In October of 2023 the Friends of Stevens Creek Trail (The Friends) and Cupertino completed the fourth installation of medallions to unify the Stevens Creek Trail (SCT) in Santa Clara County. The medallions can now be found on the 1.3 miles of trails in the City of Cupertino on trailhead placards and nearby posts. These medallions join others installed since 2022 in Monte Bello Open Space Preserve, Stevens Creek County Park, and Mountain View. The Friends provided the medallions, performed installations under the guidance of City staff, and are also responsible for medallion maintenance.
The installations in Cupertino complete Phase-I of the Friends Signage Initiative by installing route identification along all open sections of Stevens Creek Trail. As new sections of trail are built to complete and link the trail, these trail medallions will be included on the trail from the start. Future Phases of the Signage Initiative aim to expand the reach of the medallion to help users find and get to the trail as well as adding interpretive signs, points of interest, maps, and directional signage.
Photos showing the new trail medallion installed at various Cupertino locations.
From L-R:
By Stocklmeir Farm House;
At the Linda Vista Park entrance;
On the Captain Stephens Playground sign in Blackberry Farm.
In January 2023, the Friends of Stevens Creek Trail completed installation of Stevens Creek Trail medallions in Mountain View. The medallions establish a common identity for the Trail and unify it over the many different segments in multiple jurisdictions in the region. The Friends providied a presentation on the medallion porgram to the Parks and Recreation Commission in March 2022. The sign plan specified medallions on trailhead placards and at nearby posts to aid in wayfaring after entering the trail corridor. Medallions can now be seen from the Dale-Heatherstone trailhead all the way to the Tidal Marsh entrance at Shoreline. The Friends provided the medallions and then performed installations under the guidance of City Staff. The Friends are also responsible for medallion maintenance as needed in the future.
Photos showing the new trail medallion installed at various Mountain View locations.
From L-R:
At Central Ave entrance,
Under the Central Expressway Bridge south end,
On the Friends commemorative plaque near Sleeper Ave.
The Mountain View medallions join others already installed on the Trail in Midpeninsula Open Space Preserve and Stevens Creek County Park. Developed by the Friends of Stevens Creek Trail, the medallion design was endorsed by representatives from all Trail jurisdictions in 2021. Working with each agency, the Friends then defined sign plans to guide implementation. Medallion planning is now also underway in Cupertino and Sunnyvale. Eventually medallions will mark all 25 miles of Stevens Creek Trail, providing trail users a common symbol seen everywhere along the regional facility.
Santa Clara County Parks (SCCP) in collaboration with the Friends has now installed Stevens Creek Trail (SCT) medallions on the 3.5 miles of Stevens Creek/Tony Look Trail in Stevens Creek County Park. In November 2022, the Friends and SCCP placed medallions along the trail from the north trailhead at the park entrance to the current end of the trail at Canyon Road. These medallions join the set installed earlier this year in the Midpen Monte Bello Open Space Preserve. Medallions can now be seen along over 8 miles of the Stevens Creek Trail, continuing to help unify all the trail segments from Monte Bello to Shoreline At Mountain View. The full SCCP announcement of this new achievement can be viewed here, on their website .
Photos showing FoSCT Board Member, Ross Heitkamp, installing the first medallion at the Stevens Creek Tony Look Trailhead in Stevens Creek County Park and then the end result.
The Midpeninsula Regional Open Space District (Midpen) installed the first Stevens Creek Trail (SCT) medallions in June 2022 along about 4 miles of trail within the Monte Bello Open Space Preserve. A total of 17 medallions were installed at 9 different existing sign locations along the White Oak, Skid Road, and Stevens Creek Nature trails that are all now part of the regional Stevens Creek Trail. The full press release of this achievement can be viewed here in our press release area.
Photos of the new 3-inch trail medallion and accompanying directional arrow(s) both in the field and on an example post.
On October 27, 2021 the Midpeninsula Regional Open Space District (Midpen) Board of Directors approved the Stevens Creek Trail designation for three trails within Monte Bello Open Space Preserve. With this approval, Midpen was set to be the first agency to install the new Stevens Creek Trail (SCT) medallion as the official symbol to identify and unify the trail in Santa Clara County. Developed in collaboration with local public agencies, the medallion is designed to highlight the Trail as it follows the Creek from the Santa Cruz Mountains to the Bay. All SCT jurisdictions can add this distinct symbol to their own unique signage along existing or planned trail segments.
Our goal has always been to complete the Stevens Creek Trail from the mountains to the bay, following Stevens Creek as closely as possible. Over the past few years we have expanded our focus from the urban area in the cities of Mountain View, Sunnyvale, Los Altos and Cupertino to include the upper watershed managed by Santa Clara County Parks (SCCP) and the Midpeninsula Regional Open Space District (Midpen).
The October 27th, 2021 Midpen action has several parts. It officially dedicated the approximately 2.7 mile White Oak Trail at the top of the watershed as a primary trail route as part of the Stevens Creek Trail. It also dedicated the approximately 1 mile Stevens Creek Nature trail as an offical Spur Trail and the approximately 0.5 mile Skid Road Trail as an official Regional Connector Trail between SCT and the Bay Area Ridge Trail. These trails will be identified as part of the Stevens Creek Trail on future map publications and Midpen will be installing the new trail medallions and directional arrows at multiple points along these trails. With this dedication, the full extent of the trail is now clearly established, from the Mountains to the Bay, and we are hard at work to connect it all with further dedications and more trail being built.
You can also read about this in Midpen's November Newsletter in the Trail Tales section. You should be able to find these medallions out on parts of the Trail by mid-2022; we will continue to share project updates.
Virtually travel the Trail as of Summer 2021 to see examples of where these new signs will go!
The trail symbol is part of a larger FoSCT project to develop uniform signage for the Trail that promotes usage, interest and support. A working group of all the Trail jurisdictions, led by FoSCT, guides the effort. Developed in collaboration with working group members, the medallion is designed to highlight the Trail as it follows the Creek from the Santa Cruz Mountains to the Bay. All SCT jurisdictions can add this distinct symbol to their own unique signage along existing or planned trail segments.
Benefits of signage include:
The medallion logo serving to join together the current and future sections of the Stevens Creek Trail is derived from the Friends’ logo since it’s a recognizable and relevant symbol.
The Trail medallion has been optimized for outdoor use through the use of solid, darker coloring to protect against fading and enhance readability as well as maximizing the size of the logo while reducing white space for improved visibility from a range of distances.
The new medallion logo primarily represents the Trail and the Friends are excited to see it mark all available routes in future, now that the various jurisdictions have endorsed its use (August 2021).
The new trail logo and the Friends organization logo.
Rough timeline - Midpen expects to complete map updates and sign installation by Summer 2022.
You can use this form to report damages that need to be fixed - thank you for taking care of our Trail!
We are currently in what we call "Phase 1" of the signage project. This involves getting the current open sections of trail identified with the new trail medallion and providing wayfinding when needed at junctions.
Later phases of our Signage Project may include, for example, adding QR codes that link users to relevant Trail information sites, and creating larger info boards to be placed along the Trail at key locations, as already exist along some segments in Mountain View.
Interested in helping us build a better Trail? Head over to Volunteer or Donate!
If you have any questions or suggestions about the new signage, contact us.