Great hike through varied terrain including open spaces, forests and creeks.

Location: Hidden Villa — Rancho San Antonio County Park

» Official Trail Map: Pretty good map showing various trails.

» Redwoodhikes Trail Map: Great map showing many parks like Purisima Creek, Huddart, Wunderlich, El Corte De Madera, Foothills, Hidden Villa and Rancho San Antonio. Trail maps for individual parks are available online for free. However, the RedwoodHikes map shows the big picture and is helpful for planning hikes that go through multiple parks.

Route in brief: Black Mountain Trail (0.9 + 0.7 miles) → Hostel Trail (0.3 + 0.6 + 0.4 miles) → paved road (0.4 miles) → Long Bunny Loop (1.4 miles) → Creek Trail & Ewing Hill Trail (0.6 + 1.0 miles) → Black Mountain Trail (0.2 + 0.7 + 0.9 miles).

Notes: Most of the hike is in Hidden Villa (Website — Trail Map — Trail Descriptions — Yelp Reviews), which is adjacent to Rancho San Antonio. Creek Trail in Hidden Villa is really pleasant — it meanders next to Adobe Creek. The spot where it meets Bypass Trail and Toyon Trail is also where multiple creeks meet. This spot is gorgeous after recent rains. It has picnic tables for a lunch break.

Location: Close to intersection of Rhus Ridge Rd and Bassett Ln, Los Altos, CA 94022. . No street address. Parking area is visible in Google Maps if you zoom in sufficiently.

Directions:

From I-280, take the El Monte Road exit west. Left on Moody Road. Left on Rhus Ridge Road. Before reaching the intersection with Bassett Lane, there is a parking lot on the right.

In the past, when I found this lot full, I drove down Rhus Ridge, turned right on Moody Road, then turned right on Tepa Way to park in front of houses on Tepa Way. Rhus Ridge trail head is about half a mile away.

Google Maps:

Parking Fees: None (last visited: Jan 2012)

Capacity: Only about five to seven cars may be parked here.

Latitude: 37.352357     Longitude: -122.138035