Stevens Creek County Park 2015-04-10

This is the hike that was not meant to be! 

Don't get me wrong, I did intend to hike Stevens Creek County Park, especially after multiple hikes on urban trails recently. However, I had intended to do an 8-miler going from south to north and straddling Fremont Older Preserve. Instead, we ended up doing a few short trails located by the Cooley and Canyon picnic areas. The trails may have been short, but that doesn't take away from the beauty of this park.

We parked in a street-side spot on Stevens Canyon Road (just off Mt. Eden Road). Stevens Creek County Park does have a parking fee if the vehicle is parked inside the park. The Creek Trail runs by Stevens Creek for about half a mile. Be careful to avoid the Zinfandel Trail as it takes you into Pichetti Open Preserve, where dogs are not allowed. 

I had intended to cross the Stevens Canyon Road and catch the lookout trail to go north, but there were no maps or signs and I couldn't quickly figure out the intended path. So, after crossing over the creek a couple of times, Apollo and I were back at the place we had parked. 

Right opposite the Cooley picnic area is the Canyon picnic area. We went  there and followed the Canyon Trail for about 1.3 miles to the end at Stevens Canyon Road. This trail put me through the paces, softened by multiple hikes that were essentially flat. About three-fourths of a mile of the trail is a steady climb uphill followed by a steady descent down to the road. 

Along the way, there are a couple of nice vista points overlooking the valley and a very nice rock structure that had been worked on, potentially by some youngsters. Graffiti? Art work? You decide! 

It was very clear that this trail sees very little traffic. We didn't see anyone going up or down. Where the trail ends at Stevens Canyon Road is impressive and made for some rough climbing. Stevens Creek was flowing with a respectable force at this point.

On our way back, we decided to add another 0.6 miles to our hike by doing the Mt. Eden Trail. Essentially, we did an out and back on three short trails in the southern end of the park. This added up to about 4.5 miles overall. I am sure we'd have found better directions if we had started at the Chestnut parking lot at the northern end. Then again, I now know exactly where to start from south to go north the next time around. The Lookout Trail I was looking out for starts from the Sycamore picnic area, very close to where we parked.

Apollo couldn't care less where we hiked. He had great fun crossing over the creek and enjoyed the absolute solitude all the way!

More pictures from the hike. 
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