Gonzales, CA Birding Trails and Maps

64 Reviews

Looking for the best Birding trails around Gonzales?

Find the top rated birding trails in Gonzales, whether you're looking for an easy short birding trail or a long birding trail, you'll find what you're looking for. Click on a birding trail below to find trail descriptions, trail maps, photos, and reviews.

  • Relevance
  • Name
  • Length
  • Most Popular
Activities
Length
Surfaces
Type
13 Results
Activities
Length
Surfaces
Type

Beach Range Road Multi-Use Trail

4 mi
State: CA
Asphalt

Coyote Creek Trail

26.9 mi
State: CA
Asphalt, Crushed Stone

Monterey Bay Coastal Recreation Trail

19 mi
State: CA
Asphalt, Concrete

Ohlone Loop Trail

3 mi
State: CA
Concrete

Southern Pacific Railroad Right-of-Way

1.9 mi
State: CA
Dirt, Woodchips

Watsonville Slough Trail

2.8 mi
State: CA
Concrete, Gravel

West Cliff Drive Bicycle Path

3.4 mi
State: CA
Asphalt

Santa Cruz Coastal Rail Trail

2.5 mi
State: CA
Asphalt, Concrete, Metal

Santa Cruz Riverwalk

3.7 mi
State: CA
Asphalt, Concrete

Upper Struve Slough Trail

2.5 mi
State: CA
Asphalt

Great Meadow Bike Path

1.5 mi
State: CA
Asphalt

Loma Prieta Grade Trail

5.5 mi
State: CA
Dirt
Trail Image Trail Name States Length Surface Rating
The Beach Range Road Multi-Use Trail runs parallel to State Route 1 along the Pacific Coast, offering a safe alternative for commuters in Sand City, Seaside and Marina, and for students attending...
CA 4 mi Asphalt
Overview Stretching from Morgan Hill up to the southern extent of the San Francisco Bay, the Coyote Creek Trail is one of the longest trails in San Jose. The 26.9 miles of trail exist in three main...
CA 26.9 mi Asphalt, Crushed Stone
Overview Winding along the Pacific coast, the Monterey Bay Coastal Recreation Trail offers breathtaking views of the Pacific Ocean and a great way to tour Monterey and adjacent communities while...
CA 19 mi Asphalt, Concrete
The Ohlone Loop Trail offers a birder's paradise in a wetland area of Watsonville on California's central coast. Its location, bordering a residential area, provides easy access for residents to...
CA 3 mi Concrete
The Southern Pacific Railroad Right-of-Way passes through residential neighborhoods on the west side of Pacific Grove, providing a nice walking and biking spot for residents and visiting tourists to...
CA 1.9 mi Dirt, Woodchips
The Watsonville Slough Trail follows its namesake waterway through a residential area of the city. It's part of a system of trails in a wetland area abundant with birds; you might see ducks,...
CA 2.8 mi Concrete, Gravel
The West Cliff Drive Bicycle Path is just over 3 miles long, but, with its gorgeous backdrop of ocean waves and dramatic cliffs, you'll wish it was longer. The fairly flat, paved trail winds its way...
CA 3.4 mi Asphalt
The Santa Cruz Coastal Rail Trail is a paved multiuse rail-trail, and it will eventually run 32 miles along California's Santa Cruz County coastline, from Davenport to Watsonville. Following the...
CA 2.5 mi Asphalt, Concrete, Metal
The Santa Cruz Riverwalk Trail follows both sides of the river through downtown Santa Cruz, a California beach town on the shores of Monterey Bay. Multiple pedestrian bridges allow easy access to the...
CA 3.7 mi Asphalt, Concrete
The Upper Struve Slough Trail is part of a network of trails running through Watsonville's wetlands, offering a natural, outdoor experience and birding hotspot right in the heart of an urban area. The...
CA 2.5 mi Asphalt
The Great Meadow Bike Path provides an important 1.5-mile transportation route from the main entrance of the University of California at Santa Cruz to the busy campus core. The trail is surrounded by...
CA 1.5 mi Asphalt
This extremely scenic rail-trail is located in the majestic Forest of Nisene Marks State Park near Aptos, California. The park was the site of major logging operations by the Loma Prieta Lumber...
CA 5.5 mi Dirt
The Watsonville Rail Trail is Segment 18 of the Santa Cruz Coastal Rail Trail, a planned 32-mile rail-trail network that parallels the entire coastline of the Santa Cruz County.  Running along a...
CA 1.2 mi Asphalt

