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Stretching from Morgan Hill up to the southern extent of the San Francisco Bay, the Coyote Creek Trail is one of the longest trails in San Jose. The 26.9 miles of trail exist in three main segments, with additional shorter segments.
The trail segments are as follows: Morning Star Dr. (Morgan Hill) to Tully Community Ballfields (San Jose), Basking Ridge Ave. (San Jose) to Silicon Valley Blvd (San Jose), Kelley Park (San Jose) to Selma Olinder Park (San Jose), Berryessa Rd. (San Jose) to Chessington Dr. (San Jose), Old Oakland Rd. (San Jose) to Pear Orchard Dr. (San Jose), Montague Expressway (San Jose) to CA 237 (Milpitas), Alviso Milpitas Rd. (Milpitas) to N McCarthy Blvd. (Milpitas).
About the Route
Leaving from the southern endpoint of the trail at the intersection of Morning Star and Eagle View Drives, a couple hundred feet from the Coyote Creek Visitor Center at Anderson Lake County Park, where parking is available. This longest segment of completed trail—at approximately 18.7 miles—heads north and soon parallels its namesake waterway. There is a parallel foot/equestrian trail for the next half mile until Burnett Avenue, where riders will find a staging area and the beginning of an equestrian trail.
Watch out for hobbyists flying model airplanes as the trail passes the Santa Clara County Model Aircraft Skypark. At Ogier Ponds, trail users can spy a rich diversity of birdlife and perhaps even catch a few birds as the trail passes the Coyote Creek Golf Club. Following the club is the Tamienne Monument, a trailside plaque inscribed in binary code that marks the center of the Santa Clara Valley. Immediately following the monument, south of Metcalf Road, the equestrian trail comes to an end. The trail passes Metcalf Park, after which the trail becomes more urban as it enters the southern reaches of the city of San Jose, though it remains largely riparian. After Hellyer County Park, continue another 2.5 miles to Tully Road.
To reach the second, 2-mile trail segment, turn right onto Tully Road and then left onto Lucretia Avenue, with its well-marked bike lanes. In 0.8 miles, turn left onto Phelan Avenue and pick the trail up again in about 0.1 mile at Roberts Avenue. This portion of the trail, which opened in 2021, traverses Kelley Park, where it connects to the nearby Happy Hollow Park & Zoo during park hours by way of the arcing Bent Bridge. Cross Story Road to continue along the trail, passing under a historical railway trestle (closed to the public) and through Selma Olinder and William Street Parks to where this segment ends at East William Street.
The northernmost, 4.9-mile section technically leaves off from Montague Expressway but is not directly accessible until another 0.4 miles north, at Iris Chang Park. The trail continues along a crushed-stone pathway atop a levee above the southwestern bank of Coyote Creek next to a residential area. The trail soon changes back to asphalt and meets the Highway 237 Bikeway at the Southbay Freeway/CA 237. Merge right onto the trail and turn left to cross at McCarthy Boulevard, where the trail picks up again to the left, off Ranch Drive. The pathway continues north through an industrial area to North McCarthy Boulevard.
Connections
At the northern end of the trail, trail users can connect to the Highway 237 Bikeway and the San Francisco Bay Trail.
The Coyote Creek trail runs between Morning Star Dr. (Morgan Hill) and N McCarthy Blvd. (Milpitas).
Parking is available at:
The VTA bus system provides access to the trail at several places along the route.
See TrailLink Map for all parking options and detailed directions.
The Coyote Creek trail is great! It wanders thru fields in the valley with the hills in the near distance. The wild flowers are beautiful. This section of the trail is near Morgan Hill.
My husband and I ride this trail 2 or 3 times per week year round. We park at the visitor center in Morgan Hill and ride up to Hellyer Lake and back. It’s beautiful year round and full of courteous bikers and walkers. We have recumbent trikes and are in our late 60s. We feel safe on the entire round trip. We have spotted deer and wild turkeys and bunnies and turtles and right now (March 2025) the wild flowers are putting on a show! Highly recommend this beautiful trail!
I did this ride on Sunday afternoon, September 8, 2924, in 102 degrees. No joke. Must explain why it wasn’t very busy. I started at Anderson Lake County Park in Morgan Hill and went to Tully Road, just past the golf course south of downtown San Jose, and then turned around and returned to the park—40 miles, 1,190 feet elevation gain. Well maintained, all paved, relatively flat, and interesting trail with SO many squirrels and chipmunks dashing across the trail. Probably just playing with the bikers. Saw a flock of young turkeys on the trail. A hawk zipped close by me and tried to grab a rodent (missed). Lots of waterfowl in the ponds along the way. Vegetation became greener the further north I went from Morgan Hill, and more water in Coyote Creek. Saw coyote scat on the trail but no animals (too hot for them). There are several homeless campsites near the golf course, and even a rooster and cats and dogs. Overall, a great trail to see the arid landscape of the Santa Clara Valley (I live in the Pacific Northwest). Will plan to do it again in the springtime when it’s greener and not so hot, when I visit relatives again.
Trail is nice and well maintained but in the broad daylight, kind of shady with a considerable presence of homeless people by the Tully trailhead. Even carrying pepper spray, as a smaller young woman I felt kind of unsafe and was approached. The northern part of the trail (passes by a bunch of Amazon warehouses) does not have this issue but the stretch is much shorter. Would not come back here alone, or maybe at all. It’s a shame,because the trail itself is great, mostly flat, and scenic. Too Bad s
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