Many Rivers

Draft June 24, 2002

Many rivers to cross
But I can't seem to find my way over
Wandering I am lost
by Jimmy Cliff

The paved Stevens Creek Trail in Mountain View was originally named on March 25, 1776, by Spanish explorer Anza for an Italian Franciscan friar, Guiseppe Desa, whose native town of Copertino is located near the end of Italy’s boot heel. Guiseppe in English is Joseph, which as San Jose remains the name of the nearby pueblo. Elisha Stephens created a ranch upstream on Cupertino Creek, which then took his name, misspelled as “Stevens,” but not before a settlement used Cupertino as its name.

The trail is a full-sized version of chutes and ladders, with several darkened tunnels as the chutes, and several overpasses as the ladders. The trail covers five miles from the bay’s shoreline to an overpass across Freeway 85 into Sunnyvale.

Los Gatos (“the cats”) was named in 1839 for mountain lions who frequented the flowing creek for water. The paved Los Gatos Creek Trail also has its dark undercrossings from Meridian Avenue in San Jose to East Main Street in Los Gatos, a total of eight miles. The path has a couple bridge crossings over the creek, the most spectacular being just above a waterfall. Two wooden ramps, five miles apart, are bumpy and a tricky chain-link fence opening requires care. But the biggest challenge, like the Stevens Creek Trail, is avoiding pedestrians. At the eight mile mark in the town of Los Gatos, riders can choose to exit to East Main Street or turn left down a ramp over Freeway 17 to the old Forbes Mill. From there the trail continues unpaved for an often-stony two miles to the base of Lexington Dam, with a paved ramp to the road above.

A path leaving Gold Street in Alviso follows the Rio de Nuestra Senora de Guadalupe, also named by Anza, this time on March 30, 1776. Guadalupe actually means “River of the Wolf,” and is a town near Monterry, Mexico. Because of a holy sighting in town of the Virgin Mary, she became also known as “our lady” (nuestra senora) of Guadalupe, also the expedition’s principal saint. San Jose, the canonized husband of Mary, was named in November 1777, becoming the first town in Spanish California.

GUADALUPE RIVER TRAIL

The paved Guadalupe River trail is noteworthy for five underpasses, none of which have especially difficult uphills but the climbs do accumulate. The initial five-and-a-half mile trail to the Norman Y. Mineta San Jose International Airport is built on a berm, free of tree roots, and smooth, often with northerly afternoon headwinds. Sections of the river seems like a Louisiana bayou with sluggish water, lush greenery, and no development visible. Just to the left before the downhill under W. Trimble Road is Lupe the Mammoth, a sculpture honoring tusks and bones found nearby by Roger Castillo, walking his dog, in 2005.

Lupe the Mammoth

After the airport and past the Guadalupe River Park, the trail weaves through downtown San Jose on a four-and-a-half mile section to its terminal at West Virginia Street. The street is not named for the 35th state but rather for Virginia Reed, a Donner Party survivor and the namesake of West and East Virginia Streets.

Following West Virginia for a left on Delmas Ave leads to a low undercrossing of an old-time Southern Pacific railroad bridge. A right on Willow Street in a few blocks crosses Bird Ave with the Three Creeks Trail on the right. The trail heads northwest to Lonus Street and the eastern section of the Los Gatos Creek Trail, which ends at West San Carlos Street. A right on W. San Carlos and careful use of stoplights to Park Ave will reconnect with the Guadalupe River Trail.

The paved San Tomas Aquino Creek Trail (“Aquino Creek”) begins as an exit from the paved path out of Twin Creeks Sports Complex, parallel to Freeway 237. The creek was named for an Italian Dominican priest Tommaso d’Aquino, known in English as Thomas Aquinas.

The trail has severe root upheaval issues before a close-up bike-by of Levi’s Stadium, home of the 49ers, and then passes by the Great America amusement park, silent during Covid. After four miles of several undercrossings and one on-grade street crossing, the trail crosses Monroe Street and Aquino Creek underneath with Saratoga Creek entering from the west. Meanwhile Aquino Creek goes into a culvert as a bike path parallels alongside the San Tomas Expressway to Homestead Road.

The paved Coyote Creek Trail begins on McCarthy Boulevard in Milpitas, just south of Dixon Landing Road near the bay. Once snaking past bucolic fields, the trail now flanks commercial buildings and parking lots on the left while the creek remains in its natural state on the right. Two miles later, the path comes opposite the McCarthy Boulevard stoplight. To \stay with the trail, McCarthy Blvd. must be taken over 237 to an entrance on the right just past the far off-ramp. From there the Coyote Creek portion of the paved path quickly forks to the left. At last check, it was only paved as far as E. Tasman Drive, a measly mile-and-a half from McCarthy Blvd. The trail continues unpaved before terminating far from the paved southern segment that extends to Morgan Hill. For road bikers, a right turn on Tasman connects in two miles with the Guadalupe River trail.

Taking from the “Many Rivers to Cross” lyrics, mentally, you may want to lose yourself on these trails, wandering free from vehicles and stoplights, often close to fresh breezes off the bay. Fluttering water fowl and one mammoth provide visual relief that urban streets lack.