It was a beautiful Sunday.  The perfect day to be unplugged and be outside.  Where to go?  We packed a picnic lunch and decided on a hike somewhere out in the sunshine.  Looking through our reference collection on hikes in the Bay Area we stopped on Santa Teresa County Park part of the Santa Clara County Park System.  We had never been there.  It was sure to be sunny and the hills would probably still be green instead of golden, thanks to the rain we received earlier in the season.  Sounded like a perfect place to spend a few hours.

Santa Teresa is a 1,627 acre park just 10 miles south of downtown San Jose.  It is a popular day use park for hikers, bikers, horse back riders and runners.  Most of the trails are steep as they center around Coyote Peak.  There are a few group areas with picnic tables and BBQ’s for parties.  Dogs are allowed on most trails but not all.

We parked our car in the Pueblo Day Use Area because we were interested in hiking to Coyote Peak to enjoy our picnic lunch.  From the lot we took the Hidden Spring Trailhead to the Coyote Peak Trail which took up to the top at 1,155 feet.  The trails were fairly short but they were a pretty steep climb all the way up.  The kids carried their own water and had some snacks with them. Hubby kindly carried our picnic lunch and blanket.

The view was lovely, the weather just warm enough, and our blood was circulating nicely from the hike to take a layer off.   On the opposite side of the peak, on a clear day you can see all the way to downtown SF and Oakland.

After our picnic, we decided to take a longer and different route back to the car.  We started back down Coyote Peak trail and connected over to Laurel Springs Trail. From there, we crossed to Ridge Trail which eventually connected back to Hidden Springs Trail which led to the Pueblo Group Area.  On our hike, we saw deer, hawks, birds and lots of Oak and Buckeye trees.  The kids loved the up and down of the hills on the trails as we wrapped ourselves down one side of the peak.  For a short afternoon of hiking, it was quite the maximum opportunity work out.

I heard the wildflowers are amazing here in the Spring.  I see a return visit in our near future…