A Loop through Stevens Creek County Park & Fremont Older Open Space Preserve

It was a beautiful sunny day today for a six mile loop through Stevens Creek County Park & Fremont Older Open Space Preserve with my College of San Mateo class.

We started at the main Stevens Creek County Park parking lot off of Stevens Canyon Road. From there we headed south on the Stevens Creek/Tony Look Trail, which passes through a forest of oak, bay, and buckeye trees, and lots of poison oak. Fortunately, the trail is wide enough to avoid the latter. It also passes by the Stevens Creek Reservoir, which is quite low, even after the recent rains.

At about noon we stopped for lunch at a group picnic area at the downhill end of the Lookout Trail. Unfortunately, the restrooms were locked.

After lunch we charged uphill on the Lookout Trail, which is the most strenuous part of the hike. At the top of this trail we pass into Fremont Older Open Space Preserve, where there is a lot less vegetation and a lot more views along the Coyote Ridge Trail. Though the wildflowers were not exceptional this year, they were not bad. We saw fat and slim Solomon's seal, wild cucumber in abundance, yerba santa, Indian paintbrush, Indian warrior, blue witch, larkspur, lupine, fiddleneck, blue-eyed grass, and many others.

A short side trip to the top of Maisie's Peak offered a good view of the Silicon Valley area. We continued north

on the Coyote Ridge Trail which makes a steady decent back into Stevens Creek County Park.

TO GET THERE... From Highway 280 take Foothill Boulevard south. It turns into Stevens Canyon Road before you see the Stevens Creek County Park entrance on the left.