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| Coyote Creek Bike path, bridge over Coyote Creek near Parkway Lake, San Jose |
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| Coyote Creek Bike path, bridge over Coyote Creek near Parkway Lake, San Jose |
Coyote Creek is the longest creek in Santa Clara County. It starts in the rugged hills of 87,000-acre Henry Coe State Park, then fills Coyote Lake and Anderson Lake. Below Anderson Dam, the creek flows through the Coyote Valley in the Coyote Creek Parkway. Starting at Tulare Hill, it becomes an urban waterway, running through suburban and industrial neighborhoods in San Jose. North of San Jose, it passes through Milpitas, then enters San Francisco Bay between Alviso and Sunnyvale. Part of it flows into the Coyote Creek Lagoon in Fremont.
The Coyote Creek Trail is a 15-mile long, paved, mostly
level multi-use trail that runs along Coyote Creek from South San Jose,
through the Coyote Valley, and ends near Anderson
Lake County Park in Morgan Hill. (See here for a trail
map.) It's a popular trail for walkers, bikers, equestrians, and skaters.
A large part of it is through rural areas, but it is a well-developed trail.
There are parks, picnic tables, benches, and rest areas along the way,
as well as emergency phones. It provides urban dwellers at its a northern
end an escape route into the country at its southern end. Its north end,
at least the part under county jurisdiction, begins in Coyote
Hellyer County Park, near the velodrome. In Coyote Hellyer Park, the
trail crosses the creek, goes under the Hellyer Avenue bridge, follows
along a deep and shady part of Coyote Creek, and arcs around Cottonwood
Lake. 223-acre Coyote Hellyer is a popular urban park, with tree-shaded
picnic areas, lawns, horseshoe pits, volleyball courts, and playgrounds.
The Ed Steffani
Velodrome is an Olympic-sized rink for bicycle racing. Cottonwood Lake
is planted with trout in the cooler months. A separate path circles around
the lake.
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| North end of the Coyote Creek Trail, Coyote Hellyer County Park | Cottonwood Lake, Coyote Hellyer County Park |
Leaving Coyote Hellyer Park, the trail goes under Hwy
101, passes by a new disc golf course (run by the Silicon
Valley Disc Golf Club), and runs through a deeply-shaded segment along
the backyards of some of the southernnmost high-tech companies in the Silicon
Valley. This is the Edenvale area, where new industrial buildings are popping
up like wildflowers. A bridge over the creek leads to Shady
Oaks Park, a San Jose city park with picnic areas and playing fields,
on Coyote Road. At Silver Creek Valley Road, you can depart from the trail
and take the road up the hill, passing through the exclusive Silver Creek
development and enter the Evergreen Valley, where the Silver
Creek Trail is being built. The trail passes under Silver Creek Valley
Road, crosses over the creek on an old bridge, then comes to a large dirt
parking lot, which is a popular access point. Continuing south, the Coyote
Creek Trail passes by some old fruit orchards and eucalyptus-lined percolation
ponds.
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| Disk Golf Course east of Hwy 101, north of Coyote Creek | Bridge from Coyote Creek Trail to Shady Oaks Park |
At Silicon Valley Blvd., the trail passes behind the Holiday Inn, which has a restaurant if you're hungry and not too dusty. For fast food, go west on Bernal Road to the shopping centers near Santa Teresa Blvd., but be careful of the gauntlet of freeway on and off-ramps. If you continue west on Bernal Road, you'll enter Santa Teresa County Park. A bridge over Coyote Creek at Silicon Valley Blvd. leads east and south to the new Basking Ridge housing development. A multi-use path parallels the road there for awhile. Instead of turning south towards Basking Ridge, you could go straight onto Piercy Road, which follows along the hills through one of the last remaining rural areas in Silicon Valley, passing by horse ranches, greenhouses, and orchards. However, the rural nature of this area is fast-disappearing as industrial development takes over former farmland. Piercy Road ends up back at Silver Creek Valley Road near Coyote Creek.
South of Silicon Valley Blvd., the Coyote Creek Trail
ducks under Hwy 85 and 101, and passes by new subdivisions. It skirts Metcalf
Park, a San Jose city park, which has lawns, a playground, basketball
courts, picnic tables, restrooms, and drinking fountains, making it a good
place for a rest stop. The trail continues alongside a series of percolation
ponds, including one used for water-skiing.
A dirt path, which parallels the paved trail, runs on top of a levee by
the percolation ponds. The trail then crosses over Coyote Creek near Parkway
Lakes. Parkway Lakes is an excellent fishing spot, where no state fishing
license is required. It's heavily planted with trout in the winter, catfish
in the summer, and a few large sturgeon for an extra thrill.
