Santa Teresa Park, Stile Ranch Trail 2015-05-15

In the mood for a slightly longish hike up the mountains, I chose to hike Santa Teresa Park and include Stile Ranch Trail as part of it. I parked at the trail head by San Vicente Ave. You can reach this trail head by turning right at the end of Almaden Expwy onto Harry Rd, taking an immediate left onto McKean Rd, then turning left onto Fortini Rd and left onto San Vicente Ave. 

Stile Ranch Trail

We started out hiking Stile Ranch Trail, which is technically not part of Santa Teresa Park. The rugged trail climbs uphill, steadily zig-zagging in the Santa Teresa hills. By about three-fourths of a mile, you'd have climbed ~350 ft. in a a real rough & rocky dirt trail. This is a multi-use trail. While I can see hikers and equestrians heading up, you'd have to be a serious mountain biker to make this climb. 

Around a mile into the hike, the trail opens up to some fine views of the Santa Teresa hills all the way to Diablo mountain range in the East Bay. You will also pass by the IBM Almaden research center on the left before entering Santa Teresa Park.

Pueblo Trail

There are plenty of trails and options inside this park. We turned left onto Mine Trail and continued on Pueblo Trail that runs right by Bernal Road. This stretch took by the Pueblo day use area. Using the Connector Trail and a small stretch on Mine Trail again, we made our way to Hidden Springs Trail. All these trails are typical fire road / dirt trails and easier on the feet than the rough Stile Ranch Trail.

Coyote Peak

The next mile on Hidden Springs Trail & Coyote Peak Trail involves some serious climbing. About 700 ft or so. With no one in sight, I took the liberty of letting Apollo off-leash, which made it easier for both of us to do the climb. At 1150 ft, Coyote peak is the highest point in the Santa Teresa hills. The views of the Bay Area from the top are simply astounding. We were fortunate to have a great spring day - partially cloudy, great visibility, light breeze and the perfect hiking temperature of mid-60s - throughout the hike. On top of Coyote Peak is also a transmitter for KSJS FM radio station. 

Panoramic view from Coyote Peak

After a short break, Apollo and I continued down on Coyote Peak Trail to join Rocky Ridge Trail. Still off-leash, Apollo was having a field day setting the pace for the next 4+ miles, all the way back to the trail head.

Rocky Ridge Trail

Rocky Ridge Trail lives up to its name 100% - similar to the first stretch, this 1.8 mile trail is very rocky with lots of ridges on either side. You will essentially give up all the elevation over a longer stretch. Around 6.5 miles into the hike, we crossed Santa Teresa Ceek, but it barely had a trickle flowing in it. 

Rocky Ridge Trail then ended at Mine Trail. Turning left, we joined Fortini Trail about a quarter-mile ahead and made our way to the trail head. Our 8.4 mile hike involved a little more than 1000 feet of climbing in about 2 hours and 40 minutes. I'd characterize this as a moderately difficult hike. 

This is also a fully exposed trail. Carry water and choose a cooler day to do this hike. You can also customize this hike to skip the Coyote Peak / Rocky Ridge Trail loop and make this a much shorter ~3 mile loop, still involving Stile Ranch Trail. 

More pictures from the hike.
#Hiking #HikingWithDogs #StilesRanchTrail #SantaTeresaPark