Hidalgo Cemetery Trail

Dogs Leashed

E-Bikes Unknown

This short side trip off Castillero Trail can add some character to a ride through this part of the park, where all other trails are wide, manicured roads. The trail is an irregular narrow doubletrack with a stretch of 12-15% grade with some rocks and even a mini-rock garden which is more fun than challenge.

Soon after leaving Castillero Trail, you pass the ruins of the mine's on-site manager house. Past the junction with Yellow Kid Trail (closed to bikes) is the site of Spanish Town, a settlement of Mexican, Chilean, and Spanish miners. Unfortunately, the only reminder is an information post on the side of the trail. The structures and even their foundations are completely gone. Around this area the trail starts descending in earnest. Watch out for a mini-rock garden next to some cacti on the left, presumably growing there since the Spanish Town days.

At the end of the trail is the old Hidalgo Cemetery surrounded by a while picket fence. In 1933, its inhabitants and grave markers were moved to Oak Hill Cemetery in San Jose, so in our days it's a (presumably) empty plot of land. However, the park continues to maintain it as a burial site.