Black Mountain
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Black Mountain rises to 849 m in California. Mount Bielawski stands 985 m to the south-southeast, 7.2 miles off. The nearest named place is Monte Bello Open Space Preserve, a nature reserve 0.6 miles away.
The story
Black Mountain is a summit on Monte Bello Ridge in the Santa Cruz Mountains of west Santa Clara County, California, south of Los Altos and Los Altos Hills, and west of Cupertino; it is within the Palo Alto city limits though not near the developed part of the city. It is located on the border between Rancho San Antonio Open Space Preserve and Monte Bello Open Space Preserve, with the summit located in the former. Early Spanish explorers commonly named tree- or chaparral-covered summits which look black in the distance Loma Prieta, from the Spanish (loma-hill, prieta-dark). The Spanish also called the middle portion of the Santa Cruz Mountains the Sierra Morena meaning (morena-brunette, sierra-mountain range), extending from Half Moon Bay Road (California State Route 92) south to a gap at Lexington Reservoir, and which includes a summit called Sierra Morena. There are over 100 "Black Mountains" in California.
From Wikipedia, CC BY-SA 4.0.
Wikidata Q4921338, referenced by the OpenStreetMap record.
What the record says
- Elevation
- 849 m
How to reach it
Named places within 25 miles
- Monte Bello Open Space Preserve: 0.6 mi
- Hidden Villa: 1.8 mi
- Rancho San Antonio Open Space Preserve: 1.9 mi
- Upper Stevens Creek County Park: 2.8 mi
- Juan Prado Mesa Preserve: 3.0 mi
- Ewing Hill: 1.9 mi
- Table Mountain: 2.0 mi
- Elephant Mountain: 2.2 mi
- Borel Hill: 2.9 mi
- Turtle Rock: 3.4 mi
- Gene Sheehan Overlook: 2.0 mi
- Audry C. Rust Commemorative Site: 2.9 mi
- Kobun Chino: 2.9 mi
- Otogawa Roshi: 2.9 mi
- St. Joseph's College: 3.4 mi
- David C. Daniels Nature Center: 2.2 mi
- Ohlone Village: 2.9 mi
- Blacksmith Shop: 4.7 mi
- Environmental Education Center: 4.7 mi
- Los Altos History Museum: 4.8 mi
- Education Garden: 2.4 mi
- Foothill Horticulture Garden: 3.1 mi
- Native Hill (California Native Habitat Garden): 3.1 mi
- Drought Demonstration Garden: 4.4 mi
- Nature Circle: 4.7 mi
- Rancho San Antonio Picnic Area: 3.4 mi
- Orchard Glen: 3.6 mi
- Baytree Picnic Area: 4.1 mi
- Villa Maria Group Picnic Site: 4.2 mi
- Chestnut Picnic Area: 4.2 mi
- Little Rancho Park: 3.5 mi
- Montclaire Park: 4.0 mi
- Purissima Park: 4.1 mi
- McKenzie Park: 4.1 mi
- The Turf: 4.3 mi
- Dancers: 4.1 mi
- Egrets: 4.3 mi
- Musical Gambol: 4.3 mi
- Shlama: 4.3 mi
- Cradle of Liberty: 4.4 mi
- Pandemonium Aviaries Sculpture: 4.2 mi
- Castle Rock State Park. Red Mountain Day Use Area: 4.6 mi
- Castle Rock State Park. Old Corral Day Use Area: 4.7 mi
- Towne Trail: 5.0 mi
- Fujitsu Planetarium: 5.6 mi
- San Gregorio Private Beach: 14.0 mi
- San Gregorio Beach: 14.1 mi
- Tunitas Beach: 14.2 mi
- Sand Beach: 14.8 mi
- Martins Beach: 14.9 mi
- Spring source: 0.8 mi
- Travertine Springs: 5.4 mi
- Congress Springs: 7.1 mi
- Bulls Spring: 8.5 mi
- Summit Spring: 11.5 mi
- Peter's Creek Falls: 2.2 mi
- Gerow's Waterfall: 2.9 mi
- Tip Toe Falls: 6.2 mi
- Castle Rock Falls: 6.7 mi
- Sempervirens Falls: 10.0 mi
- Lexington: 12.1 mi
- Alma: 13.2 mi
- Drawbridge: 14.0 mi
- Holy City: 14.5 mi
- Patchen: 15.1 mi
- Graffiti Rock: 5.0 mi
- Underworld Rock: 6.9 mi
- Lyme Disease Rock: 7.0 mi
- Waddell Bluffs: 16.6 mi
- China Ladder: 18.2 mi
- Felton Covered Bridge: 18.9 mi
- Felton Covered Bridge: 18.9 mi
Other summits around it
The highest named summits within 13.4 miles of Black Mountain. Elevation from each summit’s own record; bearing measured between the two coordinates.
| Summit | Bearing | Elevation | Distance |
|---|---|---|---|
| Mount Bielawski | SSE 155° | 985 m | 7.2 mi |
| Castle Rock | SSE 155° | 979 m | 6.8 mi |
| The Peak | SSE 148° | 917 m | 8.0 mi |
| Lookout Tower | SSE 157° | 892 m | 5.3 mi |
| Goat Rock | SSE 160° | 890 m | 6.5 mi |
| Sunnyvale Mountain | SSE 148° | 880 m | 8.3 mi |
| Summit Rock | SSE 153° | 878 m | 5.9 mi |
| Varian Peak | SSE 163° | 873 m | 6.3 mi |
When to go
Light through the year
| Date | Sunrise | Golden hour | Sunset |
|---|---|---|---|
| March equinox | 07:13 | 18:46 | 19:21 |
| June solstice | 05:49 | 19:54 | 20:33 |
| September equinox | 06:57 | 18:33 | 19:07 |
| December solstice | 07:20 | 16:14 | 16:55 |
Local time (America/Los_Angeles).
Climate normals
Months averaging 50–80 °F: Apr–Nov.
| Jan | Feb | Mar | Apr | May | Jun | Jul | Aug | Sep | Oct | Nov | Dec | |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| Avg °F | 48 | 48 | 50 | 52 | 57 | 64 | 69 | 70 | 68 | 61 | 52 | 47 |
| Precip in | 7.8 | 8.0 | 6.3 | 3.4 | 1.3 | 0.4 | 0.0 | 0.1 | 0.2 | 1.7 | 4.6 | 8.4 |
1991–2020 U.S. Climate Normals, NOAA NCEI — Skyline Ridge Preserve, 2 mi away.
Where this comes from
Location and category confirmed against OpenStreetMap.
OpenStreetMapWikidata- USGS Geographic Names Information System feature 1658068 — Black Mountain, Santa Clara County, California.
OpenStreetMap element node/2398117018
Day trips start here
- Santa Cruz · 25 mi
- Capitola · 26 mi
- Aptos · 27 mi
Take the scenic way to Black Mountain.
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