"Her heart felt too full, a dry creek bed ill-prepared for such rain."⁠--Leigh Bardugo, Crooked…read moreKingdom While the trail itself isn't new, this section of the Upper Penitencia Creek Trail (UPC) at the Berryessa Bart Station is brand-new and technically not open yet. There's some cool features here and the trail is a nice way to try and give local residents a way to get to the station without using a car. -Part of the Bay Area Ridge Trail -Reflective Garden -Bioretention Garden -Informative signage for local plants and the area -Ohlone memorial -AC trail that's two-way with a painted center-line TL/DR: Cool addition to the BART station with some nice features.

The Shoreline Trail Fremont is a just over 4 mile trail that runs North to south along the East Bay…read moreSide of the bay. This trail is part of the larger Bay Trail System and connects to a large county park as well as other trails. Starting on the other side of the Dubmbarton Pier parking lot, the trail travels through a a series of gates underneath the Dumbarton Bridge. Heading North, the trail skits right alongside of the Bay for many miles. As such, the amount of driftwood and other flotsam is impressive. Also, local freelance artists can be endlessly creative with their driftwood art. For those of us longtime Bay Area residents it can often seem like the old driftwood art in Emeryville along Hwy 80 has been resurrected here. Sometimes there is nothing. Such is the nature of driftwood art. Nevertheless its sort of like a fun treasure hunt. The trail itself runs on top of one of the old levee's that used to make up the salt ponds that dotted the bay. They are all undergoing restoration back into marshlands. The levee itself has been beefed up and the trail while dirt is nicely graded. However, there is only one trail spur, The oddly named 'No Name trail" that runs East to West, that will take you directly across the salt pond to the Coyote Hills Regional Park. (located about 2 miles in) The rest of the old levees, have been breached to allow free flowing water, and to provide a sanctuary for all the birds. Speaking of fauna, there are the usual suspects we find in the marshlands, just much less of them. Its possible that this is a newer segment and Nature is taking its time repopulating. The only other thing is that this part of the system does not have as much of the decaying infrastructure that other areas do. Very little rotting piers, or pump houses etc. The trail ends at the Alameda Creek estuary. From there you can pick up the Alameda Creek Trail that heads East. It will also connect you to the Coyote Hills Regional Park and loop back if so inclined. After you leave the parking lot there are no services at all. There is also Zero shade so plan accordingly. Cellphone reception was shockingly okay in most parts, but there is a bit of a dead zone about 1 mile from the Dumbarton Bridge (I'm using Verizon) The first mile of the trail would be cool for kids with all the odd junk, driftwood, and rip rap alongside the levee's but beyond that its not recommended. That is unless you are looking at some sort of Bataan Death March punishment...... Trail: graded dirt Suitable For: Hiking, Mountain Bikes, Hybrid, (use caution with Road Bikes) Services: none Length: 4.2 miles

There will be no hiking the full trail again till projected summer 2025, due to construction. But…read moreif coming from SJ, you can go as far as the Don Edwards SF Bay National Wildlife Refuge Environmental Education Center via Grand Blvd, and even onto the boardwalk stretching over the marshland and saltwater ponds where I got great views of the sun setting earlier today before the rain, on a cloudy Tuesday afternoon. From Don Edwards, there is currently no access to the Mallard Slough Trail leading to the Alviso Marina (as of January 2024), which is actually a nice hike also connecting to the Drawbridge Ghost Town lookout point. Last time I did the Mallard Slough loop was a couple years ago, and it may seem simple and monotonous trekking the dirt and gravel pathways, but it was beautiful and serene, and definitely memorable. So hopefully when all of this construction is done, there's something to look forward to. For now, if you come out here on foot prior to the marsh trails fully opening up again, you'll have to backtrack toward SJ without any dedicated pedestrian pathways, so you'll be sharing the road with vehicles and cyclists. I recommend you make it worth your while and check out the marshland views as well as the lovely gardens and informational boards in the vicinity of the Don Edwards Environmental Education Center... there's a lot to learn about the surrounding environment, the plant and animal life, and the history of how things came to be.

