Situated along a high ridgeline in the Santa Cruz Mountains, Monte Bello Open Space Preserve overlooks the entire Bay Area and has an awesome set of trails. Open to hikers as well as mountain bikers, expect to find wide open views while hiking along open ridgelines and through wooded valleys.
On a brilliant February day, I decided to hike the Monte Bello Preserve Loop. The full loop comes in at 6.5 miles with about 1400 feet of elevation gain. Not crazy difficult by any means, but it does work the legs on the long uphill climbs!
I did this hike in the afternoon, and in the cooler months that’s a great time to do it. I would have loved to stay for sunset, but I wasn’t prepared to hike back in the dark. In the future, I definitely would like to come back and watch the sunset from the top. The views look over the entire Bay Area from San Jose, to Oakland, to San Francisco, and look all the way to the Pacific.
This is definitely a great hike, and the views are some of the best I have seen in the Bay Area!
Miles/Elevation:
6.5 miles
1,350 feet vertical gain
About Monte Bello Open Space Preserve:
Monte Bello Open Space Preserve is a 3,436 acre area of ridgelines, wooded valleys, and open vistas. Meaning beautiful mountain in Italian, the preserve certainly lives up to its name! The views looking both east towards The Bay and west towards the Pacific are certainly amazing!
Located on former ranch land, the preserve is crossed by hiking and mountain bike trails as well as old service roads. Monte Bello also houses one of the only backpacking campsites in the area, Black Mountain Backpack Camp, which is great if you are looking for a close place to backpack!
Getting There:
Monte Bello Open Space Preserve is a pretty short drive from either San Jose or San Francisco. Located about 30 minutes from San Jose and 40 minutes from SFO, the main parking areas lie along Page Mill Road, one of the main routes into the Santa Cruz Mountains.
You will not find public transportation to take you to Monte Bello, so you will have to get there yourself. Either drive yourself, or take an Uber or Lyft.
If you are driving yourself, be aware that Page Mill Road is very narrow and very steep and winding. It is not a drive for the faint of heart, and you will share it with almost as many bicycles as cars! While the drive might be stressful for some, it’s definitely worth the effort.
Monte Bello Preserve Loop:
Always be sure to follow the 7 Leave No Trace Principles when in the outdoors!
The Ascent:
From the main parking lot, there are a couple of ways to start the hike, but I would recommend starting the hike along the trail that begins near the bathrooms at the parking lot.
The Monte Bello Preserve Loop requires quite a bit of navigation through different trails and turns at various intersections, but there are a number of different ways to complete it.
The Alltrails link shows the hike done in a counter clockwise direction, and if I was to do it again, that is how I would do it. However, that’s not how I actually completed the hike.
From the parking lot, I made my way to the Canyon Trail, only about .3 miles away. After turning right onto the wide Canyon Trail and hiking through some light forest, I eventually turned left onto the Bella Vista Trail.
The Bella Vista Trail immediately begins climbing, and you quickly leave the cover of the forest. On a warm summer afternoon, this would be an absolutely brutal section of hiking. It’s beautiful, but you climb upwards of 500 feet on a totally exposed section of hillside through knee high grass. Even in winter it was hot!
Don’t be rude; always following basic etiquette when on trail!
Eventually you will reach the top of the ridge, and you will turn right to continue along the ridge. You can either take the single track Old Ranch Trail (my recommendation), or you can walk along Monte Bello Road, an old gravel road. Continue until you eventually reach the backpacker campground, and continue straight uphill until you finally reach the summit of Black Mountain.
Hiking in the Santa Cruz Mountains? Be sure to check out Castle Rock State Park!
While it’s technically not tall enough to be considered a mountain, Black Mountain provides you 360 degree views of the entire Bay Area. To the west, you can see all the way across the Santa Cruz Mountains to the Pacific.
To the north you can see San Francisco and Mt Tamalpais on a clear day. To the east you can see all the way across San Francisco Bay to Oakland and Mt Diablo beyond, and to the south the views feature the Santa Clara valley and the peaks of Mt Hamilton and Mt Umunhum. All of the major cities of the Bay Area, and the highest peaks of the Bay Area!
The Descent:
From the summit of Black Mountain, you have a choice. If you return to the trailhead along the path that you came, your hike will come in at around 5 miles. If you retrace your steps and turn left downhill along the Indian Creek Trail, you will turn the hike into a loop and raise your mileage to around 6 miles or more.
I decided to make it a loop since I had the time, and headed down the Indian Creek Trail. The incline of the descent quickly caught me off guard! It was much steeper than I was expecting, and dropped very quickly into the valley that I had initially climbed out of.
Once at the bottom, the hike enters the forest. While there were no Redwoods to be seen, this forest is a higher and drier environment filled with sprawling oaks, it is a beautiful place to walk through!
Once at the bottom of the valley, the trail meanders through the forest slowly making its way back towards the trailhead. Unfortunately, the trail isn’t exactly flat! The descent actually takes you lower than the parking area and trailhead, so you’ll have the joy of finishing your hike with another climb!
There are a series of intersections and branching trails here, and to be honest I don’t know where they all go. I know I didn’t want to go towards Skyline Boulevard, so I didn’t follow signs in that direction. I would recommend having a map, even if it’s just on your phone. Either way, hike northwards back towards where you started the day!
Eventually, you will climb back out of the forest and emerge onto the wide Canyon Trail and from here it is just under half a mile back to the trailhead. There’s still a little climbing left to do, but you’re very close to the end!
Topdown Lifestyle Rating: 8/10
This is a very good hike with consistently good views, a cool end destination at the summit, and very nice trail to walk on throughout. This is definitely one of the better trails in the Bay Area, and you’ll get views looking out over most of the Bay! It’s not a 9 or 10, but it’s a very good hike.
Pros:
- Amazing views
- Not overly difficult
- Access to a campground
- Easily accessible
- Large parking area
Cons:
- Very exposed: will be hot in summer
- Mountain bikers also use the trails
- Areas near the parking area are busy
- Some trails are on gravel roads
Alternative Hikes:
Bear Creek Summit via Madrone Knoll
North Ridge Trail Purisima Creek Redwoods
When to Visit:
Monte Bello Preserve is a 4 season destination; however, each season will give you different conditions. Winter will provide the coolest temperatures, but will have the most rain, and therefore the most mud. Expect winter days to be anywhere from the 50s to the 70s. Spring is a bit warmer and a bit drier, and would be an awesome time to visit. Summer is the hottest month, and conditions could easily reach into the 80’s or even 90’s on extreme days. Fall will yield cooler temperatures as the season progresses, but has the biggest fire risk.
When choosing a time to visit, one unique thing to consider is the condition of the vegetation. The grass covered hills spend all of summer and fall looking burnt and brown as the summer and fall are the driest months. Winter and spring to me are the best months to visit Monte Bello Preserve as the hills turn a beautiful green as the rain comes. Beware of mud after heavy rain days, but for me, winter and spring are the best times to visit.
Links for Further Reading:
Monte Bello Preserve | Midpeninsula Regional Open Space District
Best trails in Monte Bello Open Space Preserve, California
Bay Area Hiker: Monte Bello Open Space Preserve
6 Comments