Hecker Pass

{{short description|Mountain pass in California}}

{{Infobox mountain pass

| name = Hecker Pass

| photo =

| photo_caption =

| elevation = {{convert|1339|ft|m}}

| elevation_ref = {{cite web|last=Hilton|first=Tom|url=https://www.flickr.com/photos/tomhilton/5675845271/|title=Panoche Road 06|date=30 April 2011|accessdate=2012-09-09}}

| traversed = {{jct|state=CA|CA|152}}

| location = Between Santa Cruz County and Santa Clara County.

| range = Santa Cruz Mountains

| map = California

| map_caption = The pass lies west of Gilroy and northeast of Watsonville.

| coordinates = {{coord|36|59|40|N|121|43|02|W|region:US-CA_type:pass|display=inline,title}}

| topo =

}}

Hecker Pass is a low mountain pass across the Santa Cruz Mountains of central California, connecting Watsonville on the Pacific coast to Gilroy and the Santa Clara Valley.{{citation|title=The winding road west: parks and wineries line Hecker Pass Highway near Gilroy|journal=Sunset|date=May 1, 2004|last=Taggart|first=Lisa|url=https://www.questia.com/read/1G1-116484295}}. It is traversed by Hecker Pass Road, the western part of California State Route 152, which continues east from Gilroy across Pacheco Pass and into the Central Valley. Mt. Madonna County Park lies to the north of the pass.{{citation|title=South Bay Trails: Outdoor Adventures in & Around Santa Clara Valley : From the Diablo Range to the Pacific Ocean|url=https://archive.org/details/southbaytrailsou0000rusm| first1=Jean|last1=Rusmore|first2=Frances|last2=Spangle|first3=Betsy|last3=Crowder|edition=3rd|publisher=Wilderness Press|year=2001|isbn=9780899976044|page=[https://archive.org/details/southbaytrailsou0000rusm/page/236/mode/2up 257]}}. The pass's elevation is {{convert|1339|ft|m|0}}.{{GNIS|225111}}.

Santa Clara County supervisor Henry Hecker, a nephew of Friedrich Hecker, became the namesake of the pass on May 27, 1928, at the opening of the "Yosemite-to-the-Sea Highway" over it.{{citation|title=California Place Names: A Geographical Dictionary|first=Erwin Gustav|last=Gudde|publisher=University of California Press|year=1949|page=137|url=https://books.google.com/books?id=M-22djGNuhwC&pg=SL3-PA137}}.{{citation|title=South Santa Clara County|series=Images of America: a history of American life in images and texts|first=Sam|last=Shueh|publisher=Arcadia Publishing|year=2008|isbn=9780738558455|page=65|url=https://books.google.com/books?id=CtyQxx6qXDEC&pg=PA65}}. In the 1930s, flooding on creeks near the highway caused the collapse of a bridge and the closing of the pass.{{citation|title=Gilroy|series=Images of America|first=Claudia|last=Salewske|year=2003|isbn=9781439614174|page=143|url=https://books.google.com/books?id=fgtodEGFkxIC&pg=PT143}}. In 1941, a landslide closed the pass,{{citation|newspaper=San Jose News|date=April 10, 1941|title=Large slide on Hecker Pass Road|url=https://news.google.com/newspapers?id=LVoiAAAAIBAJ&sjid=9KoFAAAAIBAJ&pg=6423,4242338}}. and in 1947 and 1959, the pass was again closed because of landslides caused by earthquakes.{{citation|title=Historic Ground Failures in Northern California triggered by earthquakes|volume=993|series=Geological Survey professional papers|first1=T. Leslie|last1=Youd|authorlink=T. Leslie Youd|first2=Seena N.|last2=Hoose|publisher=U.S. Government Printing Office|year=1978|page=88|url=https://books.google.com/books?id=maI_AAAAIAAJ&pg=PA88}}.

The Hecker Strawberry, a strawberry variety introduced in 1979 in Davis, California, is named after the pass.{{citation|title=Growing Fruit in the Upper Midwest|first=Don|last=Gordon|edition=3rd|publisher=University of Minnesota Press|year=1997|isbn=978-1452901060|page=178}}.