A wide South Bay panorama from the slopes of Ed Levin — a small reservoir, black cattle in the foreground, the hazy outline of the South Bay beyond

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Ed Levin in March: The Year's Greenest Hills

California·March 29, 2025·3 min read

Two weeks before the mustard blooms, Ed R. Levin's hills are a perfect uniform green. A small reservoir, a herd of black cattle, and a view that reaches from Milpitas all the way down the South Bay.

Ed R. Levin County Park sits on the east side of Milpitas, in the foothills of the Diablo Range. It's one of those parks that looks the same as a hundred others in late summer — golden grass, scattered oaks — and then turns into something completely different for about six weeks in spring.

We came at what might be the perfect window. Two weeks before the mustard would explode into yellow, the entire hillside was a uniform, undisturbed green. The kind of green that doesn't quite look real until you stand in front of it.

A panoramic view from Ed Levin: a small reservoir, black cattle grazing, and the hazy South Bay valley below — The view from the upper section, with the small reservoir in the middle and the South Bay valley spread out beyond.

The park keeps cattle on a grazing lease — the same arrangement most Bay Area open space preserves use to manage fire risk. The black cows mostly ignore people. A few of them looked up when we walked past, then went back to eating.

A grass-covered hillside with scattered yellow flowers and a few trees, hikers visible on a small trail in the foreground — The trail through the lower section. The yellow flowers are early — the mustard wouldn't fully come in for another two weeks.

Steep green hillside with a path running diagonally up, a wire fence in the foreground — The push up the ridge. From the top you can see Milpitas, the South Bay, and on clear days the salt ponds in Alviso.

Ed Levin is also one of the best-known paragliding and hang-gliding spots in the Bay Area. We didn't catch any in the air this trip, but you can usually count on a few canopies somewhere in the sky on a windy spring afternoon.

Tips

Two main entrances: Spring Valley (north) and Sandy Wool (south). The Spring Valley side has the pond, the cattle, and more open meadow. Sandy Wool is closer to the hang-gliding launch.
Get there early on weekends. The lots fill up by 10am in spring.
Best visit window: late March through April. Before mid-March the green isn't in yet; by May the grass is already drying out.
Wear hiking boots, not sneakers. The trails are dirt and get muddy through April.

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