Monte Bello Open Space Preserve

Monte Bello Open Space Preserve, Italian for "beautiful mountain," covers more than 3,400 acres of the upper Stevens Creek watershed between Monte Bello Ridge and Skyline Ridge, and is one of Midpen's richest preserves for wildlife and habitat variety. Rolling grasslands give way to dense creekside forest, and Black Mountain looks out over the Santa Clara Valley to the Mount Hamilton range; early settlers named the town of Mountain View for their view of it. In the late 1800s and early 1900s the ridge held several dairy and cattle ranches, and the Waterwheel Creek Trail follows an old ranch road past remnants of orchards and vineyards.

A self-guided three-mile nature loop starts at the main parking area: its first section is an easy-access path at about a 5 percent grade to a vista point and bench looking down Stevens Creek Canyon to Mount Umunhum and Loma Prieta, the epicenter of the 1989 earthquake, and the rest drops about 450 feet to the creek's headwaters and returns along the San Andreas Fault. The preserve also has Midpen's only campsite, the Black Mountain backpack camp, a 1.5-mile hike with a 500-foot climb from Page Mill Road; it needs a reservation and costs $2 per camper per night.

Dogs are not allowed; bikes and horses are allowed on designated trails, some closed in wet weather. The main lot (55 spaces) is on Page Mill Road, 7 miles west of I-280, opposite the Los Trancos lot; the 12-space Water Wheel Creek lot requires a permit.