A pleasant hike through varied terrain up to Black Mountain that offers panoramic valley views.

Location: Monte Bello Open Space Preserve

» Official Trail Map: Good quality map showing various trails.

» South Skyline Regional Map by MROSD: Awesome map showing many parks managed by MROSD (Mid-Peninsula Regional Open Space Destrict). Long, interesting routes going through multiple parks can be chalked out using this map.

» 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.

1. To Black Mountain (2.5 miles): Stevens Creek Nature Trail (0.3 miles) → Canyon Trail (0.3 miles) → Bella Vista Trail (0.8 miles) → Old Ranch Trail (0.7 miles) → left on Indian Creek Trail (0.2 miles) → right on Monte Bello Road (0.1 miles) to reach Black Mountain.
2. Explore Black Mountain (0.2 miles): There are some unmarked hiking trails (0.2 miles) leading to views of silicon valley in the north. Santa Cruz mountains are visible in the south.
3. To Parking Lot (2.5 miles): From Black Mountain, retrace your steps along the same trails that were followed to climb up.

Location: along Page Mill Road, about seven miles south of Hwy 280 . No street address. Parking area is visible in Google Maps if you zoom in sufficiently.

Directions: From Interstate 280, exit on Page Mill Road. Drive west on Page Mill about 7 miles, to the preserve entrance on the left side of the road (about 1 mile east of Skyline Boulevard).

Google Maps:

Parking Fees: None (last visited: September 2011)

Capacity: About 20 cars

Latitude: 37.325948     Longitude: -122.178552