Coyote Creek Trail 2015-04-03

I'd been wondering if I could do long-ish hikes, say 15-20 miles - or more. Well, there was only one way to find out. So I donned my shoes, sneaked out behind Apollo, and asked Jaya to drop me at Morgan Hill where the Coyote Creek Trail starts. I'd parked my car at Hellyer Ave, right by the Hellyer County Park, which would make this a ~16 mile hike. I didn't want to take a chance in pushing Apollo to do something this long, so he ended up getting more goodies this morning as compensation and chilling out at home. Dogs are allowed on this trail, though, by the way!

The trail starts at the intersection of Eagle View Dr. and Morning Star Dr. in Morgan Hill. It was a typical spring morning today, slightly nippy at 46 ⁰F, when I began around 8:30 am. The mountains and general greenery gave a crisp look to the trail as it started meandering in a northwestern direction. A little more than a mile into the hike, I crossed over Hwy 101 and came upon the Santa Clara County Model Aircraft Skypark, a club for model aircraft flying enthusiasts. 

The steady freeway road noise became a background hum as I came upon Coyote Creek Park Chain, the next landmark. With several lakes and waterfowls in them, this section of the hike was slightly annoying. I was surrounded by a swarm of flying insects - moths of some kind - even though the scenery was very nice.

About 5 miles into the hike, I came across Coyote Creek Golf Club. Right after the golf club, the trail moved eastward and closer to Hwy 101 around Bailey Ave exit. The background hum became more pronounced, as though someone was turning up the volume of the road noise. 

A couple of miles later, the trail crossed over the creek. The warning sign about creek waters overflowing the trail seemed so irrelevant today. Entering its fourth year of drought, California is suffering, and how dry and cracked the creek bed appeared was proof to that.

About 7.5 miles in, Coyote Ranch showed up on the right. There were a few horses grazing there, but it was clear that they had seen greener pastures at different times! 

Less than a mile from the ranch was the PG&E Metcalf transmission substation, with high voltage transmission lines running overhead.

Right after that, I crossed Metcalf Road and came upon Parkway lakes on my right. While there was still water in the lakes, it looked so anemic compared to what it must be normally.

For the next mile or so, the trail ran close to Forsum road in San Jose, through Metcalf Park. As I had hiked nearly 10 miles, the restroom facilities at this park were a relief! Right after, the trail crossed over Hwy 101 again, this time at the 101/85 split. This was the most overpowering underpass I've ever come across!

Over the next 3~4 miles, I found several workers taking to the trail at lunchtime. There are several employers by Silver Creek Valley Road, and it was good to see the general awareness among various employers who seemed to be encouraging employees to stay healthy and fit. 

By this time, I was looking forward to end of the hike. The mile markers on the trail and my GPS tracker were off slightly. I knew we had to cross over Hwy 101 once more to reach Hellyer Park and when I saw the highway with the exit sign to Hellyer Ave, it was a welcome sight for my sore eyes.  

4 hours and 51 minutes from the time I started - not including about half an hour of break - I reached the spot where I'd parked my car. This was the place where I'd turned around when I hiked Coyote Creek Trail earlier on 23rd Jan. I essentially covered all of Coyote Creek Trail with today's hike!

Having done a few half marathons and one ultra-half marathon (16 miles), this is probably the longest I've stayed on my feet, both in terms of time and distance. Tomorrow will tell if I am ready to do something like this over several back to back days for a larger project I have in mind.

Several more pictures from the hike.
#Hiking, #HikingWithDogs, #CoyoteCreekTrail