Directions to Linda, Ralph and John's House
You are trying to get to:
735 Sunset Ridge Road
Los Gatos, CA 95033
408-395-1435
From Silicon Valley, San Jose, San Francisco, and inland south (Gilroy,
Hollister):
Here is a shorter and printable
version of just these instructions.
First get to Highway 17 in Los Gatos:
- From San Francisco and points north (expect 1:30 in normal
traffic): Take Interstate 280 South, then turn onto Interstate 85
towards Cupertino and Santa Cruz, then turn onto Highway 17 South towards
Los Gatos and Santa Cruz.
- From SFO = San Francisco Airport (expect 1:15 in normal
traffic): Follow the signs towards Interstate 380 and Interstate
280. Take Interstate 380 for just a few miles, then turn onto
Interstate 280 South, then turn onto Interstate 85 towards Cupertino and Santa Cruz,
then turn onto Highway 17 South towards Los Gatos and Santa Cruz.
- From the Mountain View/Palo Alto area (expect 0:45 from
Palo Alto): Find either Interstate 280 or Interstate 85 South,
then follow the instructions for San Francisco above.
- From the East Bay (Milpitas, Alameda, Oakland, Berkeley,
expect 1:30 from Berkeley): Take Interstate 880 going south.
Follow it all the way towards San Jose, crossing Highway 101, and
passing SJC airport. When you cross Interstate 280, Interstate
880 turns into Highway 17 south going towards Los Gatos and Santa
Cruz.
- From Pleasanton, Walnut Creek, Stockton, Sacramento: Get onto 680 South. In
Fremont, use the Mission Blvd. offramp to cross over to 880 South towards
San Jose,
all the way towards San Jose, crossing Highway 101, and
passing SJC airport. When you cross Interstate 280, Interstate
880 turns into Highway 17 south going towards Los Gatos and Santa
Cruz. If Mission Blvd. (construction!) or the 880 through the south bay are
plugged up, you can try 680 south all the way into San Jose, where it turns into
280 north, follow that until you get to the 880, which you take south towards
Santa Cruz. Because of the congestion, times are unpredictable, expect at
least 1:10 from Walnut Creek.
- From SJC = San Jose Airport (expect 0:25 in normal
traffic): Look for the exit towards Interstate 880 South towards Santa Cruz,
and take it. When you cross
Interstate 280, Interstate 880 turns into Highway 17 south going
towards Los Gatos and Santa Cruz.
- From Hollister, Gilroy, and inland south (expect 1:20 from
Hollister): Get onto Highway 101 going north, then turn onto Highway 85
North, and follow the following instructions.
- From the South San Jose / Almaden area (expect 0:25 from Almaden
Expwy): Take Highway 85 going North, towards Mountain View. Turn onto
Highway 17 South towards Los Gatos and Santa Cruz.
- From Los Gatos: Take Highway 17 South towards Santa Cruz.
- From San Jose, Saratoga, Cupertino, Campbell, and other places in
the middle: Figure out which of the above applies most closely to
you, and in some fashion get onto Highway 17 towards Los Gatos.
Once you are on Highway 17 South in Los Gatos, keep going South
towards Santa Cruz on the Highway through Los Gatos for a few miles.
Go past the "The Cats" bar and grill, where the road begins to curve
and stops being a freeway. The next offramp is Bear Creek Road; exit
the Highway here. The offramp goes into a tight U-turn with a Stop
sign at the intersection. At the Stop sign, turn left onto Bear Creek
Road. From here, you have about 12 minutes to go on mountain roads.
Go up 3.0 miles on Bear Creek Road. There you intersect Summit Road on
the left. Stay on Bear Creek Road, going half-right. From here on,
Bear Creek Road is also Highway 35.
Go 0.7 miles on Bear Creek Road. This section of the road is quite
windy, but level. There you intersect Skyline Boulevard on the right.
Stay on Bear Creek Road, going half left. There is a sign there, go
towards Boulder Creek, not towards San Francisco. From here on, Bear
Creek Road is no longer Highway 35 (which follows Skyline Boulevard
instead).
Go 0.9 miles on Bear Creek Road. After a long left turn in the road
(with a phone pole and a few phone connection boxes on the right),
slow down, and look for the entrance to Sunset Ridge Road on the
right. The entrance is marked with a road sign, and has a beige
stucco wall, mailboxes, and a black steel gate. Drive into that
entrance at the gate.
Stop at the gate, and open it with the keypad. The secret key code
for the gate will have been given to you. Once the gate opens, drive
through quick, the gate automatically closes.
