St Joseph's Hill Open Space Preserve

St. Joseph's Hill Open Space Preserve protects about 270 acres on top of the 1,250-foot hill that forms the backdrop to Los Gatos, starting about a mile from the town's downtown. Midpen and the Town of Los Gatos bought it together in 1982. Jesuits founded a novitiate and a winery on the hill in 1888, and observant hikers can still spot traces of abandoned vineyards on the upper slopes. The land's longer cast of characters includes Ohlone people, mission founders, and early settlers such as "Mountain Charley" McKiernan.

Steep trails climb through grassland, chaparral, and oak woodland to panoramic views of the Santa Clara Valley, Lexington Reservoir, and the El Sereno and Sierra Azul preserves. The 2.2-mile Jones Trail follows part of the old Jones Road stagecoach route to Lexington and Alma, towns now under the reservoir, and links the preserve with Novitiate Park and Lexington Reservoir County Park, as well as downtown via the Flume and Los Gatos Creek trails. To reach the summit bench overlooking the reservoir, take the Jones Trail to the Novitiate Trail and then the 1.5-mile Manzanita Trail, which passes greenish outcrops of serpentine rock.

The preserve is open for hiking and leashed dog walking, with bikes and horses on designated trails. You can enter from Novitiate Park on the north or from the Lexington Reservoir County Park lot on the south (33 spaces, county parking fee), where the trail starts across from the boat launch.