The Mallard Slough Trail Spur is a short spur located off the Mallard Slough Trail Loop in San Jose…read moreCalifornia. It is inaccessible unless you arrive there from either the Alviso Slough Trail or the Mallard Slough Trail. As such its is accessed from either the Don Edwards San Francisco Bay National Wildlife Refuge Environmental Education Center or the Alviso Marina County Park. The trail is a rough one. I ride a fully suspended mountain bike and normally ride with the suspension locked out. However for this one I had to chose the middle setting to dampen some of the bumps. The spur runs parallel to the Amtrak Train tracks and takes you 0.5 miles east till the trail is chained off. It was tempting to go around the chain, but in looking at the maps after, the train dead ends not far from the chain and is impassible. You are treated to a pretty cool low slung railway bridge crossing the channel, but little else. Trail: Dirt Suitable For: Hiking, Mountain Biking Services: None Length: 0.5 miles

THIS TRAIL WAS NOT IT Having just moved from Portland to San…read moreJose, I was eager to find my new go-to biking route. I spotted this trail along the Guadalupe River on Google Maps and thought it had potential, so I set out on a Sunday morning to test it with a ~20-mile round trip from DTSJ to Alviso and back. Let's just say, I PR'd because I've never biked so fast in my life. LMAO! DON'T RECOMMEND Starting from Arena Green Park on the east side of the trail, my initial excitement quickly dwindled. The beginning of the trail was NOT ideal. There were numerous homeless encampments, piles of trash, and stretches where I honestly felt unsafe - even in broad daylight. HALF OK, HALF BAD Some sections ran alongside the highway, with no one else in sight for miles. In other areas, I had to bike under long, dark overpasses. It wasn't until I passed the airport and the tech company buildings near Montague Expressway that I finally felt a bit more secure, especially seeing other people walking and biking. Unfortunately, that feeling was short-lived. Past Southbay Freeway and into Alviso, the trail became increasingly barren and far less scenic. TLDR While I did like that this trail goes on for miles, I wouldn't recommend tackling it alone, especially in certain areas. Some parts are decent, but this overall first experience left me looking for another go-to biking route.

I had seen some major work to clean out camps near the airport. It's holding, but the rest of the…read moretrail (as well as large parts of Coyote creek trail and the hwy 87 interconnect) are littered with encampments, active drug use, trash and likely stolen piles of bikes and other valuables. Riding North of First street to Alviso isnt too bad. There are regularly flooded sections- the city does clean them but the river needs to be dredged as fresh rain just backs up on the trail again. There are currently significant closures and detours too.

It had been a while since the last time I was here, more than a year ago. The area was under…read moreconstruction and not very inviting back then. This past weekend, I returned to check out the changes that had been made while going for a run, and had a pleasant experience. There's a parking lot available at the Don Edwards SF Bay Environmental Education Center in Alviso. But the gate on Grand Boulevard was closed to vehicle traffic this past Saturday. I was able to park at the Marsh View Trail which has a foot path that leads directly to the Environmental Education Center, which is the starting and ending point of the New Chicago Marsh trail. The boardwalk and gravel path is less than a mile long and allows for beautiful views of the salt marsh and wildlife in the area, especially birds. LOTS of birds. A variety of species including songbirds, geese, and black-necked stilts. Even with on-and-off sprinkling (and heavier rains days earlier), it wasn't muddy, probably due to the terrain. This short trail connects to the Mallard Slough Trail which takes you deeper into the wetlands and makes for a more ideal hike or run. I love that the place is not inundated with visitors, just a scenic spot where the surrounding nature can be appreciated in peace.

The Boardwalk into the Marsh is an easy adventure…read more This is a great spot for bird watching and enjoying the sounds of nature. I've seen pelicans in this marsh and all sorts of birds: American Avocet, Black-necked Stilts, Dowitcher and swallows that like to nest under portions of the dock. So very peaceful here. You can easily get to the Mallard Slough Trail from here which has a big loop around a larger pond. I highly recommend this spot. Parking can be had nearby the entrance of the Don Edwards Education Center.

Paradise reclaimed. It's not perfect, but the city of San Jose has done a great job of helping…read morepeople find housing and cleaning detritus. I wrote through recently and was pleasantly surprised to see a couple other riders and even person jogging with no tents.

I frequently run the lower trail as it's closer to home, it's quiet and clean for the most part, I…read moreoften pass by adorable waterbirds along the pathway, and good for me it connects to Alviso Marina Park (over the train tracks and past South Bay Yacht Club). The full trail is at least 11 miles long, but I usually try not to go more than a few miles beyond Alviso and definitely try to avoid the downtown SJ area, a less desirable portion of the trail, littered with trash and graffiti, and I've crossed paths with foul-smelling homeless camps and questionable characters, it just doesn't feel very safe. But on my recent run through the Guadalupe River Park on a Saturday afternoon, it was emptier than usual, still a few shady looking individuls around, and beautiful murals tarnished by dirt, graffiti, and wear and tear, but the area as a whole was tolerable, for a daytime run at least. Lupe the Columbian Mammoth, a life size sculpture made up of bent steel pipes, is a cool statue to check out along the trail as well, near West Trimble Road, about 4 miles from Alviso.

