Altamont is derived from its former name Alta Monte (Spanish for "High Mountain"). The community was also briefly known as The Summit. This Place is just 20 miles from our house, Sherwood in San Ramon. It is located 7.5 miles (12 km) northeast of Livermore, at an elevation of 741 feet (226 m) in the Altamont Pass. Originally called The Summit, the name was changed to Altamont when the Central Pacific Railroad arrived in 1869.
Altamont Pass, formerly Livermore Pass, is a low mountain pass in the Diablo Range of Northern California between Livermore and Livermore Valley and Tracy in the San Joaquin Valley. The name is actually applied to two distinct but nearby crossings of the range. The lower of the two, at an elevation of 741 ft (226 m), carries two railroad rights-of way (ROWs) and Altamont Pass Road, part of the old Lincoln Highway and the original alignment of US 50 before it was bypassed c. 1937. The bypass route travels over the higher summit, at 1,009 ft (308 m), and now carries Interstate 580, a major regional highway heavily congested by Central Valley suburbanization.
It was a good sunny day after torrential spade of rain caused by Atmospheric river in the Tri-valley, We decided to have drive till central valley. The rolling hills were lush green all around with sprinkling of gigantic wind mills installed passing through the natural wind tunnel made between Livermore and San Joaquin Valleys.
Altamont Pass is still one of the largest concentration of wind turbines in the world, with a capacity of 576 megawatts (MW), producing about 125 MW on average and 1.1 terawatt-hours (TWh) yearly. They were installed after the 1970s energy crisis in response to favorable tax policies for investors
Interstate 580 By Pass running through Altamont summit at 1009 ft
Huge Wind Turbine from close angle
