Arastradero Preserve
As our Airstream home on wheels has been grounded of late, Kelly and I have been focused on uncovering local attractions in and around our home base here in HMB. More specifically, those destinations which welcome not only us, but our pooch Lilly as well.
A few weeks ago we stumbled across a location with good potential and have since been there twice.
Situated an easy 30-minute drive from our place, sits Enid Pearson Arastradero Preserve. Located just outside the city of Palo Alto, the 622-acre preserve offers sweeping views of the south bay, and is also a great overlook to Stanford University’s impressive campus.
Like many of the grassland foothills in this area of the peninsula, Arastradero Preserve offers any visitor – human or canine – numerous trails to explore. Overall, the preserve is great option for us. Sure, I wish it was closer to where we live, but visiting the preserve in the morning creates an easy excuse to venture into Palo Alto afterwards and visit great restaurants for lunch, before returning home. A win-win…
And best of all, Lilly loves this place. I’m sure we’ll be back again soon.
Beautiful start to a hike
A few sections of tree overgrowth
sweeping views of the valley
A selfie gone bad
Banana slug on its way
Arastradero Lake
Big Tree & little tree
Wild flowers blooming
Orange
Lilly in the mix of purple and yellow
Heads down into something
Frolicking in the grass, under the warmth of beautiful sunny skies
Wandering With Purpose 
We’d love to go there. How long is the walk? Wondering if Curtis can handle it.
Leigh – Let’s definitely take a visit. These are easy trails with only slight elevation gains. Actually, depending on the weather, too much sun might be the biggest issue for the dogs. Let me know what time of day you guys think you might be arriving. See you soon! _db
I’m not sure what the arrival time is at Half Moon Bay – but our drive on Saturday the 19th won’t be a long one. If the walk is more than 2 miles we’ll have to leave C behind. Can’t wait to see you guys!