The Saratoga Gap is a mountain pass that has been used since the late 19th century to cross over the Santa Cruz mountains. The logging trail that descended from the crest of the mountains down to the towns of Saratoga and San Jose bearing redwood-laden wagons, is now a winding tar ribbon with aggressively banked …
If you saw a windowless concrete eight-story cuboid building perched improbably atop a 3,500-foot mountain, like a sentinel against the clear blue sky, you must be looking at Mt Umunhum in the Santa Cruz mountains. The Cube is visible from miles away and this mountain was opened up to the public only in 2017, almost …
When the menu flaunts four types of avocado toasts including one that combines pickled red onions with creamy almond butter that you can wash down with lavender or honey bee latte, you’re probably in a California cafe. Should faces with beards and nose rings outnumber wrists with Apple watches, you’re not in Silicon Valley. If …
Sometimes you need good cause to throw a leg over a motorcycle and plot a course. A jaunt to a food truck qualifies. So on a cold evening, I set out on a ride to find a food truck that would serve up chaat. My Apple map shows at least four, so I pick one …
This story starts with the improbable James Lick who was born in Pennsylvania in the early 19th century and chased every boy’s dream of becoming a piano-maker, in the manner a boy today might want to become a YouTuber: by just doing it. Lore has it that he didn’t stop there and was tickling …
The Younger Gang—outlaws and co-conspirators of the infamous Jesse James—once hid out here, presumably with their stash. Ken Kesey and his Merry Pranksters lived communally in a redwood cabin here where they held their light-and-sound psychedelic LSD-fueled parties, seeking to expand the consciousness of mankind. Tom Wolfe’s The Electric Kool-Aid Acid Test—chronicle of the roots …
This morning’s ride takes me around the Lexington Reservoir, a few miles from Los Gatos. The Alma Bridge Road runs completely around this waterbody, creeping around its nooks and crannies as it passes trailheads and overlooks. I stop nostalgically by the boathouse of the Los Gatos Rowing Club where my daughter used to row, to …
Today’s destination: Felton—a town of about four thousand, founded as a logging town in the latter part of the 19th century and nestled away in the Santa Cruz mountains. It serves today as one end of the Roaring Camp and Big Trees Narrow Gauge Railroad whose steam engines from the 1890s still ply tourists up steep grades in the …
Riding a motorcycle in the mountains before the sun comes up is a tranquil experience. There’s a bit of fog and almost no one around. The bike eats up the road ahead and spits it out behind, past the fat rumble of the exhaust pipes. I took a motorcycle ride early this morning to the …
