By Gia Hale
Hidden in the recesses of San Juan Bautista and at one time
frequented by gangs and drifters is a part of the De Anza Trail.
Public and private forces have joined to exhume the historical
treasure right here in San Benito County.
Hidden in the recesses of San Juan Bautista and at one time frequented by gangs and drifters is a part of the De Anza Trail. Public and private forces have joined to exhume the historical treasure right here in San Benito County.
“It has the most beautiful views of the San Juan Valley,” said Jim West of Graniterock. “And when it’s clear you can see the ocean.”
West is talking about Old Stage Road in San Juan Bautista. The road was a county-maintained dirt highway that had fallen by the wayside in the late 1990s. Littered with abandoned cars and rubble, this diamond in the rough was lost to the community until Graniterock came along.
“It’s fitting that a commercial road builder would adopt a recreational road,” West said of the project.
Graniterock adopted the 3.8-mile stretch of road in 1999 and has devoted $50,000 to the project from 1999 to 2009. The company cleared the road of abandoned cars and bulldozed the dirt highway to make it passable. Ten percent of the road is located in Monterey County, which also approved the project to make it available to visitors. Since then, Graniterock has done regular maintenance to keep the trail usable to the community.
“This is a classic example of a good private and public enterprise for the interest of San Benito County,” County Supervisor Anthony Botelho said. “Graniterock has done a lot for the community, and I think it’s important that they receive the credit that they so richly deserve.”
The road is a unique departure from traditional public parks in that it is funded entirely by a private company with the cooperation of San Benito and Monterey counties. Since neither of the counties pay for the project, it is not considered a state park.
West described the trail as a public and private partnership between Graniterock and the counties.
Old Stage Road was part of the De Anza Trail, which stretches all the way from what is now southern Arizona to the San Francisco Bay. The trail was named for Juan Bautista de Anza, a frontier soldier of New Spain who mapped the expedition in 1774 with the help of native tribes in the region. It was the first land route to northern California, allowing large groups of emigrants and their livestock to travel to new settlements and found missions in the San Francisco Bay area – something that had not been possible by sea.
“De Anza Trail is of tremendous historical significance to our community, and it’s a great asset for the citizens of San Benito County to have available to them,” Botelho said.
De Anza’s exploration, which took place at the same time as the American Revolution, marks a period in time when much of North America had yet to be explored. Although De Anza’s route was shut off by the Yumas in 1781, it was open long enough for people receive supplies and establish themselves in the San Francisco Bay and mold the development of both California and Arizona.
“It’s a real treasure,” West said of the San Benito section of trail.
Today the all-dirt trail is used to host Gavilan College’s 10k runs and is available to anyone who’d like to take in the scenery of the San Juan Valley. Motor vehicles are no longer allowed on the road, but it is open to the public to hike, mountain bike or horseback ride. To get to the trail, take Highway 156 to San Juan Bautista and head south on the Alameda. Continue south past San Juan Canyon Road for a quarter mile until you get to Old Stage Road. Look for the gate.
