Stevens Creek Trail 2015-06-11

Stevens Creek Trail is the third riparian trail in the South Bay connecting to the San Francisco Bay Trail, the other two being San Tomas Aquino Creek Trail and Guadalupe River Trail. I had hiked this trail by myself as part of my SF Bay Walkabout, but today was the first time with Apollo. Street-side parking by Heatherstone Way (off Bernardo / Mary Ave) in Mountain View will allow you to get to the trail head. 

The first four miles of this trail are dog friendly. Dogs are not allowed beyond Crittenden Lane, north of Hwy 101. The trail starts off crossing Hwy 85 and heads north. Soon after crossing Hwy 85, there is a nice nature trail section where the flora of the region is labeled. 

We started our hike around 9 am. Mirroring our experience from the San Tomas Aquino Creek Trail hike, this happened to be peak bicycle commute time. Apollo had to be on a short leash to stay away from the cyclists zipping by us, predominantly heading north.

We met a tabby cat during our hike today sitting comfortably by the trail. When Apollo got close to the cat, it simply stood up and gauged him. Impressive! The cat went into the bushes when I got closer, but easily held its own. With some more coaxing, I suspect I could've taken a photograph of Apollo and the cat together!

The paved, blacktop trail passes through several underpasses and over bridges, including an impressive quarter-mile long bridge over Central Expwy, Evelyn, Caltrain, and light rail tracks. The trail runs right by Hwy 85 all the way until Hwy 101, crossing over once after Central Expwy. Road noise from Hwy 85 is very pronounced much of the way. 

Wanting to keep our hike close to 6 miles, I decided to turn around at Hwy 101 and skip the last mile that Apollo could've come on. This trail has reasonable shade cover compared to the other two trails I'd mentioned. It was welcome relief on a hot day like today. Even though it was overcast and in the high 60s when we started, by the time we finished, it was significantly warmer.

We completed 6.2 miles in an hour and 50 minutes. Stevens Creek Trail was in the news today - as the cities of Mountain View, Cupertino, Los Altos and Sunnyvale ponder over extending and/or bridging gaps from locations south to Heatherstone Way. 

Here are some more pictures from the hike. I have borrowed a few photographs from Day 1 of my walkabout. 
#Hiking #HikingWithDogs #StevensCreekTrail