Recently, Ryder and I have done some hiking a bit closer to home: the Pearson-Arastradero Preserve and Foothills Park, both of which are run by the city of Palo Alto and are within a few miles of our home.
Arastradero is mostly rolling grassland hills, with some views across the Bay.
Looking across the Bay (in the far, far distance)
A lone tree amidst the grass
Foothills Park (at least the part we hiked) was more varied – steeper hills, a stream bed that looks like it will be quite active when it starts to rain again, and a nice assortment of flora. Plus, it’s start to look a bit like fall, with some leaves turning red!
Odd fluffy seed-puff things
Pretty berries
A better view of the Bay from Foothills Park (much higher elevation in this park)
Trees in Foothills Park
In all, we found Foothills Park to be a much more interesting place, and we’re looking forward to going back in the winter when the stream is running again.
There are a few more photos of these two hikes here. I also posted some photos from our Winck family reunion, which involved more hiking and some pretty cool thunderstorms.