Calero County Park
Trail Review:
I parked at the Rancho San Vicente Entrance and biked the Lisa Kilough Trail and the Cottle Trail.
Lisa Kilough Trail was a double track trail that was pretty fun to ride. Although there were parts that would have been dangerous if I fell off trail, I never really felt in danger, and was able to enjoy the trail. The trail was hard packed dirt, and was less sandy than I expected. This trail is one-way, although I did come across a runner who was running the opposite direction.
The Cottle Trail started off as a fire road, but turned into a gentler version of the Lisa Kilough Trail, being a double track trail made of sturdy dirt without much sand. This trail even had a similar amount of shade, which wasn’t much.
The views on both trails were amazing for being so close to South San Jose. Besides mansions that stuck out like a sore thumb, the views were mostly of trees and mountains.
What I Learned:
I started off worried that I would not make it back to my car by sunset (I didn’t). Although I was late by 15 minutes, there were still plenty of cars in the parking lot, and lots of people still biking.
Media Consumed:
All Systems Red—finished!
What Happened?
8.5 miles, 1 hr 5 mins, 1015 ft of ascent
I wanted to get out of the house and get some exercise in. So, I headed off to the Lisa Kilough Trail, which I had heard about a year or two ago. I was worried that I had started too late, and that the trail would be super sandy. But instead, I ended up seeing so many bikers on the trail that I didn’t feel bad about being late to my car (since state parks close at sunset) and the trail ended up being mostly hard dirt that was easy to ride. On the ride, I did get passed by like 4 or 5 different bikers, but there were tons of easy places for me to pull over to let them pass, so it wasn’t bad at all.
I did really enjoy the beauty of the landscape, especially given the sunset light. I hope to explore this park further, though probably in my hiking shoes, as there isn’t much more to ride on my bike.