Recent Trail Reviews

Coyote Creek Trail

Hot Day on Coyote Creek Trail, Morgan Hill, CA

September, 2024 by cmartindunlop

I did this ride on Sunday afternoon, September 8, 2924, in 102 degrees. No joke. Must explain why it wasn’t very busy. I started at Anderson Lake County Park in Morgan Hill and went to Tully Road, just past the golf course south of downtown San Jose, and then turned around and returned to the park—40 miles, 1,190 feet elevation gain. Well maintained, all paved, relatively flat, and interesting trail with SO many squirrels and chipmunks dashing across the trail. Probably just playing with the bikers. Saw a flock of young turkeys on the trail. A hawk zipped close by me and tried to grab a rodent (missed). Lots of waterfowl in the ponds along the way. Vegetation became greener the further north I went from Morgan Hill, and more water in Coyote Creek. Saw coyote scat on the trail but no animals (too hot for them). There are several homeless campsites near the golf course, and even a rooster and cats and dogs. Overall, a great trail to see the arid landscape of the Santa Clara Valley (I live in the Pacific Northwest). Will plan to do it again in the springtime when it’s greener and not so hot, when I visit relatives again.

Santa Cruz Coastal Rail Trail

Well paved, courteous trail goers. We ended at Bridges Park, visited Monarch exhibit. Safe walk but not relaxing had to cross 5-7 busy streets along the way.

June, 2024 by bcolbertrn

Well paved, courteous trail goers. We ended at Bridges Park, visited Monarch exhibit. Safe walk but not relaxing had to cross 5-7 busy streets along the way.

Beach Range Road Multi-Use Trail

Great trail with a view

April, 2024 by maganadeisy

The trail is great for bikes, runners, and dogs on a leash. The ocean views are amazing, and the freshness of it is nice while running.

Accordion

Coyote Creek Trail

trail nice, but people make it feel unsafe

July, 2023 by vdreyer612

Trail is nice and well maintained but in the broad daylight, kind of shady with a considerable presence of homeless people by the Tully trailhead. Even carrying pepper spray, as a smaller young woman I felt kind of unsafe and was approached. The northern part of the trail (passes by a bunch of Amazon warehouses) does not have this issue but the stretch is much shorter. Would not come back here alone, or maybe at all. It’s a shame,because the trail itself is great, mostly flat, and scenic. Too Bad s

Coyote Creek Trail

Nicer / less traffic the further south you get

September, 2022 by milocat125

I've mostly ridden the section between Hellyer Park and the Coyote Creek visitor center / Malaguerra Ave (great free parking). A superb ride with far less traffic than the Los Gatos trail. A couple of weeks ago I parked at the Tully Rd lot and took it south. I was a little creeped out about leaving my truck there and the number of homeless encampments from Tully south about a mile. I won't do that again. Another good parking place is the free dirt lot "Coyote Creek Trail Parking at Metcalf" on google maps.

Coyote Creek Trail

Great Ride! Love the distance of this Trail

May, 2022 by lewis.jason10

Riders and walkers be on ALERT!!!! Encountered two rattlesnakes on the trail but love all 44 miles of the trail. Great trail to disconnect from the urban concrete streets of San Jose. Oh yeah, nature at its BEST!!

Monterey Bay Coastal Recreation Trail

Great trail. Start at Marina State Beach

May, 2022 by eandl231-trailink

We didn't like the thought of leaving our car at the Castroville end loaded with stuff for a weekend trip, so we drove a short ways to Marina State Beach and started there. It's a short ride on not-too-busy streets to meet up with the trail just north of the Fort Ord section.
Loved the wide, uncrowded Fort Ord area and enjoyed the ocean views in the Sand City area, though some of that sand on the trail was pretty thick. The trail gets fairly crowded as you get into Monterey so we only took it as far as the wharf, about 10 miles from Marina Beach.
A beautiful ride, on our list of places to go again.

