Three Creeks Trail

Worked in a pinch for a safe run but nothing to write much about. Limited site seeing if you will of Willow Glen.
It’s just another clean and free place to log a few quick miles! That’s all.

Calling this a trail is very, very generous.
1. Begins at «Kyva Park» — an area of overgrown brush, about 15 feet between the edge of a cul-​de-​sac and a fence. There are no paths through the brush. It’s just an area nobody’s bothered to maintain for the last decade.
2. It then runs north via black pavement about twice as wide as a sidewalk. On the left there’s a wood fence, on the right there are 2000 sq. foot homes w/​postage stamp lawns spaced about 6 feet from one another. This section is pretty pointless, since there’s already a sidewalk on the other side of the street. If nature is pavement, there’s plenty of nature here.
3. Eventually, you reach Minnesota Ave. There’s no crosswalk, so you either have to cross illegally and dangerously or go about a quarter mile out of the way to cross legally at Bird and Minnesota.
4. Allright, so now you’re back on the «trail». Prepare yourself for a long, claustrophobic corridor between two tall fences, fences meant to protect homeowners from the homeless people who frequent this section of the path. 7AM on a Saturday morning, I encounter: poop, a dead raccoon, and a homeless guy with a brown bag shambling towards me, occasionally stopping to stare at the fence.
This is when I spot a midpoint exit and get the hell out. I don’t want to deal with this guy.

I’m going to preface this review with a quick history lesson on this trail since it is relatively new and a lot of people may not be familiar with it.
History– This trail is basically the old UPR tracks that ran through the Central San José/​Willow Glen area for years; they originally wanted to call the trail «The Willow Glen Spur» after the railine, but settled on the «Three Creeks» moniker because the trail crosses over three existing trails (Guadalupe River, Coyote Creek, and Los Gatos Creek). The railroad line hasn’t ran since 2000 and the tracks were subsequently removed around 2004. After many years of debate, planning and land acquisition the City –in conjunction with other government entities (i.e., The County, SCVWD, Santa Clara County Open Space Preserve and the State of CA) — the trail finally opened on an «interim» basis sometime this year (2013). Currently only the western span of this trail is open which begins at end of Lonus St by the Los Gatos Creek Trail and ends at the cul-​de-​sac of Falcon Pl which is where the trail will cross the Guadalupe River. The eastern span is still in the design/​discussion phase and no date has been announced when that will be open.
Review– As I stated earlier in the history portion –You were paying attention weren’t you?- 3-​Creeks crosses over existing trails and this alignment causes it to be a very useful trail. Unfortunately, it only seems to be useful to the much vaunted Local Outdoor Enthusiasts (LOE). My co-​workers and I jokingly refer to it as the «Hobo Highway» because that’s the only people we’ve ever seen use it. It’s essentially a quick way to get from Downtown to the Ranch Town Recycling center on Lincoln Ave. Granted I’ve never tried it on a weekend but I know one thing about Silicon Valley residents and it’s that they love their trails; good trails are always busy even during the work week. Go to Los Alamitos Creek Trail or Los Gatos Creek Trail — #1 & #2, respectively, in my book — and you’ll always find them hustling and bustling with activity; no matter what the day or time. This trail is a veritable Ghost Town except for the LOE cruising up and down. I know this isn’t a final product –thus the «interim» status– but it really leaves something to be desired. A majority of the trail is compacted dirt and not paved A/​C like the better trails are. Dirt is OK, I suppose, but no one like kicking up dust and running on jagged rocks except for teenagers and people on BMX bikes; two things I am not. Plus there’s a lot of safety concerns that need addressing like a lack of crosswalks at all the major street crossings (e.g., Bird Ave, Willow St, Coe Ave, & Minnesota Ave) and, my personal favorite, the northwesterly section of the trail that ends at Lonus St leads you right into a dead end and a scary-​looking LOE encampment at the Los Gatos Creek Trailhead. Not good. Some poor old lady’s gonna decide to go for a walk one day, to see where it goes, and end up in a potentially bad situation.
I feel bad bashing an unfinished product, but it is technically open and I feel the need to inform and educate; I’m silly like that. I will gladly update my review once the whole thing is up and open for business but until such time I will stick with the LAC and the LGC for all my trail needs.