Foothills Nature Preserve

Have picnicked here a couple of times now and is a good spot to come use the public charcoal grills or bring your own gas stove. The first time was earlier in the season and was perfect, but the second time was in August and was plagued with yellow jackets 🐝 in the picnic area. Great hiking options (we did one that was about 5 hours). Check AllTrails for good options - this place is one of their highest rated in the Bay Area. Good wildlife spotting too.

Foothills Nature Preserve is a quiet and beautiful place near the city. There are nice trails through the green forests, with signs to help you find your way. It's great for a peaceful walk or a more challenging hike, and you can learn about plants and animals. If you love nature, this is a perfect spot to relax and enjoy the outdoors.

This is a very beautiful park located in Los Altos Hill with a lot of trails of varying lengths and difficulty levels that are partially shaded. The entrance fee is $6.
Make sure to set a good meeting place ahead of time, as the GPS/mobile signal is weak/spotty in the park. We selected the Orchard Glen Picnic Area and gave the following directions but a couple of people still had trouble finding the meeting place initially: After entering the park, stay on the left and drive along the lake for a couple of minutes. Your destination will be on the left. Park in the parking lot where there is a public toilet.
After the initial hiccups, we were able to truly immerse ourselves in nature and enjoy the hike, the surroundings, and each other's company.
Enjoy!

Loved this place, so beautiful and gorgeous. There is a lake, lots of open space, trails, sunset view, you can do fishing too. We spotted some dears too! It’s an absolute nature’s paradise.

One of the best parks in the area, easy access and great views!

Boronda lake is really beautiful with lots of wildlife around. The preserve overall is great for biking, hiking, paddle boarding, picnicking and just hanging out. You can rent row boats from the front entrance (as long as there is a park employee present) which is convenient and fun!

Great place with panoramic views of the bay!
The place is a must go! The doors were open untill 9 which means you can watch sunset there kinda:)
Very easy parking in good view spots, yoi get almost 360 views of the bay and the mountains! We could even see SF/Oakland that day!

Trails are super nice too, highly recommend the panorama trail, has a great mix of sun and shade to keep the Vitamin D flowing and not melt u on asummer day at the same time😁

Cleanness: meh bathrooms! Park was clean
Trails : 15 miles of trails with views, shade, sun, lake, pretty diverse!
Fee: 6$ per car as of this review
Camping: available
Amenities: bathrooms, campsite, picnic area, an educational center
People: super nice and friendly
Access: close to highways
Crowdedness: not really when we were there in the evening

We had a 2-hour hiking at the Foothills Nature Preserve on the weekend with friends, most of the trail was in the woods, with some vista views of the San Francisco Bay and the Silicon Valley/Santa Clara Valley. I clocked about 15K steps for 2 hours. There is no ticket required for each person, only a parking fee is required.

My favorite park for small hikes and a quiet time at the lake. The vista point is absolutely epic and the fact that you can see the sky scrapers of San Francisco on a clear day is mind blowing. Hands down my favorite park in the south Bay

It’s a beautiful place to enjoy hiking, kayaking, fishing with kids, flying kites. It has lots of open space for kids to run and play, beautiful trails and stunning views of the city from the top of the mountain. We go there at least once a month for last 8 years, and we still get excited to go there.

Great set of trails surrounding the lake at the front and valley behind.

Beautiful and very large park with plenty of wildlife (deer, coyotes, etc.). Very extensive network of trails with incredible views of the Bay from the upper ridge area. Nice nature center too, with some stuffed critters and live snakes!

My uncle and I decided to start hiking (mostly for health). This was our second hike. I'd never been to the preserve before (even though I used to live in PA), and he hadn't been in YEARS. So we drove there and learned no entry fee is required, but there is a place to leave a donation.

You enter near the lake. Trails do start around it, but my uncle and I didn't see any parking that wasn't labeled 10-min-only, so we drove up to the information center. There, we met two rangers who were SUPER nice and answered our questions and showed us to the maps.

From there, we set out on the Los Trancos trail, which was directly across a wide field from the center. The hike begins immediately, going across a charming wood bridge and then up, up, up a steep and windy trail. I have to admit it was a little freaky in parts because the ground was a little slippery (loose soil), and there were patches that competed with tree roots, making a wobbly beginning walk for newbie hikers (such as we).

However, we persevered and soon found the trail MUCH more bearable. And it was a LOVELY day for the hike. Perfect conditions. We met only a one hiker on the beginning portion, then met quite a few more toward the end. (I'm forgetting trail names and don't have my map handy. I'll try to remember to consult my map and put the correct names in later.)

Anyhow, it was a beautiful hike. Saw wild turkeys at the picnic tables and information center (SO cool!) and small lizards on the hike. We also HEARD plenty of birds on the hike, though I only saw a woodpecker.

I would absolutely recommend to anyone to try out this preserve. Great trails and splendid views.

BTW, I thought the pictures were loading from back to front, so I put them in starting at the end of the trail (the information center building) to the beginning of the trail (the trail marker WAY across the field from the information center). So if you want to "follow" the hike, you'll have to view the pics from the last to the first posted. Sorry 'bout that!

Foothills Nature Preserve, situated a few miles off Stanford University, Palo Alto is an exclusive, serene, tranquil greenery hillocks with a big pond inside having birds lawns where you can talk with Nature not in your language but thru the universal language of 'silence' and you can here the chill wind speaking with you in its own language which you can understand and acknowledge with your heart brimming with happiness dipped in peace and harmony. Come and enjoy this roaring silence and take home the green sweet cool memories and spread love and friendliness to the world.

Stunning! Great for a picnic or a hike. $6 entrance fee takes cash or card.
FYI, if you are not looking for a hike but want spectacular views, just follow the signs for the panoramic vista point.
You can drive right up there and watch the sunset, it’s not very busy and there’s parking at the top.

This is a great park which until recently (2020) was exclusively open to Palo Alto residents but has become open to public with a $6 fee per vehicle. Visitors can drive up to a vista points where they can see as far as San Francisco, Oakland, Mount Diablo, Stanford, and a few of the bridges among other landmarks. Wild turkeys and dears are found in abundance.

Pretty nice place for hiking or picnic. Went there twice.. on one side there is a vista point you can view the bay, the other side has a valley with big meadow which reminds me the Yosemite valley. There is also a lake you can see water birds and people fishing. $6 to enter but it is much less crowded than Rancho where we could not find a parking spot on Sunday.

There is something here for everyone. Do you want to go for a brisk walk? Take the loop around the lake. Or do you prefer a higher intensity hike? Take any of the longer trails around here. This place won't disappoint. There is something for everyone. I enjoy the beautiful lake view and glimpse of deer. I think it's free now. I haven't paid the past two times. Oh, make sure to catch the view of the bay on top of the hill.

Historic 1400 acre park, that had been very exclusive to Palo Alto residents for 50yrs since 1960s, is open to public. $6 entry fee; but you can buy annual pass for around $65 for non-residents. So many trails with so much greenery, day camp sites, 1 site that you can reserve for birthday parties. And a nice lake where u can take Oru foldable boats or kayaks and enjoy with almost no crowds. Finally, it has a Nature interactive center that has stuffed birds, animals on display and other animal pieces that kids can interact with. Restrooms are really well kept with running water. Overall, this park is a gem 💎 to be explored that is 15mins away from busy bay area.

Several shaded picknick areas with benches and public restrooms. Easy trails. No dogs allowed on weekends though.