by Mary Pope-Handy | Mar 14, 2023 | Belgatos Park, Heritage Grove, Recreation, Trails
Have you explored all of our nearby parks? The Belgatos Park Trails connect directly to two open space preserves with a large network of paths, to hike, bike, or venture on horseback: the The Heinz Open Space Preserve and Santa Rosa Open Space Preserve.
Or if you’d like to learn more before you explore, check out the Town’s park guide, or print a copy and bring it with. We have additional details on Belgatos Park here on the Belwood Blog as well as park-related articles and news for neighborhood residents which can be found under the Belgatos Park tag and Trails tag.
Interactive Map of Trails
My husband, Jim Handy, drew out the local trails on Google Maps and this provides a much better sense of what’s where. Enjoy!
View Blossom Hill Trails in a larger map
by Mary Pope-Handy | Nov 18, 2019 | Belgatos, Belgatos Park, Belwood, Cabaña, Photos & Videos, Surmont, Trails
Welcome to our site regarding a beautiful neighborhood in east Los Gatos, including Belwood of Los Gatos, Belgatos, Surmont, and adjacent tracts & subdivisions. Here I’ll provide ongoing real estate information, some events that are happening in the community, photos of Belgatos Park and other nearby areas, and items of concern to residents in this pretty corner of Los Gatos.
Please note that this is NOT the Belwood Homeowner’s Association website. For the HOA site, and phone numbers for the Cabaña or HOA, for lifeguard jobs, please visit BelwoodHomes.org
Enjoy this slideshow of photos of our scenic neighborhood.
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Harwood Farms horse boarding
by Mary Pope-Handy | Aug 30, 2017 | Belgatos, Belgatos Park, Belwood, Surmont, Trails
The San Jose Water District announced that 89 trees will be removed near the water storage tanks in Belgatos Park. The work begins September 5th and should end by the 22nd, and work will run between 8am and 5pm.
Due to the heavy rains last year, some infrastructure needs repairs. With the water district removing 89 trees, there will be the ability to upgrade the water main. The notice can be viewed below for those who missed it.
San Jose Water District letter regarding tree removal and work at the reservoir in Belgatos Park
by Mary Pope-Handy | Oct 19, 2011 | Belgatos Park, Belwood, Photos & Videos, Trails
Yesterday Jim and I attended the Los Gatos Creekside Sports Park kickoff celebration (will nearly touch Vasona Lake County Park and is just off of University Avenue) and as we often do, drove east on Blossom Hill Road to get home. Straight ahead of us, hanging over south San Jose and Santa Teresa and extending north, was a huge and darkened cloud. Smoke? Smog? Rainclouds?
We drove up Harwood Road and to the top of Harwood Court to get a better view of it. It did look like it started in south San Jose or further south than that. Some hikers were trekking up the challenging hill and we asked them if they knew if it were a fire. “Can’t smell it,” one replied “so it must be smog – just awful!” Smog, though, tends to dissipate from side to side and not hang together so tightly as what we saw.
View from Harwood Court in Los Gatos of the smokey skies created by the Cal Fire "controlled burn" in south county
We flipped on KLIV, the San Jose based AM radio station (channel 1590) that best covers local news & traffic, and learned right away that it was a controlled burn. This morning I googled the fire and learned that it’s a 2 day burn at part of Henry Coe State Park, overseen by Cal Fire, with more scheduled for today.
The Morgan Hill Times reports that “The prescribed burn is part of the ‘Western Zone Complex’ controlled fire in the remote area of the park. The fire will take place on the Middle Ridge Trail off Hobbs Road, about eight miles northeast of Morgan Hill, according to Calfire fire prevention specialist Chris Morgan. “
by Mary Pope-Handy | Jul 12, 2011 | Belgatos Park, Trails
Summer time and the rattlesnakes are out, so be cautious when walking or hiking – especially in Belgatos Park or in the nearby east Los Gatos trails of the Heintz Open Space Preserve or Santa Rosa Open Space Preserve. Someone reported to the Belwood Facebook group that there have been 3 sightings in the last 2 days alone.
These rattlers sometimes crawl out from under the brush to sun themselves in an open space. Unsuspecting joggers can land on one and catch its furry in return if not looking.
Stick to the paths! You’ll be less likely to run into not only rattlesnakes, but ticks, poison oak and other unpleasant reminders of your day communing with nature.
Want to learn more about rattlesnakes? The San Diego Zoo’s website has lots of cool facts and photos.
by Mary Pope-Handy | Jun 24, 2011 | Belgatos Park, Belwood, Photos & Videos, Real Estate, Trails
A couple of days ago I was visiting a beautiful home for sale on Harwood Court during the Realtor tour or “broker’s open house”. We have hiked the trail from Belgatos Park up to the Santa Rosa Open Space Preserve, which goes just past this house, and I’d always been curious about it. Also, we live not too far below that area in Belwood, so it’s fun to see the neighborhood view from way up top. I took a photograph off one of the back balconies (the view was stunning) and thought my Belwood & Belgatos neighbors might enjoy seeing it too.
Can you make out any landmarks?
Near the top, just left of center, you can see a whitish splotch – those are the buildings in the Wallgreen’s Shopping Center. A little to the right of them and a little closer to where the pic was taken you might be able to distinguish some tall vertical green lines. Those are some Italian Cypress trees growing across the back and side yards of a home on Jamie Court, just off Harwood Road.
And here’s a view over the top of Belwood, downtown San Jose, the east foothills and into the rest of Silicon Valley. Unfortunately it was a little hazy/smoggy that day – but lovely nonetheless!
Of course, you don’t have to see an open house to enjoy a similar view. Go hiking in Belgatos Park or through the trails at the Heintz Open Space Preserve (or cheat and just drive to the top of Harwood Road or Harwood Court!) and take in the beautiful Santa Clara Valley.
by Mary Pope-Handy | Sep 3, 2007 | Belgatos Park, Belwood, Surmont, Trails
Today is Labor Day – it’s many things, but it’s also the end of summer. But it’s not the end of the dry season. In fact, the rains won’t really arrive until November. So between now and then, the fire danger will continue to rise in our hilly, rural areas.
A few days ago, the coastal hills near Stevens Creek Reservoir and the Montebello Ridge over Cupertino (just a little north of Los Gatos) burned fiercely. It took a couple of days and a lot of firefighters to extinguish it.
Now the hills by Mount Hamilton on the east side are ablaze too. We just took a quick drive to the top of Harwood Road to see the enormous plume of smoke rising over the hills by south San Jose.
What does this have to do with Belwood, Belgatos & Surmont? Earlier today, Bella and I took a walk down Bacigalupi Drive and into Belgatos Park, entering on the side, as we do most days. The grassy area there is parched. The path is covered in wood chips and tanbark. And to my horror, I saw two cigarette butts among the wood chips.
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Smoking is not illegal in the park, as my husband (the volunteer parks commissioner) reminded me today. But it is very unwise to do it in the tinderbox areas which comprise most of the park.
Should we put a polite request at the entrance to the park that cigarettes are a great danger to the park, to Belwood and to Los Gatos as a whole, and that putting them out in the grassy areas is inadvisable???
To me it’s obvious: fire season and burning objects over dry grass don’t mix. But apparently it’s not obvious to everyone.
Fire season’s not over yet. Let’s hope that common sense prevails and we won’t have any more senseless fires.
Have you explored all of our nearby parks? The Belgatos Park Trails connect directly to two open space preserves with a large network of paths, to hike, bike, or venture on horseback: the The Heinz Open Space Preserve and Santa Rosa Open Space Preserve.
