by the Spanish government to block Russian and British advances in Northern California and establish a Spanish presence in the area. Some of de Anza's men later established San Jose and started ranches in the Santa Clara Valley.

According to Bond, about a third of the national De Anza Trail has been completed with the help of a variety of agencies. In Cupertino, the Santa Clara Valley Water District and Santa Clara County Parks also helped with the trail's completion.

Mayor Richard Lowenthal said he hopes the trail will also link to Blackberry Farm, which will open as a city park next year.

"We're also working with the Mid-Peninsula Open Space District and other agencies to establish a connection with other county trails," Bond said.

For now the Cupertino section of the trail is a simple path winding a little over 2 miles from Rancho San Antonio County Park to a hilltop covered in wild grass.

The Ohlone village in what is now Cupertino is long gone, of course, but the view of the estuary, blue bay and brown mountains in the distance is still here.

Bond hopes the trail will remind people of what used to be here as well.

"We want people to know there was a California history before the 1849 gold rush, people not mentioned in the history books," he said. "The trail commemorates the settlement of the San Francisco Bay Area," he said, "and also brings attention to the consequences of the trip on the indigenous people and the environment."