West Side

Approach

Starting from Lick Observatory follow San Antonio Road north-east for about 0.75 miles until you see a gate on the left-hand side of the road. Go up the dirt path to the gate and your at the trail head. There is a hole in the barbed wire fence that's big enough even to get a bike through.

Route Description

Follow the dirt path north-east for about 0.1 miles and you should come upon a small building emitting a low humming noise and a porta-potty on the side of it. If you have brought your bike this far, behind the building would be a good place to leave it as you continue on to the summit. Now, if your facing the building from the trail, on your left-hand side there should be several narrow trail heads clearly worn down in the grass. The trail on the far right takes you around Copernicus Peak to the east side of it and then goes right up to the mountain. Most of the other trails can easily be distinguished whether or not they actually go up to the summit as you are about 0.05 miles from the tower on the summit. Up and down should take less than 15 minutes unless you want to spend some time on the summit.

Essential Gear

A small amount of water, if any, is all that's needed to get to the top. A camera is probably the most essential gear as the summit is the Santa Clara County highpoint.

Miscellaneous Info

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