Experience this 7.0-mile loop trail near Los Altos Hills, California. Generally considered a moderately challenging route, it takes an average of 3 h 27 min to complete. This is a very popular area for birding, hiking, and horseback riding, so you'll likely encounter other people while exploring. The trail is open year-round and is beautiful to visit anytime. You'll need to leave pups at home — dogs aren't allowed on this trail.
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The best loop that has you hiking down the canyons crossing beautiful creeks and rising up the other side to summit Black Mountain. You loop back through the forest and around Horse Lake to end up in the Christmas Tree Farm. Fun to see the nursery of trees grown for the holidays season. Great hike with a lot of variety and nice elevation gain.
Counter clockwise review: started around 11:30 (bad idea) - shade at the start and it ends for the uphill. Once you hit the peak of black mountain you can take a slightly more shaded route back until you hit the Monte bello parking route. Not super buggy out of the shade. Great hike.
Really nice, easy to moderate loop if you’re going clockwise like we did. Def more moderate going counterclockwise (lots more climbing). Gorgeous hillside views and tree cover near the brook about halfway in. Definitely wear sun protection because the first and last third of the hike are exposed. Heads up, there are many mountain bikers that also use this trail, but the ones we encountered were great about communicating how many bikers were in their party so we were forewarned and could move to the side.
Really liked this trail, got a good workout. Lots of different terrain -- grasses, forests, creeks, valleys, flowers, scrub. Got there around 8 on Memorial Day and there were maybe 4 cars in the lot. There was lots of fog and wind so I decided to go counterclockwise to give the fog a chance to clear and get some protection from the wind. Pretty steep incline but definitely doable. Lots of wildflowers as you get further up. Couldn't see all of the view at Black Mountain due to the fog/clouds but there was definitely pretty sights on the way back and the forest walk was nice as well. Definitely want to return when less foggy! (Noting AllTrails got pretty spotty so the mileage is longer than the activity shows. Expect about 7 miles and 1409 feet depending how much you explore the summit).
A super super nice trail! Sincerely love it! The view is more about the valley, which is super nice before the brutal summer kicks in. * Transportation: quite some mountain roads on the way here. Got to spend ~20 min on the twisted roads. You'll also encounter a lot of bikers on the way. Be cautious. * Parking: We arrived at 8.45 am, and the parking lot was 70% full, mostly taken by bikers. Some folks arrived at 9.15 and still find a spot to park. * The first two miles are going down smoothly, with decent shade. Very easy and chill. * If you want to take short cut, can turn left for Canyon Trail at 2.5mi. * Starting from 2.5mi, it'd be harder. Little shade + non-trivial slope up. * The way back is pretty good: smooth slopes with very open view to the valley.
Gorgeous views of the Steven’s Creek valley, the big climb up and down from Black Mountain is entirely exposed, so make sure you have plenty of water. There’s a lot of wildflowers especially on the northern and eastern segments of the trail, but they’re nestled in tall grasses so you can’t always see just how many flowers there are until you’re on top of them. The western and southern segments of the trail have some nice shade. I’d recommend taking the loop clockwise so you get the exposed portion out of the way and finish in the shade.