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The Stevens Creek Trail is a 6.7-mile open in two disconnected segments in Mountain View and Cupertino, two of Silicon Valley's growing communities. As its name suggests, both segments closely follow Stevens Creek, which originates in the Santa Cruz Mountains and empties into the San Francisco Bay.
The trail offers access to, and views of, the tech world’s premier campuses while providing a welcome off-street, multi-use corridor for densely populated communities. Parks on both ends of the trail (Stevens Creek Shoreline Nature Study Area Preserve in the north and McClellan Ranch Preserve and Blackberry Farm in the south) are popular destinations for recreation and learning about local wildlife along the creek. Sections of trail pass through forested foothills, lowland creeks, and marshy protected wetlands.
About the Route
At its northern end, the 5-mile Mountain View segment picks up near a junction with the San Francisco Bay Trail, a developing network of 500 miles of trails encircling the bay. Coursing southward from the 750-acre Shoreline Park, the trail runs through tidal marshlands juxtaposed against the uniquely modern architecture of the tech-giant campuses. After leaving the park, grade-separated crossings of busy roads allow for uninterrupted travel to the trail’s endpoint in a residential sector of Mountain View at Heatherstone Way and Dale Avenue. Multiple bike repair stations can be found in this section.
In Cupertino, a stretch of the Stevens Creek Trail links two popular community parks. The northern Blackberry Farm offers ample picnic space, swimming pools, a playground, and many other amenities and runs alongside a public golf course. The McClellan Ranch Preserve, a charming horse ranch contains a nature museum; a community garden; and a petting zoo with friendly alpacas, goats, and other farm animals. The ranch offers ample parking, restrooms, and water. Multiple restrooms and water fountains are located along the trail as indicated on the map.
Across McClellan Road, the trail passes alongside the Deep Cliff Golf Course, ending at Linda Vista Park, where trail users can find restrooms, picnic areas, playgrounds, and other recreational activities. The Linda Vista Park section of the trail, loosely paved and with steep elevation changes, is not recommended for wheelchair users.
South of the Linda Vista Park section, there are two more disconnected sections of Steven's Creek Trail that are not multi-use trail. One section is the 1.3-mile Lower Canyon Trail which climbs through a steep canyon along a narrow dirt path, and the other is a 4-mile Canyon Trail that climbs 1300 ft of elevation through the Montebello Open Space Preserve.
Connections
The northern end of Steven's Creek Trail connects to the San Francisco Bay Trail.
At Whisman Park, the trail connects to the Hetch Hetchy Trail (Mountain View).
Trail History
The trail and the creek are named after Captain Elijah Stevens, a blacksmith, and leader of the first wagon train of settlers to cross the Sierra Nevada during the westward expansion of the 1840s. Regarded as one of the better--preserved creeks in the Bay Area, the creek has retained much of its natural channel, flowing from the Santa Cruz Mountains and through Stevens Canyon before eventually emptying into the southern end of the San Francisco Bay.
The Stevens Creek Trail runs between the San Francisco Bay Trail (Mountain View) and Dale Ave. (Mountain View), Stocklmeir Farm (Cupertino), and Linda Vista Park (Cupertino). Parking is available at each trail endpoint, minus Mountain View.
Parking is also available at:
Please see TrailLink Map for all locations, transit options, and detailed directions.
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.
In July, 2021, trail was extended south 1/3 mile to Linda Vista Park in Cupertino.
This is an easy trail and is very pleasant.
Lots of trees, nice trail for biking and running
This is a good trail, however unfortunately on the south end there is a short segment that is disconnected from the rest of the trail which starts again 5 miles to the north.
It is around 1.25 miles stretch. Good for kids and for small stroll.. if looking for long distance, forget about this.
Nice nice
Having just gotten back into biking in the last two months, this is my go to trail when I don't have time to drive more than 15 minutes (I won't ride on the streets because it's so dangerous these days). This trail is convenient to where I live in the valley. I just park at Cuestra Park and ride a couple blocks down Sleeper to the trail entrance there. There are three bridges that require some climbing that most cyclists wouldn't find difficult but I still struggle some while getting my strength back. The trail is beautiful. I recommend going earlier to avoid the pedestrians and families with kids on bikes that are hard to pass.
I'm to the point now where I get to the end of the trail and get on the SF Bay Trail and ride up to the Palo Alto airport so I end up with about 25 miles round trip. You do run into some headwinds on the way but it's pretty easy on the return trip. I've done this trail about 5-6 times so far and love it!
Do an easy round trip starting at the end of Sleeper Drive for a nice hour's trip...about ten miles. Much is through a wooded area in an urban freeway-dense area which is pretty impressive. A little foot traffic around lunch time in the northern portion on weekdays.
This one is a really nice trail, If you come at it from the south, it will be a little noisy as you start riding parallel to HWY 85. Then it opens up and leads you directly into Shoreline Park.
Worth the trip.
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