Go 0.7 miles on Sunset Ridge Road. This is a single-lane road, so
drive careful. If you meet someone, be prepared to back up to the
nearest turnout. You will pass the driveway for 185 on the left.
After 0.7 miles, you see a sign for 735 on the left.
Turn left and go up the driveway, and park in front of the house.
From Santa Cruz, Watsonville, Monterey:
Get onto Highway 17 north towards San Jose. Follow it past the summit
(where the restaurants are). About 1/2 mile past the summit, take the
Summit Road offramp. Immediately turn left at the intersection in the
offramp, and cross Highway 17 on the bridge. After the bridge, go
straight, up the steep uphill part, and at the top of it, turn right
onto Summit Road (don't go straight down onto Mountain Charlie Road).
Go about 2.5 miles on Summit Road, which is also Highway 35. Part of
this is a single-lane road, so be careful. At the end of Summit Road,
you come to a Stop sign at the intersection with Bear Creek Road.
Turn left onto Bear Creek Road towards Boulder Creek, staying on Highway 35
(carefully, traffic from the right is hard to see).
Go 0.7 miles on Bear Creek Road. This section of the road is quite
windy, but level. There you intersect Skyline Boulevard on the right.
Stay on Bear Creek Road, going half left. There is a sign there, go
towards Boulder Creek, not towards San Francisco. From here on, Bear
Creek Road is no longer Highway 35 (which follows Skyline Boulevard
instead).
Go 0.9 miles on Bear Creek Road. After a long left turn in the road
(with a phone pole and a few phone connection boxes on the right),
slow down, and look for the entrance to Sunset Ridge Road on the
right. The entrance is marked with a road sign, and has a beige
stucco wall, mailboxes, and a black steel gate. Drive into that
entrance at the gate.
Stop at the gate, and open it with the keypad. The secret key code
for the gate will have been given to you. Once the gate opens, drive
through quick, the gate automatically closes.
Go 0.7 miles on Sunset Ridge Road. This is a single-lane road, so
drive careful. If you meet someone, be prepared to back up to the
nearest turnout. You will pass the driveway for 185 on the left.
After 0.7 miles, you see a sign for 735 on the left.
Turn left and go up the driveway, and park in front of the house.
From Felton, Ben Lomond and Boulder Creek:
Get onto Highway 9 going North towards Boulder Creek. Immediately
past "downtown" Boulder Creek, turn right onto Bear Creek Road. Go
8.2 miles, past Byington Vineyard and David Bruce Winery. About 200
yards past David Bruce Winery, slow down, and look for the entrance to
Sunset Ridge Road on the left. The entrance is marked with a road
sign, and has a beige stucco wall, mailboxes, and a black steel gate.
Drive into that entrance at the gate.
Stop at the gate, and open it with the keypad. The secret key code
for the gate will have been given to you. Once the gate opens, drive
through quick, the gate automatically closes.
Go 0.7 miles on Sunset Ridge Road. This is a single-lane road, so
drive careful. If you meet someone, be prepared to back up to the
nearest turnout. You will pass the driveway for 185 on the left.
After 0.7 miles, you see a sign for 735 on the left.
Turn left and go up the driveway, and park in front of the house.
For Santa Cruz Mountain Residents:
Since you are typically self-sufficient, you only get short hints with
links to the instructions above:
- From Bonny Doon: either go down to Santa
Cruz, or cross over to Ben Lomond or Boulder
Creek.
- From Las Cumbres and Skyline Boulevard: Get onto
Skyline Boulevard south all the way, then follow the last part of the Silicon Valley instructions above.
- From lower Black Road, Gist Road, Lakeside School: You can either
go up to Skyline Boulevard or down to Bear Creek Road and Hwy 17; about
the same distance.
- From Summit Road east of Highway 17, Loma Prieta School, Mountain
Charlie Road and Redwood Estates: Get onto Summit, then use the Santa Cruz instructions above.
- From Half Moon Bay, Pescadero, La Honda: It might sound
counter-intuitive, but Skyline Boulevard all the way is the
fastest way to get here in good weather; going via Davenport and
Santa Cruz is a huge detour. From Pacifica or in bad weather, you
are better off following the San
Francisco instructions via Interstate 280.
If you get lost, call on the phone. If you can't get the gate opened, call.
If the power is out (typically only in storms in the winter), the gate will
not open. In that case, call on the phone, the neighbors can unlock the
manual opening mechanism.
On Sunset Ridge Road, the neighbors might ask you where you are
heading. They are very friendly and will help you get there.
If you want to look us up on map sites: It mostly works correctly on Google,
Mapquest, Yahoo, and Waze.
Linda and Ralph and John
webmaster@lr.los-gatos.ca.us