Ranch Out Opened in 2004, this ±5.7k-acre Preserve sits in the oak-covered foothills nestled at the base of the Santa Cruz Mountains. It's a short ±30-minute drive from Silicon Valley, but you'll feel like you're miles away from civilization, which is a really good thing these days. The Good: * Free to visit * Multiple parking lots with horse trailer parking available * Restroom in the main lot * Twelve miles of trails throughout the preserve (5.5 miles of which are designated as part of The Bay Area Ridge Trail) * If you're looking for a nice loop, there's a semi-moderate 4.5-mile loop available: Mayfair Ranch Trail to Longwall Canyon Trail to Baldy Ryan Creek Trail. * Horseback riding on certain trails (see map) * Biking allowed on certain trails (see map) The Meh: * No dogs allowed * Trails for the most part were in pretty decent shape, but there were a few areas where they need some TLC. The Ugly: * Much like the EBRPD, they use cows to try and control the non-native grasses, but there were no cows during our visit. :( Conclusion: Great place to escape from civilization and commune with Mother Earth. read more

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Sat 4/17/21 hiked at Rancho Cañada del Oro OSP after already doing 4mi at Coyote Ridge OSP. Parking at the first lot was full, so had to park in the Overflow Lot that's further away. Went over the fence to get to the paved Llagas Creek Loop 0.6 miles, lots of lupines! Then did the Mayfield Ranch to Longwall Canyon, lots of climbing that's moderate. I felt really tired near the end because it got temperate Hot and I hate hiking in hot weather! There was a bunch of wildflowers and saw turkeys and 1 snake! Overall, good day for a Spring hike. read more

Rancho Cañada del Oro Open Space Preserve - Pit toilet at Overflow lot 4/17/21 - Parks Near Me - Morgan Hill, California

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Such a nice hike with plenty of wild flowers, social distancing, and beautiful views. Made for a great hike somewhere outside the city. We arrived to an employee who gave us directions and recommended trails. Overall, such a great escape. Also beware there is some trump compound on the drive in (about 3 min before you arrive). 10 points to whoever sets that guys trump flag on fire and pisses on the ashes. read more

Rancho Cañada del Oro Open Space Preserve - Ranchero - Parks Near Me - Morgan Hill, California

We did Mayfair Ranch Trail today, a 3.1 mile (one way )up down trails . There were no super blooms but we saw some wildflowers here and there. The hills were super green after the rain. Saw about 20 hikers , 2 riding horses on trail. We didn't do the loop continuing to Longwall Canyon Trail due to creek crossings. We didn't want to take our hiking boots off and walk in the swift water. The main parking was full so we parked in the overflow parking. A restroom at the main parking lot. A few areas of the trail was muddy. read more

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Fantastic views, a nice wide trail, a mix of sun and shade, and good traffic management make this park a great getaway on a weekday morning during shelter-in-place. The trail systems have been divided into one-way and two-way trails, which greatly minimizes the chances of running into people when the park is not busy. Throughout the morning earlier this week, the main lot did not completely fill up. Over the course of an 8 mile hike, we ran into only about 10 people in total, a mix of hikers and bikers. There is also a shorter loop available, which is about half the length. There are great views in all directions from the ridges on this trail, including both the mountains to the west and the hills to the east, as well as a reservoir. At this time of year, in late May, the hills have all turned golden but there are still wildflowers here and there along the trail. read more

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A hiking trail in the middle of nowhere - but the Rancho Canada del Oro trails connect to Calero County Park. But since it's in the middle of nowhere it's less crowded/not many people know of it. Characteristic of most south Bay hiking trails, the trails here are hot and dry. Bonus of cow paddies lining the trail and some cows grazing on the dry grass. I've run on the Bald Peaks trail (moderate - lots of inclines) but one could make a giant loop around Rancho Canada, through Calero and come back around if you wanted a long, challenging hike. Overall, a quiet, untouched gem tucked away in the back roads of Morgan Hill/south Bay. read more

Rancho Cañada del Oro Open Space Preserve - Bald Peaks Trail - Parks Near Me - Morgan Hill, California

