Hiking Fremont Older Open Space Preserve

Fremont Open is adjacent to Stevens Creek County Park, jutting into Cupertino and Saratoga, CA.

The views are beautiful from throughout the preserve. The top skyline view is of north San Jose and the bay. It is from Maisie's Peak, the highest point in the preserve. The lower skyline view is the San Jose downtown and points south, also from Maisie's Peak.

The view to the left is of Hunter Point from Maisie's Peak. These are two good destinations for my two hour escape from the office exercise opportunities. This preserve has a nice set of trails perfect for this mid-50 office mole seeking to return to some kind of idea of my previous life as a human. There is just enough variation in elevation to break a good sweat and start pressing the muscles into shape again. There are a good set of options for a couple of hours of hiking without much backtracking.

I started at the Prospect Road parking area at the back end of the Saratoga Country Club. The parking is free and has space for about 15 cars. A portable toilet is available here. There are two immediate options to get into the preserve, a trail to the right of the signpost, and the paved road continuing past the parking area. A few yards up the road is the entrance to the creekside trail. This was a pretty trail for my return route. For the way up I took the road which passes by some interesting homes. I'm envious of their rural setting and nice views. Passing the last house, the road becomes dirt and the creekside trail meets the dirt road. A little way up the road, the Seven Springs trail takes off to the right. This was a wonderful choice. It tracks about 2/3 of the way off the Ranch Road valley floor, wandering among high trees and plenty of undergrowth. Lots of scrambling animals were all around me, mostly birds, squirrels and lizards. I did have a couple of deer lead the way for me later in the park.

This Seven Springs Trail traces just below the ridge line and then drops down to the Ranch Road. It leads down to private property or as a trail back up a steep haul to the Hayfield Trail (back in the direction I came from). But I continued on the Seven Springs trail to head over to about the northernmost point of the preserve. It circles back just below another ridge line. After about a mile, there is an interesting short side trail (to take at another time). It promises to be a pretty stand of trees and undergrowth in a little canyon. I continued up to Hunter's Point and admired the view for a minute.

From there I headed down Hayfield Trail, a wide firebreak road between fields of grasses with a smattering of oak trees here and there. Near the intersection that goes back down toward the parking area I could see the remnants of a walnut orchard, at least a few rows of mostly dead trees. Continuing on Hayfield Trail, I crossed over to the next ridge and set of trails in lush hills. At the Toyon Trail junction, I chose to take it and enjoyed the shade and relatively level trail for a few hundred yards. There is a tall and large Eucalyptus tree in the nook of the hill. The tree was rattling noisily in a wind. But strangely none of the other oaks or pines was experienced it. Deer scrambled up the hillside as I passed. The junction with Bayside Trail became the turning point to start heading back. The trail climbed a bit to join Coyote Ridge Trail, another wide dirt fire road trail. This is where a couple of deer walked the road in front of me for a hundred yards or so, with heads turning back now and then to see if I were still coming. I found my way to Maisie's Peak for the view and a couple of pictures. Then I headed down to Coyote Ridge Trail and the intersection with Hayfield Trail, Seven Springs Trail, and down to the Creekside Trail. This creekside trail was steep; I was glad I decided t take it down to the parking. It was nice a cool inside the shade cover from all the trees. Prospect Creek was dry but it is obvious that it runs quickly when there is rain and cuts deep in spots.

Total hike was about 6.9 miles. Gained about 500' starting at 580' and peaking at 1050', with four 200' gains and a couple of 200' drops, finishing with a 500' drop from Maisie's Peak to the Parking lot. The hike took about 2 hours.