Find the top rated cross country skiing trails in Santa Cruz, whether you're looking for an easy short cross country skiing trail or a long cross country skiing trail, you'll find what you're looking for. Click on a cross country skiing trail below to find trail descriptions, trail maps, photos, and reviews.
Mi lugar preferido por el momento! Si quieres correr unas cinco millas es perfecto, me encanta la sombra que dan los árboles !!!
The Coyote Creek trail is great! It wanders thru fields in the valley with the hills in the near distance. The wild flowers are beautiful. This section of the trail is near Morgan Hill.
Started from Danny Lopez Park and rode north. Lots of bikers but all polite. Quite pretty and rural as opposed to riding south. Nice paved trail. We stopped to watch several remote controlled planes--very fun!
My husband and I ride this trail 2 or 3 times per week year round. We park at the visitor center in Morgan Hill and ride up to Hellyer Lake and back. It’s beautiful year round and full of courteous bikers and walkers. We have recumbent trikes and are in our late 60s. We feel safe on the entire round trip. We have spotted deer and wild turkeys and bunnies and turtles and right now (March 2025) the wild flowers are putting on a show! Highly recommend this beautiful trail!
This was a very nice ride, beautiful green hills and lots of birds. Western end has trails. that continue into coyote Hills regional Park, a very nice bonus. trail waswell-maintained. It can be very, very windy.
The Stevens Creek Trail has an additional 3 mile segment called the Stevens Creek/Tony Look Trail through Stevens Creek County Park. It follows the eastern shore of the reservoir and unlike the lower portions of SCT it is unpaved. This section is suitable for walking and jogging.
There is also a new 4 mile segment of Stevens Creek Trail through Montebello OSP, starting near the source of the actual Stevens Creek. This trail segment starts at the Page Mill Road parking lot for Montebello OSP and goes downhill towards Stevens Canyon Road. The trail surface is hard-packed dirt, appropriate for road biking, horseback riding, running, and walking.
I rode this trail from the Livermore end to just past Danville. Overall, it seems more suited to local users that have identified sections that fit their needs (e..g. running, walking, or shorter bike rides. There were two fairly lengthy detours secondary to construction. Parts of the trail have cracks wide enough that they are a serious risk to causing anyone with skinny tires to crash, though other parts are as perfect as a path can be. Foot traffic in the Danville section, at least on a weekend, is heavy. There are many traffic crossings, and having to wait for a light to change in order to get across is not uncommon. For anyone attempting to ride the entire length of the trail, a spirit of adventure and a bit of determination would be required. Of note is that one can get on the trail right in front of the Dublin/Pleasanton BART station. As BART is a bike friendly way of getting around, this opens up trail access to people throughout the Bay Area. Other than dangerous cracks in the path, safety is not an issue.
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.
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.
Very short, one mile walking both ways. Too many homeless trash piles. Parking was questionable since it housed homeless vehicles and I had to hurry my child pass the van with drug smoke pouring out. The drive down Willow Street was lovely along the way to this location, we should have just parked there and walked along the tree lined streets instead. Very unfortunate.
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.
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