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This place is a little further from South Bay compared to some of the more popular hiking spots. As a result, it's less crowded! GETTING THERE: -------------------------- Rancho Cañada shares a border with Calero County Park, and there are two parking lots along Casa Loma Road serving as a staging area to both parks. The first lot is paved, fits around 20 cars and has a single outhouse. The second lot is 0.3 miles west along the road, serves as overflow parking for a large number of cars, and is unpaved and rocky. HIKING TRAILS: -------------------------- Rancho Cañada offers routes for all experience levels: * Easy: 0.5 miles along the Llagas Creek Loop Trail. This trail is gentle and relatively flat. * Moderate: 4.3 mile loop along the Mayfair Ranch Trail and the Longwall Canyon Trail (the latter is in Calero County Park). Moderate inclines greet you right from the start. There's a good amount of shade, and the trail width can range from very narrow to fairly wide. Watch out for mountain bikers coming down around the blind curves. * Challenging: 8 mile loop which starts and ends the same way as the 4.3 mile loop. From the Mayfair Ranch Trail, take a left onto the Longwall Canyon Trail. This will take you to the Bald Peaks Trail. Prepare for some serious elevation gain. The Bald Peaks summit features a panoramic view of Almaden Valley and the Diablo Range. Take the Catamount Trail back to the Longwall Canyon Trail. There are a lot of connecting trails that are closed for development, so much of the preserve is off limits. read more

Good hiking spot but you best like dry and mostly flat for 4 miles if you hike or bike as everyone else does here! Yes,I saw road apples as well but the odor proved you were in the great outdoors like on Animal Planet or Mutual of Omahas Wild Kingdom if you are from the 70's! But alas,no elephants,or dinosaurs! Just some tress a lot of dust and holes from what raccoons,gophers and squirrels! It's a little like Rancho in Mountain View or Silver Creek in San Jose.....certainly the terrain is the same! read more

We came back on Thanksgiving Sunday for long 4.1m hikes (750 feet climb). We started from Serpentine Loop trail near the parking lot) which is rather flat and wide in the first 0.5 miles. Continue towards Longwall Canyon Trail which does get slight incline and not very steep. The initial 1.5 miles is great for kids and plenty of deers, wild turkey and California newts when it rain. The trail will eventually meet to a junction and keep left to continue to Mayfair Ranch Trail. The initial part of Mayfair Ranch Trail is very steep and slippery when wet. There are limited network coverage doing the trail anti-clockwise but less strenuous. When you reached the top, there will be a picnic bench for a good rest and fuel up with snacks. Animal you might see: - Deer - Wild turkeys - Birds (lots of them) - California newts (when it rain) After the rest at the picnic bench, it is mostly downhill back to the car park. My favorite route is the anti-clockwise since you start flat and then slow climb but it is long climb so you need to have good endurance. The downhill is fast and quick 30 minutes. Make sure you stop to enjoy the scenery and appreciate nature especially the Manzanita trees. Rancho Cañada Del Oro Open Space Preserve is 5 stars because parking is free and not crowded even on weekend. The trail is well maintain and lots of things to see and explore. There are cellphone coverage on Mayfair trail when you are the top of the hill and plenty of caches for geo-caching. We will be back in early Spring to see the flowers. Thansk Open Space Preserve. read more

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There are two main trail paths starting from the parking lot: The shorter trail loop (4.3m): Mayfair Ranch Trail (3.1m) loop to part of Longwall Canyon Trail (1.2m) The longer trail loop (9.5m): Mayfair Ranch Trail (3.1m) loop part of Longwall Canyon Trail (2 m), loop to Bald Peaks Trail (1m), loop to Catamount Trail (1.7m), back to the other part of Longwall Canyon Trail (0.7m) I was going to do the longer loop, but my feet was hurting really bad about 2.5 mils in, so I end out taking the shorter route back. The parking was empty when I arrived in the morning, but it was half full 2 hour later. There is a bathroom in the parking lot, no water on the trail. No dogs in the park. Very beautiful open space preserve, trails are well maintained and paved, views are wonderful. read more

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I came here today with my park management class for the first time & I must say this place is beautiful! We took the long 6.2 mile hike which looped around the entire parking lot and back. The climb to the picnic area on the top was a bit challenging but definitely worth it! I do recommend that you wear waterproof shoes when you go on this hike because there are a few little streams that you would have to cross, I made the mistake by wearing regular hiking shoes so my socks were wet for the first 30 minutes of the hike (fail), also beware of the animals around there, I saw turkeys and deers today... SO CUTE!!! Also, make sure you use the restroom before you go on the hike (they only have a 1 person single stall, porta-potty style toilet, with hand sanitizer) Overall, I give this place a 4 star, will I be back? You betcha butt I will & with waterproof shoes! read more

