Santa Teresa County Park

Above the amorphous sprawl of San Jose, this gentle, grassy park covers 1,688 acres of low grassy hills and can be explored by 14 miles of trails. On the dry east side of  the Santa Cruz Mountains, Santa Teresa County Park is best enjoyed in the winter and early spring, when the hills are green and the temperature is comfortable.

From the Pueblo Day Use Area, my Foothill College class enjoyed a 4.1-mile loop that included the Hidden Springs Trail, Ridge Trail, Coyote Peak Trail, and Boundary Trail to the top of Coyote Peak, where we enjoyed lunch and lots of views. We could see San Jose to the north, Mount Hamilton and the Diablo Range to the east, the southern Santa Clara Valley to the south, and Mount Umunhum and Loma Prieta in the Santa Cruz Mountains to the west.

After lunch we headed southwest on the Coyote Peak Trail and then west on the Rocky Ridge Trail through a beautiful garden of spring wildflowers on a serpentine ridge. Among others, we saw filaree, fiddleneck, tidy tips, gold field, blue dick, blue eyed grass, wild onion, and most of all, California poppies in great abundance. We also enjoyed the fragrance of coastal sage and black sage and the sight of blue oaks, white oaks, and live oaks.

Though the distance of this hike is shorter than usual, it has us huffing and puffing as we ascended the Boundary Trail to Coyote Peak. There is a half mile stretch that is very steep.

TO GET THERE... From Highway 101 or Highway 85 take the Bernal Road exit. Proceed west on Bernal Road into the park. Turn left on the road to the Pueblo Day Use Area.