Stand at the Dell Avenue entrance in Campbell and check three different trail apps for the Los Gatos Creek Trail's total length. One will tell you it's 10.1 miles. Another says 11.9. A third splits the route into two separate reaches that don't connect on the ground and don't add up to either number. None of these apps made an error. Each one is describing a different trail wearing the same name, and the reason comes down to who actually owns the pavement under your feet.
The Los Gatos Creek Trail is managed by four separate agencies: the Town of Los Gatos, Santa Clara County Parks, the City of Campbell, and the City of San José. Each one measures, maintains, and posts information about only its own stretch. That's why a resident who's walked the whole thing for years can still get surprised by a mileage number, a closure, or a rule that only applies three-quarters of a mile from home.
Four Owners, Four Different Answers
The clearest illustration of the mismatch comes straight from the agencies themselves. Santa Clara County's page for Vasona Lake County Park describes the trail as beginning at Lexington Reservoir and running for nearly 9.5 miles through Los Gatos, Vasona Lake, Los Gatos Creek County Park, Campbell, and San José. The City of San José's own trail directory breaks its portion into two pieces instead of one: a 1.9-mile downtown reach from San Carlos Street to Lonus Street, and a separate 9.3-mile western reach from Meridian Avenue to Lexington Dam. Those two San José reaches aren't connected by trail. San José's page states plainly that getting between them requires riding on-street along the bike lanes on Willow Street. So even within a single city's jurisdiction, "the trail" isn't one continuous path.
Meanwhile, Campbell's own facility page describes its stretch as a paved walkway of about three miles, including a two-mile par course loop, and specifies that the city is responsible for maintenance only from the Bascom Avenue undercrossing to the boundary of Los Gatos Creek County Park. Past that boundary, it's the county's problem, and the county's numbers, closures, and rules take over.
If you've ever wondered why a neighbor swears the trail is "about 10 miles" while another insists it's closer to 12, this is why. They're both right about their own stretch. Neither is describing the same trail as the other.
A Walk Through Who Owns What
Starting from Campbell and heading south toward the foothills, the ownership changes hands more often than most people realize:
Campbell Park to the Los Gatos Creek County Park boundary. This is Campbell's paved section, roughly three miles including the par course loop. It's flat, shaded in stretches, and busiest in early morning hours.
Los Gatos Creek County Park. Once you cross into the county's jurisdiction, the landscape opens into a 110-acre park built around six numbered percolation ponds. Pond 1, the northernmost, is the designated fishing pond, stocked with black bass, catfish, bluegill, crappie, and carp. The remaining ponds are set aside for waterfowl viewing, and feeding the birds is prohibited. A separate set of casting ponds stays open daily from 8 a.m. to sunset for fly and plug practice, but no hooks and no dogs are allowed in that specific area. The off-leash dog park sits on artificial turf nearby, split into small-dog and large-dog sections, with its own shade structures and water fountains. Main vehicle access is off Dell Avenue in Campbell, with a parking fee collected year-round.
Right now, a section of trail in this stretch is affected by a real closure. Santa Clara County Parks' current closures list notes that a portion of the trail is closed from the fishing dock area to the intersection nearest the Circle Group Area because of a failed culvert, with a detour posted on-site. If your usual route runs through that section, expect to follow signage rather than your phone's suggested path.
Vasona Lake County Park. The trail continues into Vasona, a 152-acre park where the county rents pedal boats, canoes, kayaks, and stand-up paddleboards from early spring through early fall. Personal watercraft aren't allowed. Tucked behind the boat rentals is the Youth Science Institute and, further back, the Viola Anderson Native Plant Trail for anyone looking for a quieter detour.
Oak Meadow Park. Adjacent to Vasona and run by the Town of Los Gatos, this is where the W.E. "Bill" Mason Carousel and the Billy Jones Wildcat Railroad miniature train are based, with the train running from Oak Meadow through Vasona. Both operate 10:30 a.m. to 4:30 p.m. on summer weekends. Parking at the Oak Meadow lot is free most of the time, though the lot fills fast on summer weekends and there's a fee if an attendant is staffing the booth. One thing to plan around this fall: the bandstand area of Oak Meadow Park has been closed for improvements since July 6 and isn't expected to reopen until mid-October.
Into downtown Los Gatos. North of Main Street, the trail leaves the creek bank and follows the old rail bed, passing the Forbes Mill Museum, an 1854 flour mill that now exhibits Los Gatos memorabilia. There's a water fountain at the museum but no restrooms, so plan accordingly if you're walking the full stretch.
Where the Pavement Ends
South of downtown is where the trail changes character entirely. The Town of Los Gatos's own trail page describes this stretch as a wide dirt trail leading to Lexington Reservoir, roughly 1.8 miles from town, or continuing on to the St. Joseph's Hill Open Space Preserve. Past the pavement, the surface is rockier and the grade climbs gradually. At the southern end, near the Lenihan Dam at Lexington Reservoir, the trail connects into a small network of foothill trails: the Jones Trail, the Manzanita Trail, and the Flume Trail among them, all part of the St. Joseph's Hill preserve. Someone who started at Campbell Park on flat asphalt can end up on a moderate, root-and-rock hike within a few miles without ever leaving the corridor most people just call "the creek trail."
That range, from a stroller-friendly par course loop in Campbell to an unpaved climb into the Santa Cruz Mountain foothills, is exactly why no single mileage number captures the whole experience. The trail isn't one thing. It's four jurisdictions' worth of infrastructure stitched together at the seams, and each seam has its own rules, its own closures, and its own idea of where the trail actually starts.
The One Number Worth Saving
If there's a single practical takeaway from all of this, it's a phone number rather than a mile marker. Santa Clara County Parks maintains a trail hotline at (408) 355-2200, press 38, for the latest closure updates. Given that at least one section is currently detoured for the culvert repair, and given that closures on a multi-agency trail don't always show up on the same map or app, that number is more reliable than trusting any single source to have the full picture.
Whether the plan for the weekend is a flat loop around the Campbell par course, an afternoon watching herons at the percolation ponds, a paddleboat session at Vasona, or a longer push out to Lenihan Dam and back, knowing which agency owns the ground under your feet is the difference between a smooth walk and a detour you didn't see coming.
If you're weighing what it's actually like to live near this stretch of Los Gatos day to day, that's the kind of on-the-ground detail Brian Flack can walk you through, along with the rest of what makes a specific block or a specific street worth a closer look.