West Cliff Drive Bicycle Path

Busy Paved Pathway on an Ocean Bluff

March, 2022 by swanf4

Good for walking & jogging but too busy for bicycles, skateboards, scooters. The street along side has a lot of traffic without a bike path so not very biker friendly. It's popular with pedestrians & dogs strolling along probably because there's an entrance to a dog friendly beach along the route. A lot of the route is along the top of a bluff with beach below so it gets very windy and can be cold if not sunny. Beaches are narrow & rocky and more for surfing. The path is nicely paved making it easy to walk.

Monterey Bay Coastal Recreation Trail

This is a fantastic, scenic trail that is very protected for bikes. Can't wait to ride it again.

March, 2022 by gregnmeg

This is a fantastic, scenic trail that is very protected for bikes. Can't wait to ride it again.

Monterey Bay Coastal Recreation Trail

Excellent for a daylong outing

October, 2021 by laselvabiker

I have ridden this trail many times and would recommend it to just about any level of rider. From Castroville to Carmel, it just keeps getting better. I would recommend to return from Carmel by going over the hill into Monterey on any number of routes. Veterans Memorial Park at the top of the hill gives riders the opportunity to ride into Historic Monterey. Also, there's great restaurants and brew pubs to be found. The Monterey-Salinas Transit hub is there for those that want to take mass transit rather than continue pedaling.
A alternative route going "over the hill" to Monterey would be going up (north) from Carmel Village, to Highway 1 then making a left turn to continue north for less than a mile, then exiting Highway 1 at Aguajito Road. Continue past Aguajito back toward a bridge crossing of Highway 1 and you'll see a bike trail just before you cross the bridge. Take that trail downhill to enter Monterey from the east.
I just noticed another post lamenting that the rider had to drive to the start in Castroville. No, it's not necessary to drive to the start as Monterey-Salinas Transit has excellent routes and will take your bikes onboard if the racks are already taken. Also, same reviewer criticized a area that's not on the trail at all when mentioning Highway 1 north of Moss Landing and the road construction there. That construction was for PG&E gas lines and was completed as of 9/23/21. The road shoulder of Highway 1 is returned, and it's not necessary to "share the lane" with motor vehicles along that section any longer.

Monterey Bay Coastal Recreation Trail

Scenic but some unsafe sections and need to go by car to get to it

September, 2021 by stenman_tl

There is a very short section of bike path from Castroville going to the first highway at which point one is on country roads with heavy trucks and speeding vehicles until one gets to the edge of the city of Marina. From there one crosses multiple intersections until out of the city.

Lots of pedestrians and small children loosely supervised if at all so need to be cautious where sight distances are reduced. Worst once on gets into the city of Monterey. It is not difficult to continue to Pebble Beach and with all the ultra rich having multiple home in this community, road traffic is largely non existant if not on the marked 17-mile drive section.

Getting to Castroville safely requires the use of a personal car. Caltrans periodically sets up construction on Highway 1 from north of Moss Landing and through to Castroville. Often there is only a single lane for bicyclists and cars and heavy trucks with trailers to use and the odds of being hit and killed is very very high as this is the busiest two lane highway in the United States. The section of Hwy 1 through Moss Landing has been very dangerous thanks to the state road work for the past 45 years and nothing has changed and it is as dangerous now as ever.

Coyote Creek Trail

beautiful San Jose trail!

August, 2021 by yxmcm6v459

I have ridden this trail three times. Each time has been a great experience! This afternoon, I stopped in at coyote creek golf course for lunch and it was great! I enjoy watching the r/c airplanes and love going to Anderson reservoir at the end. It’s a great ride and can’t wait for winter!

Find Nearby City trails

Accordion

Register for free!

Register for free with TrailLink today!

We're a non-profit all about helping you enjoy the outdoors
  • View over 40,000 miles of trail maps
  • Share your trail photos
  • Save your own favorite trails
  • Learn about new trails near you
  • Leave reviews for trails
  • Add new and edit existing trails

Get the Free TrailLink App

The trail is always better with TrailLink

Scan the QR code to get TrailLink on your phone

Explore by City

Explore by City

Explore by Activity

Explore by Activity

Log in to your account to:

  • View trail paths on the map
  • Save trails to your account
  • Add trails, edit descriptions
  • Share photos
  • Add reviews

Log in with Google

Log in with Apple

OR

Register for free!

Join TrailLink (a non-profit) to view more than 40,000 miles of trail maps and more!

Register with Google

Register with Apple

OR

Your account has been deleted.