Media Contact:

Jane Howard, Executive Director

Gilroy Welcome Center

(408) 842-6436

Outdoor Adventures

Whether it’s walking, cycling, backpacking, boating, birding, camping, horseback riding, golfing, fishing, running, or just taking the kids to a fun park playground, enjoying the great outdoors in Gilroy is a cinch.

  • At Coyote Lake-Harvey Bear Ranch, the looping Martin Murphy Trail at the east end of San Martin Avenue off U.S. 101 is perfect for a mostly level 2-mile walk or run at your own pace. If you’re up for a more serious trek, veer off and head for one of the many trails that hike over the hill to Coyote Lake, a playground for fisherman, campers, water skiers, and boaters.
  • There are hiking and horseback riding options galore at Mount Madonna County Park, just a few miles west from town up scenic Hecker Pass Highway and one of the most popular camping destinations in Santa Clara County. There’s a turnout at Sprig Lake where hikers and horseback riders can begin an upward climb into the vast 3,688-acre park, which features towering redwoods, three major campgrounds, and scenic vistas both east to the valley and west to the ocean.
  • The ever-popular Uvas Creek Levee Trail is an urban oasis that winds with the contours of the creek through Gilroy for about two miles. Joggers, roller blade skaters, bike riders, and walkers make it the most popular recreational spot in town. The levee trail is part of the Uvas Park Preserve, a 125-acre greenbelt operated by the city of Gilroy. It’s a great place for bird watching and wandering.
  • At Chitactac-Adams Heritage County Park, you can follow the self-guided interpretive walk and discover bedrock mortars and petroglyphs left by the Ohlone Indians. The natural beauty alongside Uvas Creek makes is abundantly clear why they made it their home.
  • At over 87,000acres, Henry Coe State Park is Northern California’s largest state park, an oasis for mountain bikers, backpackers, campers, hikers, fisherman and horseback riders.
  • America’s newest national park, Pinnacles National Park, is just an hour’s drive from Gilroy, with incredible massive monoliths, sheer-walled canyons, and talus caves.

Whatever outdoor experience you’re seeking, Gilroy’s got it!