GRASSHOPPER LOOP TRAIL REVIEW: The open space preserve is large, with many trails, but this review…read moreis just for the newly open Grasshopper Loop Trail (open June 2022). This is a great trail for older folks and little kids. It's pretty short (just 1.3 miles), flat, and mostly shaded. The start of trail is open but you soon reach a gate where you enter a redwood forrest. The path is very new and pristine. The redwoods are spectacular. Some of the trees were covered in a fuzzy type of moss (spanish moss or lichen moss?), so you'd think you were in the bayou or something. We were hoping to see more birds and butterflies, but didn't see any wildlife. Before we knew it, we reach another gate, where you exit the redwood part of the loop and back to the parking lot. If you wanted to extend the nice part of the trail, I suggest turning around when you reach the exit gate and backtrack through the redwoods again to the start of the trail. Overall, I enjoyed the redwood portion of the loop, but the loop was too short. Driving to the trail head involves driving through miles of winding roads with bicyclists popping up at every turn. It was not so fun to drive up here, so for a 30-minute hike, it wasn't quite worth it. There are many other trails to explore here, but there didn't seem to be much to see.

There are actually two, separate sections of La Honda Creek OSP, an upper section and a lower…read moresection. These are not connected, nor close, and they are entirely different, so it's too bad the Open Space system (and Yelp) has them lumped together as one. Most reviewers have just reviewed one section; I'll cover both. [UPPER SECTION] Access is off Skyline Blvd. As mentioned by others, this section is accessible through a free permit system, so some advance planning is required (See OSP website for details). It took only a day for me to obtain the combo for the gate lock, but others have reported longer. The good part of this permit system is that it keeps out the masses, so a hike here is likely to be full of solitude and quiet. I saw one other small group the entire time I was here. Ambiance: Ridgetop hills of mixed forest and meadows with views to the west. There's the typical selection of native trees here, but there are a couple of giant, old-growth redwoods you can visit as well. (Only one is shown on the map, but a few others are hidden off-trail). No bathrooms or amenities here. My main issue with this upper section is that it is quite small; it really isn't a place to do a big loop, only a small loop with a few there-and-back side trips. I visited every trail and only hiked 5.5 miles. I prefer to do more. (3*) [LOWER SECTION] Access is off La Honda Rd (Hwy 84) near the town of La Honda. No permits needed. At the entrance there's a newish, paved parking lot and a unisex pit bathroom. Ambiance: Rolling grassy hills with plenty of cattle - it felt very much like an East Bay hike to me. Trees are limited to a few, stream-side groves. Nice views of the ocean can be found here, though it will take 3 miles to reach that spot - and of course 3 miles back. You'll likely be sharing the view with cows (and dodging their patties). This lower section is much bigger than the upper section but still doesn't offer any full loops (only a "lollipop"). Nevertheless I enjoyed my 9-mile hike here. I may bring friends back, just to show them something new; but it's not a destination I need to visit often. My curiosity itch has been scratched, and grading on a curve against other OSPs, it's just OK. (3.5*) My Peninsula hike collection is here: (https://www.yelp.com/collection/qBI6U6Lz9LJQjnGjFW6ubg) Hiking Spot Checklist: -- Parking: Small, paved lot at both sections -- Bathrooms: None at upper section; Yes at parking lot of lower section -- Potable water: No -- Maps provided: Yes (except during covid) -- Highlights: Nice views to the west in both sections

Trail was well maintained and covered with lots of leaves which provided cushiony landing. However…read moresign was unclear and it was easy to get lost if you weren't paying attention. There were mild ascents here and there, overall it was an easy hike. Beware of the rattlesnake sign posted at the farther entry, we stopped proceeding because of it. It was a nice hike. We enjoyed what the nature offers.

Hidden gem of a trail! Easy to get to, ample & free parking, mostly shaded, very lush with a cute…read morepond and eventually leading to Stevens Creek. It's out & back and most of the out is downhill, so coming back uphill is a bit challenging but definitely doable (probably moderate level difficulty). There is some poison oak but it wasn't overgrown. Unpaved trail but well maintained. There's some picnic tables and a restroom at the end of the trail (if you walk 2 more minutes on creek trail at the end of zinfandel). The part I look forward to trying the most next time is the winery right next to the trail (Pichetti Winery).