Shoreline Area, Mountain View, 2015-08-14

Apollo and I  hiked the Stevens Creek Trail in June, but we had turned around at Hwy 101. There is a portion of this trail north of 101 that allows dogs. Picking up from the trail head located at the end of La Avenida St. in Mountain View (off Shoreline Rd), Apollo & I improvised an interesting hike today.

Dogs are allowed on Stevens Creek Trail only until Crittenden Ln. This stretch of the trail is a paved, multi-use segment shared by cyclists and pedestrians. Built on a levee and running by the Stevens Creek, this is a busy trail on weekends and weekdays alike. A cloudy and cool start to the day made it easy for us to jog portions of our hike.

We turned left onto Crittenden Ln from the trail. The half-mile stretch on this road runs by Google office buildings initially before coming up on an open stretch of hillside, part of the Shoreline Nature Habitat. There is a dirt trail system in the hills, but dogs are not allowed in there.

I turned right on Shoreline Rd. A quarter-mile walk will get you to  Shoreline Park. While dogs are not allowed in the park, there is a dog park right by the entrance to Shoreline Park. It is one of the cleanest dog parks I've seen. It wasn't crowded when we went there, but there were a couple of dogs with whom Apollo had a field day playing chase.

From here, we walked back on Shoreline Rd towards the city, with Shoreline Amphitheater on our right. There is a fitness circuit trail on the left which can be accessed from Shoreline Rd as well as Charleston Rd. Apollo and I did a portion of the trail before heading back on Shoreline Rd.

We completed the loop to the La Avenida trailhead walking by the Computer History Museum, making it a 3.8 mile hike. This is a completely flat and easy loop that includes the Stevens Creek Trail, Shoreline Dog Park, and a walk by Google office buildings amidst the tree-lined Shoreline Rd. 

Few more pictures from our hike today.
#Hiking #HikingWithDogs #StevensCreekTrail #ShorelineDogPark










Update 2015-08-19

Apollo and I repeated this hike with couple of minor variations. From La Avenida trailhead, it is possible to hike right by the creek as opposed to the paved blacktop road on top of the levee. The gravel trail is at the same level Stevens Creek is at. It is preferred by some joggers and has the advantage of lighter traffic, especially as there are no bicycles.

The second variation we tried today was to skip the dog park and do the fitness circuit trail completely. The 1 mile fitness trail is a loop with entry possible from Shoreline Rd and Charleston Rd. I tried my hand at some of the exercise spots with Apollo paying disinterested attention to what I was doing!

I've also augmented the album with a handful of photographs from our 3.9 mile walk today.
#Hiking #HikingWithDogs #StevensCreekTrail #FitnessTrail