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| Coyote Creek South of the Silicon Valley Blvd. Bridge | Playground and picnic areas at Metcalf Park |
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| Percolation Pond with water skier, view from dirt levee trail | Parkway Lakes, San Jose |
Near Parkway Lakes, the Coyote Creek Trail runs along the edge of Monterey Road. West of Monterey Road is Tulare Hill, which sits like a cork in the bottle of the Coyote Narrows. North of it is the highly urbanized Silicon Valley. South of it is the rural Coyote Valley. It has marked a battleground between pro and anti-development forces. On its southeast corner, the controversial Metcalf Energy Center is being built. South of Tulare Hill is the site of the Coyote Valley Research Park and the equally controversial Cisco development.
South of Metcalf Road, the trail enters the Coyote Valley.
You can cross Metcalf Road and continue on the trail or cross Monterey
Road at the Metcalf Road intersection and take it south to the tiny farming
community of Coyote. The Coyote Bait
and Tackle Shop is there and is one of the best places in the South
Bay for fishing gear and information on local fishing conditions. They
also have drinks and snacks. Across Monterey Road is the old Coyote
Inn Stage Stop and the Coyote
Grange Hall. The safest way to get back to the Coyote Creek Trail is
to head south to Bailey Avenue, cross Monterey Highway, and take it back
north to a trail access path a little north of Encinal School. You can
also take Monterey Road farther north to Coyote Ranch Road. The trail passes
by Coyote Ranch, which is an historic
ranch now used for corporate and group picnics and barbecues, with an old-fashioned
country atmosphere.
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| Coyote Ranch, Coyote Valley | Horses by Coyote Creek Trail |
From there the trail passes by a schutzhund dog club,
ranches, sunny open fields, fruit tree-laden orchards, and the swanky new
Coyote Creek
Golf Club. There's a sycamore-shaded rest stop near the golf course.
You can enter the golf course itself and stop at the country club for a
meal or drinks.
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| Coyote Creek trail crossing | Coyote Creek Trail near a percolation pond in the Coyote Valley |
South of the golf course, the trail runs through more
open fields past large reed-lined percolation ponds (the Ogier Quarry Ponds).
You can go fishing in these ponds, but catching is another matter. Past
Ogier Avenue, the trail passes by an R/C airplane field, the Santa
Clara County Model Airplane Skypark, run by the Tomcats R/C airplane
club. There are bleachers and porta-potties here. This is a good place
to stop for a rest and a free airshow, as you watch the fast, agile planes
do their showy aerobatics.
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| R/C model airplane club field north of Anderson Dam |
The trail follows along a wide portion of the creek. It
passes under Hwy 101 and enters a complex of dirt and paved trails near
Anderson Dam. The paved trail crosses Coyote Creek and ends in the middle
of a subdivision at Morningstar Drive near Malaguerra Avenue. You can take
Malaguerra to Anderson
Lake County Park. The tree-shaded park here has picnic areas and playing
fields along some of the most scenic stretches of the Coyote Creek. The
creek below Anderson Dam is planted with trout in season. Anderson Reservoir
is the largest reservoir in Santa Clara County and can be an excellent
warm-water fishery. In the wintertime, during particularly heavy rainy
seasons, Anderson Dam can spill, producing the most spectacular waterfall
in the Bay Area. Unfortunately, it also tends to flood the creek, closing
and sometimes damaging the trail.
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| End of the Coyote Creek Trail, Morgan Hill | Falls at Anderson Dam spillway, Feb. '98 |
From Anderson Dam, you can head back north along the Coyote Creek Trail. Keep in mind that the afternoon winds tend to blow south, so you can face a constant stiff headwind heading back. You might consider starting the trip at Anderson Dam and heading north, so you head downwind on the return trip. Either that, or arrange for a car shuttle. Alternatively, you can take Cochrane Road west and head back north on Monterey Road, along a stretch that used to be called "Blood Alley" before the Hwy 101 bypass was built, but it's about as pleasant as riding on a freeway. Santa Teresa Blvd is an alternate route, which can reached by taking Tilton Avenue west off Monterey Road. It's a straight, fast, 2-lane country road that runs by several farms and nurseries. Just past Bailey Avenue, it widens out and rises over a low hill. All of a sudden, you drop into the edge of the sea of suburbia at the southern tip of the Silicon Valley, and you're back to civilization. You could take Santa Teresa Blvd. to the Santa Teresa Light Rail Station and take the trolley to the Alamitos Creek Trail.
Ron Horii, San Jose
Created 11/26/98, updated 8/26/02