Bay Area Spring Wildflowers at Coyote Hills Regional Park

Spring is here and so are all the pretty wildflowers in the Bay Area! If you love flowers and beautiful scenery as much as I do, you’ll want to make a visit to Coyote Hills Regional Park in Fremont. Not only will you find lots of pretty wildflowers, but also beautiful Bay-side scenery and wildlife! I’ve seen poppies in some pretty spectacular settings, such as the endless poppy fields of Antelope Valley during a Superbloom, and the glorious poppy fields at Mt Diablo State Park in the East Bay, but I haven’t seen poppies with a water view like this anywhere else. It’s such a pretty combination! There’s also some great hikes here with lots of wildlife (we even saw some wild rabbits!).

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Beautiful Bay Area Wildflowers & Scenery

Aside from having tons of Spring wildflowers, what makes Coyote Hills special is its very pretty setting right next to the Bay waters. There are some interesting white salt flats close by, along with ducks swimming by in the marsh waters of the wildlife refuge next to the park. Truly an idyllic and pretty setting!

When we visited the park on a beautiful Spring day in April, we saw the prettiest wildflowers, including numerous poppy patches along the hillsides and lots of purple and white wildflowers which I love! (I think they are verbena but I haven’t confirmed yet.) I didn’t see large fields of poppies like at Mt Diablo State Park, but the beautiful views and the many other pretty wildflowers more than make up for it.

We hiked along the 3.5-mile Bay View Trail, a paved loop trail which starts next to the parking lot and winds around the western edge of the park right next to the Bay waters. There are numerous other trails that bring you higher into the hills, but I loved seeing the wildflowers along this trail with the blue waters and white salt flats in the background.

All the photos in this post are from the Bay View Trail. Photos captured with my Nikon D750 (newer model D780 here), using my favorite 50mm lens. More on my photography gear here!

What Type of Wildflowers are at Coyote Hills Regional Park?

During our hike, the most striking wildflowers were the orange California poppies along the hillsides next to the trail, the numerous patches of purple and white verbena (at least I think they are verbena?!), purple lupines and yellow mustard. Other wildflowers spotted here include orange monkey flowers, yellow star thistles, brass buttons and purple geraniums. The area in front of the park is also filled with yellow mustard wildflowers in March.

The East Bay Regional Park District has a photographic guide to the park’s wildflowers.

By the way, if you love flowers as much as I do, you might be interested in my post on the Most Beautiful Flower Books – it’s one of my most popular posts!

🌸 My favorite flower books 🌸

About Coyote Hills Regional Park

Coyote Hills Regional Park is part of the East Bay Regional Park District. It’s located along the eastern shore of San Francisco Bay and is comprised of 1,266 acres of marshland and rolling hills, with plenty of trails with beautiful bay views. Directly to the west of the park is the Don Edwards San Francisco Bay National Wildlife Refuge. It takes about 45 minutes to get there by car from San Francisco, assuming minimal traffic.

The main entrance on Patterson Ranch Road leads to the entry kiosk, where a parking fee of $5 per vehicle is collected (although it was free when we visited on a weekday). The main parking lot at the Quarry Staging Area has 114 parking spots, which fill quickly on weekends. There are also restrooms and picnic areas here.

A short drive past the main parking lot is the Visitor’s Center, which is only open on Saturdays from 1-4 pm. There are 34 parking spots here.

Please visit the park website for more information regarding hours, safety protocols and trail maps. 

Travel Tips

• Visit during the weekday if possible. If the parking lot fills up, you’ll be out of luck since there are no nearby street parking. My hubby and his friends tried visiting on a weekend morning in April and had to turn back since the lots were already full. There were cars parked along the street closest to the entrance on Commerce Drive; however, our friend who lives close by noted that he’s seen parked cars being ticketed there frequently. It’s also quite a walk to the parking lot and trails from outside the park.
  
• It’s pollen season! If you’re prone to seasonal allergies, make sure to be prepared.
  
• Bring a hat and lots of water and snacks if you plan to spend a couple hours here. The trails have beautiful views but little to no shade. I was very glad to have brought my hat!

Outfit Details

Wearing my favorite stretchy Uniqlo legging pants as hiking pants! | Off-white top from Reformation | Keen Terradora hiking boots | Lack of Color wool hat, similar here.

California Spring Travel

If you’re looking for more California Spring travel ideas, check out my posts on the Most Beautiful Spots in Big Sur, the Purple Ice Plants of the Monterey Peninsula, the spectacular Flower Fields of Carlsbad Ranch, and the Poppy Fields of Mt Diablo State Park! All of my California travel posts are available here!

My current favorites from amazon! 💛🌸🧡

My camera & video gear

tip: You can get a free trial or extend your current subscription of an Adobe Creative Cloud Photography Plan with the purchase of a Seagate external hard drive!

My new camera for pics and 4k videos!

Most of the photos on this blog through 2022 were taken with a Nikon D750 (latest model D780 shown above).

This fantastic Nikon 50mm lens is my go-to lens for just about everything!

My favorite lens ever. This Nikon 105mm lens is amazing for portrait & flower photography. An 85mm lens would be great also.

We recently bought a super-compact carbon fiber tripod for travel!

I’ve been taking more videos lately with my iPhone & this lightweight gimbal makes the videos so much smoother!

Thank You!

Thank you for stopping by my blog! I hope you found this post useful, and I hope you have a wonderful day!

Pansy ❤️

Hi, I’m Pansy!

Hello, thanks for stopping by! I’m Pansy, California-based travel blogger, photographer and lover of ALL the pretty flowers! You may notice that most of my travels, photography & DIY center around flowers and nature! 🌸🌼🌿

I recently started a YouTube channel where I feature walks through beautiful gardens, parks & flower fields! Give me a follow there if you’re interested! 😊

If you’d like to contact me, please send me an email or DM me on Instagram!

Pansy ❤️