The Montgomery Hill Park adjacent to the Evergreen Valley College is perhaps San Jose’s best-kept “nature” secret. Its rising and dipping hiking trails are the city’s best, as are its serene meadows and sublime vistas. This unusual and unexpected 60-acre wilderness in the midst of a metropolitan city perfectly sums up Shakespeare’s observation: “One touch of nature makes the whole world kin.”
The Park is named after John Montgomery (1896-1011), an aviation pioneer and professor who developed flying gliders and tested them in the Santa Cruz and Santa Clara counties. A flyer from that time posted in the park reads: "Montgomery aeroplane: Taking lessons from birds. Admission 25 cents, children 10 cents."
A gliding accident caused Montogomery's death in 1911. The Park was declared a California Historic Landmark in 1967 in his honor.
What makes the park and its trails unique is that they are largely undeveloped. Surrounded by rows and rows of dense housing, crisscrossing roads and congested traffic, the park is an oasis of peace and quiet.
After a spring shower, the meadows are full of tall grass, mustards, sorrels, poppies, thistles, wild roses and lupines. There’s only a trickle in the stream at the park's edge lined by lichen-covered stones but the oaks, the laurels and the pines are loud with robins, jays and sparrows. A visitor is also serenaded by crickets along the reddish trails that meander through the park like rivers.
Parents are out hiking with children and their dogs. Bicyclists pedal with purpose up the steep dirt paths. People fly kites. Some even fly, soaring and circling on machine-driven gliders. A pair of eagles above a grove of eucalyptus trees wheel, bank, pause, dip and soar, as if in homage to John Montgomery. Their grace and beauty is something to behold. An excited dad points out the eagles to his son and daughter and they are wonder-struck. Everyone looks up to see the eagles against a beckoning sky, their wings etched by light. All four picnic tables by the park’s college entrance are occupied by families enjoying a day in the “great outdoors.”
In the seductive shadow spread by an ancient oak in the middle of a hillock sits a musician strumming his guitar. The music mingles with birdsong and floats upward. Like ripples in a pond, it also spreads outward across the open space. If you ever wonder what repose means - earth, sky, birds, wildflowers and humanity connected in a holistic web - visit the Montgomery Hill Park next to the Evergreen Valley College. You will be richly rewarded.
Address: Villa Vista Rd and Yerba Buena Rd, San Jose, CA, 95151.
