Big Canyon Park

Brilliant trail — perfect for a short hike with good resistance. Just enough hill to get the heart going. I walk here with my kids (they were 7 and 9 when we first found this trail) and yes it is steep and the paths are narrow but nothing too dangerous for the kids. They love it! Just remember to put hiking shoes/​sturdy sneakers on. Wear long trousers and long sleeves because there is a lot of poison oak about — but I guess most hikers know to do that already! The only downside for me is that many dog walkers let their dogs off leash which I don’t think is permitted in this parkland and loose dogs have been observed causing problems (chasing deer/​rabbits, mess not cleared up by owner and dogs jumping at other walkers). But this doesn’t stop me walking in this great location.

Eaton Park’s «uglier cousin.»
Big Canyon Park is a suburban hiking park, right across the street from Eaton Park in San Carlos. (
. Like Eaton, it provides a quick escape from civilization, being surrounded by the suburbia that is upper San Carlos. Unlike Eaton, the escape is tenuous. There are almost always houses in view, and most trails are short and exposed.
Poison oak is rampant here in the spring, summer and fall, so staying on the trail is a must. Yet trails can also be quite narrow in spots, and there are some abrupt grade changes, as if the builders changed their minds once or twice during construction. («Hey, let’s go steeply uphill for no reason… OK. and now steeply down!»)
It is possible to create a 1.5 mile loop hike here, and then extend it with a 0.5 mile there-​and-​back section (for a total of 2.5 miles), but it’s not a favorite destination of mine, especially with so many other great places nearby. If I had a dog, though, I’d be at Big Canyon more often. (Dogs on a leash are allowed).
OK, it’s a bit unfair of me to call the entire park «ugly» in my opening line. There are a few pretty spots here. My absolute favorite is a beautiful, coast live oak just above the main entrance trail. (
. But it’s an anomaly in an otherwise drab hiking spot.
Dan’s Hiking Spot list:
– Parking: Street-​side only
– Bathrooms: No
– Potable water: No
– Maps provided: Signpost only, and hard to read
– Highlights: some partial views of San Carlos

Nice place to burn some calories! A little narrow but enjoyable.

I can see why this park can be precarious for runners. The trail is almost entirely comprised of narrow, winding paths along steep hillsides. If you have a dog that pulls, you want to make sure you’re strong enough to hold your ground or have them under good voice control. If your dog isn’t friendly you may want to go on a weekday when it’s less crowded. When people pass by there isn’t very much room to move aside, so you’ll end up being close quarters with strangers and other dogs.
Overall, it’s a nice walk. Takes about 45 minutes even with stopping and starting (the place is littered with benches, which are convenient for water breaks) so I assume it’s a half hour or less walk otherwise.
If that’s not enough for you, swing over to Eaton Park across the street.

Be Careful for the terrible Poison Oak the lurks along the trail… My dog ran through it and got it all over me, needless to say I had a terrible couple of weeks… One of my favorite Parks around, but I could do without the Rash!

I live nearby and you don’t really want to go to this park unless you want to go on a deer safari. At any given time, I’m certain that there are more deer in this small park than people. If you’re looking for a nice hike, I’d recommend walking directly across the street and follow the trail up the stairs. This trail levels off after the stairs and is a lot more interesting with much better views than what you’ll find at Big Canyon Park — a real neighborhood gem.

I want to first compliment who ever planned to have a trail here and the one who actually did the work. It’s a narrow trail that looks like a small bulldozer plow through and added 4ft wide bridges and steps. I don’t know what the final idea was but it must have been lot’s of work. It’s basically a narrow trail around the canyon which has prickly plants all over the sides of the trails. Not pretty but hats off to the idea. I’m thinking if you clear all the shrubs down to the valley it could look pretty. But, that’s a lot of work I’m sure.
I would suggest trail running shoes and not regular running shoes. If you fall, it’s on rough terrain in some areas and most areas are surrounded by very aggressive prickly shrubs.
I started in the area of Big Canyon Park that’s across Crestview Park. You have a choice of going up or down the trail, I chose up. It winds aggressively up very narrow, one man width wide trails and after about a mile you have another choice of up or down trail, again I chose up. And then there is a sign that says End of Trail. It looks like it goes on further, but at this time that’s all there is unless they continue it one day so the only choice is to turn around and head back.
Like the other reviews, this trail is just for aggressive runners, I suggest not for kids and not for pets. It’s too narrow in most places if you have two people going in opposite directions one will have to give way to the other.
Next time I’ll try the lower path and see where that leads me down the valley, but I’m sure it’s all the same and I’ll update if I see more.
This and the Eaton Trail should not be run too close to sunset, too dangerous and also very aggressive mosquito’s.

As a standalone «park», it’s not much, but as a trail to run or hike, it’s a fantastic workout on the glutes, with at least ½ mile of lung-​burning uphills
I like to run this as an add-​on after running the Eaton Trail, which dumps out right across the street on Brittan. That trail, which I haven’t found on Unilocal yet, is also a nice network of great up and down trails, with some fantastic vistas of the SF Bay down to San Jose.
If you go up the right side of Big Canyon, maybe ¼ mile of the way up, there’s a trail extension on your right, and if you follow that, will be treated with amazing views, and a nice narrow path to run. The only bad part is that after about ½ mile, there’s a «Trail Ends» sign, and you have to turn around and go back.

I hate to give a bad review of a park because parks are inherently wonderful things, but there are better parks in the area… this one is in need of a little TLC. It does not appear to be used very much, and as a result, the trails are pretty overgrown with tall grass and weeds. The trail was also narrow and not runner friendly. The park is 16 acres, and the trail is a little over a mile long (one way). I think it would be a nice place to walk your dog if you lived in the area.