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Fremont Peak State Park
Rating Details »
10700 San Juan Canyon Rd
San Juan Bautista, CA 95045
(831) 623-4255
San Juan Bautista, CA 95045
(831) 623-4255
- Good for Kids:
- Yes
7 reviews for Fremont Peak State Park
Got lost here three times as I didn't see the direction an arrow on the sign pointing the CORRECT direction of the park. Road is curvy, winding, turnsy, up and down, few turn-offs but where there is, STOP!! Thar's a great view to be enjoYed!! If you like to drive and on twisting narrow scrap the cliff roads, you'll love it! As forementioned, if you luck out you'll get here on a day with fog.... don't ask ~ jes do it! Pray for fog!!!
Campsites are very minimal - don't expect anyone to come out to help you unpack, unless you've brought kids and family/friends. Maybe even then NOT. Various campsite areas, and by accident and pure luck, drove to a lower site where I encountered by chance MY campsite... a small turnoff marked by a wooden post with the campsite number. On that post was a laminated sheet indicating MY name and reserved.
Pit toilet facilities and picnic tables all over. Stay on trails as there are a LOT of annoying burrs all over, but the views are to DIE FER!! Was fortunate enough to arrive on a clear night just in time to catch the last few seconds of sunset, and when you see that sea of fog below you - should you also be blessed - then you'll just want to stay ferever! This was the first sunset I've seen in a looong time where the afterglow lasted almost an hour! wow!
They have big events at the observatory each July/Aug and the public is invited. Great place on clear nights for those with telescopes. After the sunset people crawled out of the various sites with their telescopes and wow, what a great star-gazing night it was!!
PHOTOGRAPHICALLY SPEAKING: Take your tripod for those clear-night starry night captures. I was there with camera snapping and also saw the International Space Station zip by overhead, along with about six meteorite trails including one that lasted for about 2 seconds! If you are walking around in the dark ~ and it DOES get very dark there ~ please use a red filter over your flashlight lens as to not destroy the night-vision of any- and everyone there! If you can't find a red filter to use, then cover your white light beam with your hand to guard any light-spillage so that you can use your white light still, but control it so that others won't be bothered by the light. GREAT views driving up and down the hill. PRAY fer FOG!!
I would have given five stars because I saw a LOT of stars. I gave four because I like roughing it, but not really!!
ROUGHing:
NO WATER (bring your own and LOTs of it!)
NO Showers (BrinG more water!!)
NO water pit toilets (spray thyself with bug repellent before entering)
NO lights (bring a red-filter flash-light)
LOTs of mosquitos - they don't need water now!!!
NO campfires - cuz thar ain't NO WATER (too dry)
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We found Fremont Peak State Park along our route to Mission San Juan Bautista on Highway 156 so we decided to pull in, take a hike, eat a sandwich, rest and catch a glimpse of what Mother Nature had to offer. The drive here is breathtaking on a somewhat winding road with nothing but nature surrounding us from the the dark green brush to the lush, grassy hillsides.
The hike up to Fremont Peak is pretty easy and short. I believe our trail map showed it as just a one mile out and back with a very gradual elevation change. Taking that into consideration my travel partner kind of went bonkers, and she actually ran the trail while I admired the beauty of my surroundings much closer. It is important to note that the main trail does not lead to the peak itself, but you will come upon a steep, rocky detour that takes you to the peak. The skies were quite clear during our visit and the views were simply stunning. With the exception of varied species of birds I noticed very little wildlife on the grounds.
There are clean areas to rest and picnic. Facilities at this park are of the non-flushing type. I posted a few photos of the scenery.
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That friend that went "bonkers" according to this Yelper was indeed me! See http://www.yelp.com/bi...
After a few hours stuck in a car this is a nice place to unwind and get the legs loosened up. For the record I skipped my morning run and did three runs up and down on the Fremont Peak trail instead. It's not as easy as my friend makes it sound, but the elevation change is pretty gradual. Also pretty were the views of San Benito County. Every direction we turned towards on the peak offered a beautiful view. We lucked out with the weather, and I was just happy my friend suggested we pull over.
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Up through the darkness,
While ravening clouds, the burial clouds, in black masses spreading,
Lower sullen and fast athwart and down the sky,
Amid a transparent clear belt of ether yet left in the east,
Ascends large and calm the lord-star Jupiter,
And nigh at hand, only a very little above,
Swim the delicate sisters the Pleiades.
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really 3 1/2 stars... But I will bump it up to 4 if I have to go one way or the other. It was nice. The drive up was a little rough, sharp turns and it takes a while. The hike up to the marker where general Fremont flew the American flag for the first time in California is a nice little hike which my 4 and 6 year old were able to make and get a sense of accomplishment. The view is flat out stunning at sunset. The big negative for me was that in mid summer it gets dry and they would not let us do a camp fire (charcoal was allowed). 1 night a month they open up the observatory there as well, which is neat. Check their website for a schedule on that.
Roughing it meter : 4
Beauty Factor : 4 - it is very pretty up here
Sites reasonable size
Details:
* Outhouse toilets, but the nicest outhouse I have ever seen. It really did not stink
* Windy, curvy road up. Take a long time. About 20 minutes are so. But there is a store right at the bottom of the hill.
* Very limited Sprint Phone coverage. If I walked up and down the hill I could find a spot where I had enough roaming coverage to make a call and stand still as to not lose my signal.
* Not a ton to do here. Some okay hikes, but more of a come up and admire the view place.
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A group of us went camping here last summer, and it was fantastic -- apart from the mosquitoes, for which it loses one star.
Highlights:
- Relative seclusion (at our group site, anyway)
- The free public telescope/observatory
- The owl that woke me up in the middle of the night right near our tent. WHO! WHO! WHO!
- Grilled whole turkey (OMG, so good! -- a friend had a whole frozen turkey that wasn't going to fit in his new freezer, so he brought it out, cut it into hunks, and just put it on the big group BBQ grill. Amazing!)
Downsides:
- Not enough level ground for even half the supposed "group capacity" -- though the ranger said they'd be fixing that soon
- mosquitoes and flies
- The owl that woke me up in the middle of the night right near our tent. WHO! WHO! WHO!
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The only state park in San Benito, and a paltry 159 acres at that, so don't expect a bunch of hiking trails. Best to think of it as more of a picnic destination--indeed, as picnic spots go, you can't do much better. The drive up alone is worth it, meandering through a picturesque valley before making a precipitous climb up the ridge. The grassy, oak-shaded picnic spots have a decent view of your own, but you really have to take the short walk to the top (you have a choice of a paved road or dirt trail) and enjoy the 360-degree views up here. Be warned, though, that even on a clear day Monterey Bay can be sort of lost in the haze. And as always, the time of year makes a big difference in the look of the hillsides--generally I recommend the Ireland-caliber greens of spring, unless you have a thing for brown (er, gold?). Just look at my photos vs Jimmy P's.
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