The House Appropriations Committee recently approved $4M for the cleanup of the old Almaden Air Force Station sitting atop Mt. Umunhum. The site, contaminated with asbestos and lead paint from its days as a cold war early warning radar station between 1958-1980, remains closed to the public. Its landmark radar building ("the cube") on top would probably be removed during the cleanup, along with some of the other 88 buildings. The mission of the site was to scan the skies for Soviet bombers. The next step is for the Senate to take up the bill in September. If it passes, future bike rides up the 3486' peak are all but certain. I've biked up to the second gate, which is as far up as you can legally go today. (Google Earth reports the second gate to be at 2864' elevation, 37-09-13.58N latitude and 121-53-31.36W longitude. At those coordinates you can see the white paint on the road that warns bikers not to pass that point.) The photo was taken from the pond behind the Santa Clara Water Department building adjacent to Almaden Lake. Click on the photo to see other antenna that lease space from the owner of adjacent land, Scott McQueen. Rep. Mike Honda, D-Campbell, gets a lot of credit for making progress on this issue. (Today was a rest day.) Source articles:
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