Adventure: 051, Site 010 – Fremont Peak

Capture California, the Game-2012

Adventure: 051, Site 010 – Fremont Peak

California Landmark Number: #181

Team: Thing One, Thing Two

Date:  August 4, 2012

Location:

Longitude: 36°45′26″N

Latitude: 121°30′15″W

Address: Fremont State Park, San Juan Baptista, CA

Description:

Date Built: 1846

For more on this adventure, see our previous adventure: Adventure 008, Hike 048 - Fremont Peak


NO. 181 FREMONT PEAK - On March 6, 1846, Captain John C. Frémont built a fort here on Gabilan (Gavilan) Peak (Fremont Peak). He unfurled his colors and for four days awaited the attack of a force of Californians. The battle did not materialize by the night of March 9, and Frémont broke camp and departed for Oregon.
Location: Fremont Peak State Park, 11 mi S of Hwy 156 via San Juan Canyon Rd (Co Rd G1),



References:

• Fremont State Patk's Web Site
  
• Wikipedia
  

Overall Landmark References:

• David Schmitt's California State Historical Landmark (Schmitt)
  
• Wikipedia: California's National Landmarks (WCNL)
  
• State of California's California Historical Landmarks (CHL)
  
• Wikipedia: California State Landmarks (WCSL)
  
• State of California Historical Resources (CHR)
  
• National Registry of Historical Places (NRHP)
  

Adventure 008, Hike 048 - Fremont Peak Trail

 

 Capture California, the Game-2012

Adventure: 008, Hike 048 – Fremont Peak Trail

Team: Thing One, Thing Two

Date:  August 4, 2012

Location: Fremont State Park

Hike Info:

Trail: Fremont Peak Trail

Distance: 1.2 miles

Duration: 0:59
Elevation Rise: 350'

Description:
 Back in 1846 John Fremont decided that he wanted a piece of California. But the Mexican commander of the local garrison did not think this was a great idea. Even the US Consul in Monterrey thought that Fremont had overstepped his welcome. Fremont had holed up with 60 armed surveyors on top of Gavilan Peak, creating a makeshift fort. Fremont had raised the US flag on this peak. Then one night a strong wind came along and blew down the flag. Fremont took the hint and left the peak. Today this peak is popularly known as Fremont Peak.



Team Thing One, Thing Two had the whole mountain to ourselves. We did not have to contend with the military, with crowds or politics. We just enjoyed the the climb and the view. We came in from San Juan Bautista, about 11 miles north of Fremont State Park. This is a road which is fun to drive—but must be driven slowly. We got to the first parking lot and parked—we could have gone up 200 yards and parked a bit closer, but we did not.




At this second parking lot, there is a sign which talks about Fremont's stand off on this peak. You can take a road which leads to the broadcast antenna's, close to the peak or the trail. The trail being longer, but more enjoyable. It loops around the peak, giving you some fantastic views from the east, north and west. We were climbing this towards sun down. So with the clouds coming in and the sun starting to turn golden, the golden colors contrasting with the green fields and gray clouds just left us with energy to climb to the peak.



Once there, you got a 360 degree view of all the San Benito county. The last bit of the climb is a bit of rock scampering, but definitely non-technical.



The way back, we took the road—shorter, but steeper. Got back to the car and made our way to Gilroy.

Adventure 08, Hike 049 - Earthquake Walk

Capture California, the Game-2012

Adventure: 008, Hike 049 – Earthquake Walk

Team: Thing One, Thing Two

Date:  August 4, 2012

Location: Mission San Juan Bautista

Hike Info:

Trail: Earthquake Walk

Distance: .7 miles

Duration: 0:45

Elevation Rise: Negligible

Description:

Both Thing One and Thing Two saw this plaque saying Earthquake Walk. It looked like an interpretive trail and Thing One is always inquistive—still sometimes gives his kids a quarter for new knowledge. But as we were walking along, neither Thing One nor Thing Two knows exactly what constitutes this walk. There was nothing explicitly labeling the actual walk. But the idea is to show off the San Andreas Fault. You see, back in 1797, when the Spanish built Mission San Juan Bautista, they built it right smack daub on the fault line. Of course, if the Spanish knew that the nice hill side with the cooling breezes, overlooking a fertile flat lake bed would periodically be the center of shaking, they may have relocated. But they didn't, so they built the mission.

Back in 1979, the San Juan Bautista Chamber of Commerce decided to celebrate the 100^th anniversary of the founding of the US Geological Survey by placing a plaque at this site and dedicating a walk to them.

The walk we took was short, about ¾ of a mile. It started at the plaque, just outside of the mission, went down, close to the old lake bed. It turns out that this walk is is part of the original El Camino Real. It went along the mission wall until it got to the private property on the north-east side of the mission. We then walked the length of it until it intersected another street. At this point, we walked up the street and discovered, appropriately enough a restaurant called the Fault Line Restaurant. After this, we came back around past the blacksmith shop, back to the plaza and the mission.

Adventure 049 - Visit a Mission

Capture California, the Game-2012

Adventure: 49 – Visited Mission San Juan Bautista

Team: Thing One, Thing Two

Date:  August 4, 2012

Location: San Juan Bautista

Description:

Thing One and Thing Two visited our first mission this year. San Juan Bautista. You can read about it under our visit to this mission at our blog.

Adventure 101, Mission 01 San Juan Bautista

Capture California, the Game-2012

Adventure: 101, Mission 01 San Juan Bautista, 15th mission

Team: Thing One, Thing Two

Date:  August 4, 2012

Location: San Juan Bautista

Description:

Thing One and Thing Two decided to go on a little more out of the way journey to go to the South Bay Area. So we went through San Juan Bautista and saw its mission. We arrived at 5:00pm, in time to see those who are part of the ensemble who portray the times of western San Juan Bautista leaving their jobs. But we were in time to be reminded of that the mission is part of a working parish. A wedding had just taken place and the bride was leaving.

We wandered around the premises for the next hour, seeing the plaza, the fields being worked behind the mission cemetery, and the surroundings. The cemetery has 4300 mission indians, Spanish settlers, and pioneers buried in it. The first buried was on April 23, 1798, a child by the name of Maria Trinidad.

This mission which was started on June 24, 1797 was the 15^th mission created. It was the largest one, where the church had three aisles. The founder was Father Lasuen. In 1812, a monastery was added with 36 rooms. Unlike some other missions, this church was never abandoned and continues to serve the community of San Juan Bautista.



This park includes several structures built in the 1800s. The four main historic museums are the Plaza Hotel, the Zanetta House/Plaza Hall, the Plaza Stables, and the newly reopened Castro-Breen Adobe.The park also features a blacksmith shop, the historic jail, and an early American settler’s cabin. The feel of this state park is similar to how I thought of Columa within the James Marshall Gold Discovery State Park. You had a working town within the state park—the place was not dead, but interconnected with the present.






From California State Parks site:

Founded by Father Lasuen in 1797 this mission was unwittingly located directly above the San Andreas fault. Much of the original structure remains and has been restored to once again be the largest California mission church and the only one with three aisles. It was named for John the Baptist. Musical arts were taught here and the mission owned many instruments, which the Indians readily took to. Father Tapis developed a colored musical notation system and taught the Indians to read music as well as play it. Some of the parchments with colored notations still survive and the reredos behind the altar is so well-preserved that the paint is still brilliant.
 Second and Mariposa Sts. in San Juan Bautista, 95045, (831) 623-4528