Waxing Gibbous Moon
The word knob is derived from the Scandinavian word knobe, in case you were wondering, and in this usage, according to my Smartyphone, it means a round, prominent hill. Henry Knibb was a pioneer who homesteaded some land in the area in 1891. Knibb's Knob (2,694 feet) is a peak in today's Uvas Canyon County Park in the Coast Range west of Morgan Hill, CA.
Before Henry and others moved in and, as was fashionable in those days, declared ownership of the land out of the clear blue sky, Knibb's Knob and everything else as far as the eye can see was Amah Mutsun territory and had been for thousands of years. Henry et alia commenced to cutting down trees and selling them to support the nearby New Almaden Quicksilver Mine, California's oldest (1845) mining operation. Quicksilver (mercury) was used as a reduction agent in gold production and the rest, including today's Silicon Valley, is manifest destiny.
There is some goodness left in the world and thank goodness for things like county parks that preserve it. The Amah Mutsun have made an agreement with the county to limit daily human traffic to the area by use of a reservation system. Yesterday, with permit in hand, I ventured into Uvas Canyon to walk the Knibb's Knob Trail up to the peak (aka a prominent hill in the park). I wondered upon arrival what the Amah Mutsun call it (probably not Knibb's Knob, duh). Uvas Creek is flowing strong right now, so the little waterfalls that dot the park are in fine form. I didn't visit any of them on this trip. I will return soon to hike the Waterfalls Trail and enjoy them, too.
The top of the wooded hill is only a little over two miles from the parking lot, but boy howdy, it's a steep two miles. I am loving my 71st year on this blessed planet immensely. However, my enjoyment yesterday was punctuated by regular grunting and the occasional wheeze. The 1.8 miles from the trailhead to the peak took me a little over an hour and a half, which is kind of ridiculous. I am officially and demonstrably old, but I managed to get over the hill without croaking. The trail is a wide, switch-backing fire road that snakes its way on a steady grade toward the summit. The views are great and the cool temperatures in the shade make the climb more bearable.
The "peak" (rounded hill) is heavily wooded with a picnic table on top, where I feasted on my peanut butter and banana sammie and poked around a little to see what I could see. Despite taking so long to get there, I felt strong and happy to have made the trip. It's a special place to be sure. I am lucky to have seen it on such a beautiful day.
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