This is not a park to go to if you don't like to climb hills, but the trails are well groomed and critters abound. I've seen bobcat, deer, foxes and coyote, eagles, owls and plenty of scavengers like crows and turkey vultures too. At this time of year it is bursting with wildflowers and it's not too hot either. Usually I am riding horseback and there are few mountain bikes and some hikers. On one of the main trails you climb up the ridge and can see sweeping vistas all around. Then you pass through a couple of cattle gates and you're in the canyon. This is a lovely, lovely place. If hills aren't your thing there are some lower trails where you will see plenty of wildlife too, just not the views like at the top of Baldy Peak. Oh, and did I mention this park is FREE? Yep, and they do night sky observations some evenings. Very cool. read more

Rancho Cañada del Oro Open Space Preserve - Ample parking for horse trailers - Parks Near Me - Morgan Hill, California

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This place is really a treasure. Hidden in the southern end of San Jose, Rancho Canada Del Oro Open Space Preserve is a valuable resource of wild plant and animal life. Four major trails, the most accessable is the Mayfair Ranch trail, which takes you up up up to a beautiful meadow overlooking the lower areas of the park. Go up early and you might see cows grazing! Meandering down to Baldy Ryan's Creek, you then have a choice of heading through Calero County Park back to the Parking lot if you were looking for a short hike, or for the more adventurous, you can take Longwall Canyon to either Bald Peaks trail or Catamount trail. Longwall is definitely the much longer hike, with many twists and turns, but I think its definitely the more scenic one, and you'll come across more wildlife (Turkey Vultures, Black Tailed Deer, and what I think were some geese were what I saw on my first hike) and plantlife (many California Laurels, Coast Live Oaks, and many many Manzanitas.) Bald Peaks takes you up to a high place, where you can get a view out across the entire valley, watching the marches of both the Diablo range and the Santa Cruz mountains rushing northward to meet each other before the Bay. Sometimes pretty windy you might want to pack a small sweater or jacket for this part. At the begining of the trail from Longwall Canyon, there is a horse trough as well as a picnic table, a perfect place to take a short lunch and catch your breath. in short, this is a really wonderful place. On the downside, while Rancho Canada Del Oro does allow bikes, part of the Catamount trail leading from Bald Peaks or from Mayfair Ranch leading to the parking lot cuts through Calero County Park, which doesn't allow bikes...Bikers must go back the way they came through Mayfair to get back to where they started, I guess. No pets allowed, either. Check it out! Make sure you've got alot of the day available. Closes at sunset. read more

Don't let the "Beware of Mountain Lions" sign scare you away--this is a great Open Space Preserve with options for every skill level of hiker...and biker. The gf and I came across just as many mountain bikers (if not more) as hikers on the trail. We opted for the 4.1 mile loop since we're building our stamina for longer stuff and set out on the voyage. There is a decent amount of elevation, great views, a lot of shade, and even some creeks along the way. Parking was a breeze on a Sunday morning at 10. And the Preserve itself is very easy to get to. All around awesome experience. read more

Positives: -This is a wonderful area of land that I'm glad is open to the public -Lots of wildlife -It feels remote and special--no houses on the hillsides as you're hiking around -no cows Negatives: -Unfortunately the Open Space Authority hasn't built hiking trails, but instead you're only on old ranch roads. This means that you get kind of frustrated as the "trails" are not designed with experiencing nature in mind: -very little shade rather than actually going under the trees (what a concept that would be!) -very steep inclines rather than following contours -not going as close to the creek or into the gullies as much as it should I recommend not going in summer, and you really have to wander OFF the roads to get the proper experience of this wonderful land. Hopefully someday they'll build some nice hiking trails. read more

Went here for my birthday and it was beautiful! Tough... but beautiful! We went the route that went up hill to start off the hike with, on a mission to find a waterfall. We found one... a small one! OMG, I looked at it and thought... "That's it!? That's all I'mma get!?" We knew there was another one down the way, but decided not to go find it... good gosh, I was beat! Anyway, I would go again 8) read more

My favorite place to go mountain biking. Nice and strenuous trails. I love it because it's an up hill climb.

I came here last Saturday night to watch the stars with the San Jose Astronomical Society. It was absolutely fantastic. The night sky view was breathtaking. read more

Great trails for mountain bikes (and horses). Check out the night bike rides and hikes during the summer. It also has an all access trail for the mobility impaired! read more