For todays hike, we headed into the hills near Stanford, to check out a small secluded little preserve hiking area.
Dont forget to bring a couple happy and hyper pups!
Turn off Page Mill, then as you're traveling along Arastradero you'll see the lot. It's a decent sized parking lot, unpaved, but flat enough for any normal car. It would be a great place to meetup with friends!
In addition to a nice sized lot, there are real (large) trash bins (key for throwing out poop bags), a very nice set of restrooms, a water fountain with a doggy one at the bottom, and even a nice little interactive area with wildlife information, area information, and even a cool 3D map so you can see where the trails are and the elevation they cover, which is super handy for planning your days' hike. It's really cool.
To get to the trails you walk past the information area and restrooms, down a trail, and across the street.
Luckily there's a crosswalk, but be careful because cars go pretty quick here!
After crossing the street, we headed into the main part of the park. We stuck to the wider trails, as we have been pretty worried about foxtails. Foxtails can be a HUGE problem for dogs, so always be careful with your four-legged friends!
Obviously, we went and took the path to the right - much wider!
It's a pretty dry season by this point in the bay area, especially in the hills around here, so there were lots of amber rolling hills as we got further into the park. The paths were gravel and well maintained, stayed wide if you chose the right ones, and the rolling hills were littered with trees and other forms of shade, which was very nice.
You will come to a little pond eventually, but there is no path directly to it, and it's not for swimming
Eventually we came to a bench, which we took a rest at before continuing...
All in all we thought this was an excellent park for a quick hike. We went out for about an hour, and it was a good area for that. If you're looking for a much longer hike, or something with a ton of elevation, I would not say this is the place for you. But if you're in the area for a quick easy walkabout, and it isnt too hot of a day, I think this place is great!
Pros of this park
Good parking area with trash bins, real bathrooms, and nice fountains
Not super busy, at least when we were there
On-leash only; this is a pro for us, because Kenga is leash reactive and it's nice to know random off-leash dogs wont wander over to us
Nice wide paths, great when it is foxtail and tick season!
Flat, well marked trails, with lots of interconnectivity. It's easy to make a loop and not get lost.
Not too much wildlife (Nali gets very distracted...)
Cons of this park
Not super big; if you're looking for a longer hike, or something with a lot of elevation change, this isnt the spot
Decent shade, but not enough if it's a really hot day
And really that's it! Not a ton of cons to this place, definately will be returning soon!