![](S06LargeButton.gif)
Rainbows & Waterfalls 2000
![](S06LargeButton.gif)
Introduction
![](S06LargeButton.gif)
Features
![](S06LargeButton.gif)
Coyote
Peak
![](S06LargeButton.gif)
Wildlife
![](S06LargeButton.gif)
Trails 1
![](S06LargeButton.gif)
Trails 2
![](S06LargeButton.gif)
Future
Hopes
|
Santa
Teresa Park has gradually grown and changed over the years. More and
more
surrounding properties have been added to the park, until now it covers
1688 acres. It's a smaller sister to Almaden Quicksilver Park, running
parallel to it along the Santa Teresa Hills. It ranges in altitude from
200 feet at the Santa Teresa Golf Course to 1155 feet at the top of
Coyote
Peak, the highest point in the Santa Teresa Hills. The park has 14
miles
of trails. To the northeast is the Blossom Valley/Santa Teresa area of
San Jose, with its high-tech industries, strip mall shopping centers,
and
middle-class subdivisions. Beyond that to the east is low,
grass-covered
565-foot high Tulare Hill, Monterey Highway, Parkway Lakes, and Highway
101. Far to the east, forming the eastern wall of the Santa Clara
Valley,
is the high, dry ridge of the Diablo Range, topped by Mount Hamilton
and
the domes of Lick Observatory at over 4200 feet. To the southwest and
west
are Calero Reservoir, the wealthy Almaden Valley, the Los Capitancillos
Ridge of Almaden Quicksilver County Park, and the steep green Sierra
Azuls,
dominated by 3486-foot Mt. Umunhum. All of this can be seen from the
heights
of the park.
The main park road, Bernal Road, climbs up the steep hills
into the
park and ends at the entrance to IBM's Almaden Research Center, one of
the premier private research institutions in the world. Much of the
land
northwest of the park is IBM property, but a corridor through it has
been
granted as an easement, along the Stile Ranch Trail. Southeast of the
park
are hilly ranchlands, which are owned by IBM, leased to cattle
ranchers,
and provide a backdrop to the IBM Santa Teresa Programming Laboratory
on
Bailey Avenue.
In 2000, a $4 parking fee (now $5) was imposed on parking in
the upper parking
lots at the Pueblo day use area. However, there are several free
entrances
to the park:
- There is a small parking lot on Bernal Road above the park
just before
the entrance to the IBM lab. Parking is free here, but the lot is often
full. This is a popular starting spot for mountain bikers.
- Street parking is available near the Bernal Road entrance
along Heaton Moor Drive.
You can walk or bike up into the park along the bike lane of Bernal
Road.
You can also reach the Ohlone
Trail and the Laurel
Canyon Nature Trail (hiking only).
- At the end of the parking lot at the Santa Teresa Golf
Course, near the
end of the driving range, is a trail entrance that leads to the Ohlone
Trail and Coyote
Peak Trail.
- At the entrance to the archery
range at the southeast corner of the park at Bayliss Drive near
Ingram
Court is the start of the Ohlone
Trail. Note that this trail is not open to bicycles.
- At Heaton Moor Drive and Brockenhurst Drive is the entrance
to the
former
Buck Norred Ranch, now part of the park. A paved but very steep path
leads
up to the Mine
Trail. However, this area still needs to be developed so is not
considered
an official entrance to the park yet.
- Farther to the west along Manila Drive is the Santa Teresa
Springs and
Joice Bernal Rancho complex. The steep Joice
Trail leads up the hills into the park from here.
- In the Almaden Valley near the intersection of Fortini Road
and San
Vicente
Road is the trailhead for the Stile
Ranch Trail and Fortini
Trail. This entrance can be accessed from the Calero
Creek Trail, which connects to the Alamitos-Calero Creek Trail.
- A service road back entrance is at the end of Country View
Drive. This
leads
to the Coyote
Peak Trail west of Coyote Peak. This is not an official entrance
and is not open to the public. Littering and vandalism are a problem
here.
![](S06HorizontalDivider.gif)
Created 9/17/99, updated 7/5/05 by Ronald
Horii
|