🏃🏻‍♀️🚴🏼 Regnart Creek Trail is opening, Earth Day Festival is coming, Safe Routes at Tino, a trail story, cool new bikes & scooters and more!

Walking & Biking News & Ideas

We hope you are staying healthy!

The wet weather continues, but we hope you are still getting out for healthy exercise and walking to nearby shops and destinations when the clouds part. We've got two great upcoming events to highlight: the Regnart Creek Trail opening in March, and Earth Day in April. Join WBC friends at both! Read on below for city news, a Safe Routes at Cupertino High recap, how hiking made one local resident healthier and happier, some super cool ebikes and scooters that you are going to want to own, and more.

The Regnart Creek Trail Opens March 18!

Long-awaited trail opens after six years of development

Join us at the Opening Event

Let's Celebrate the Opening of the Regnart Creek Trail

In 2016, the Regnart Creek trail was included in the city’s Bike Plan. In September 2017, the project was initiated with a feasibility plan. Six years after it was first imagined, the trail is finally opening to the public on March 18th, 2023.

We’ve been through a lot of ups and downs on this trail project and come close to losing it on several pivotal council votes over the years. Yet, every time, the community rose up, and thousands of residents sent letters, crowded into the Community Center, and expressed their support for the trail – children as young as kindergartners, seniors, parents, teens, walkers, cyclists, dog owners, and more. Many residents stayed until midnight and even 4:00am to speak to the council about the importance of this trail.

Once the trail is open, residents will be able to take a pleasant nature walk or bike ride to the library instead of circling for that elusive parking space. Students at Eaton, Collins, Lawson, and Cupertino High can use the trail to walk or bike to school more safely. And residents will have a new safe and fun way to reach Library field, Wilson Park, and Creekside Park – or simply go for a walk. Read more...

Opening Ceremony

The city will hold an opening ceremony at 10am on Saturday March 18th at Wilson Park, near the new bridge to the trail. We’d love to see a good turnout of residents there to celebrate the opening of the trail. Come cheer with us! Walk-Bike Cupertino board members will be there, handing out pastries. Please come say hello and grab a doughnut.

Let us know you'll be at the opening >

Casual Bike Ride & Walk after the Ceremony

Some Walk-Bike Cupertino members will be going on a casual bike ride on the trail to the library, and then back and onto Main Street (approx 3.5 mile loop). Another group will walk on the trail to the library and back (1 mile). Please come enjoy the trail with us!

Click on map for larger view

Cupertino's Earth Day Festival is coming

Join us April 22 to celebrate our environment and earth

The previous Earth Day Festivals have been fun for the whole family, and this one is expected to be better than ever. The location will be the same as last year, on Cupertino’s Library Field, where it was agreed the event space was much improved from previous years.

Walk-Bike Cupertino will have a booth at the Festival again this year. We’ll have free helmet fittings, information on local biking and walking information and a limited number of free bike helmets to give away. Stop by our booth to say hi!

New for this year will be a family walk on the newly opened Regnart Creek Trail, with the history of the trail. The Regnart Trail is a new off-street trail that has been in the works for about six years. It will provide a path from the Civic Center/Library to Wilson Park and Creekside Park.

This “Regnart Creek Trail Tour” replaces the annual bike ride for just this one year. Safe Routes to School is sponsoring the walk, and it is sure to be fun for the whole family. The trail walk will start at 2:30pm, and will meet at the Information Booth at Cupertino Library Field within the Festival. Learn more about the Tour here. Read more...

News Briefs

➤ City Workplan: This past month, the Cupertino City Staff have been sharing their 2022-23 City Workplan with the City Commissions. Unlike in previous years, Commissions are not being asked for new Workplan items (items are projects that require staff time). Instead, the staff is recommending that the new Workplan continue with the same items as last year, in order to fully complete them.

The Bicycle Pedestrian Commission reviewed the recommendations. Their feedback was to include the Carmen Bridge design in this year's CIP (instead of in 2025-26) and to add a study for bike/ped improvements to the McClellan Road bridge for next year instead of the planned simple replacement. The next step is at the City Council, where they will take all the input from residents and commissions to determine the Workplan for the year.

➤ Make your voice heard!

The Bicycle Pedestrian Commission meeting this month is on March 15, and the Safe Routes to School Working Group meeting is March 8.

➤ Memorial Park Specific Plan: Community engagement on the Memorial Park concepts completed on February 22. All three concepts shown included a clear passage through the park for cyclists, and excellent walking paths.Next, the consultants will create a schematic design based on the Community input. Find out more here.

Safe Routes at Cupertino High: A Student Representative's story

by Kevin Guo, Cupertino High Safe Routes Teen Representative

In mid-2021, I became one of the City of Cupertino’s Safe Routes to School Representatives for my high school. Early on, as I joined in the midst of the COVID-19 pandemic, there was not much for me to do except for attend meetings and transmit student feedback to the city (important stuff—don’t get me wrong—but definitely not the most interesting). Little did I know then, however, that it was just the beginning.

By the start of 2023, we had already hosted four school-wide events—with over a thousand attendees overall, and with another four events in the works.

All this came to be after the City of Cupertino offered each of the three schools in the district a $500 grant to put towards promoting active transportation (e.g., walking, biking, or scootering to school).

After holding a series of meetings to determine how to best utilize these funds, we ultimately determined that, given our limited budget, the best way for us to reach the student body was to hold “encouragement events”—in other words, giving students something in exchange for them using active transportation to get to school. Read more...

Cool new e-bikes and scooters

for every need

There’s plenty of scooters and e-bikes out there, but sometimes a standard one isn’t what you are looking for. If you have specific mobility needs, or just want the latest thing, check out these scooters and bikes!

Click on each of the pictures to learn more about the bike and to find links to the manufacturers.

More cool new e-bikes & scooters and more info >

Great balance

Carry everything

Super light

Bring a friend

Great turn signals

Minimalist design

Hiking makes my life healthier and better

by Anny Peng, Cupertino Hiking Group Member

In 2020, I moved from Shanghai, China to the Bay Area. After more than 15 years of working as an office clerk without regular exercises, I found myself in sub-optimal health, suffering from anemia and struggling to keep up with my daily life. But everything changed when I started hiking regularly with friends in Rancho San Antonio County Park.

I cIearly remember this day, January 24, 2022, when I joined Jian’s hiking group for the first time. I was a little nervous but also very excited to meet new friends and explore the beautiful trails in the park. Following the group’s plan to hike on the PG&E Trail (also known as Stephen E. Abbors Trail), I was determined to make it to the top.

However, my excitement quickly turned to disappointment. After only five minutes of hiking from the trailhead, I was already exhausted with a racing heart, dry throat, and difficulty breathing. I had to stop and catch my breath, feeling disappointed that I couldn’t keep up with the group. After asking the group to continue without me, I sat alone at the foot of the mountain and watched turkeys roam, while reflecting on my first hiking experience and assuring myself never to give up.

Soon, I went hiking or walking at different times with various groups, sometimes three times during the weekdays, even if I was always the last one trailing behind. During weekends, when my family had time, we also hiked together on hills.

One year has passed since I started to hike with friends regularly in Rancho San Antonio Park. Sometimes, we changed our hiking plan to try out other places such as Parker Ranch Trail at Fremont Older Preserve, Stevens Creek Trail at Blackberry Farm connecting to Linda Vista Park, and Villa Montalvo County Park.