Walking the Dish in the Palo Alto Foothills
It was a busy day, but I managed to fit it in short walk on "The Dish" near Stanford campus. The land actually belongs to Stanford, but it's open to the public and gets its name from the satellite receiving dish on top of the hill. Sometimes, it's also called "Cow Hill", because of the herd of cows often found grazing on the hillsides. It takes me from a little over an hour to an hour and a half to do the complete trail loop, starting and finishing at the gate near Stanford Ave. and Junipero Serra Boulevard. There are some great panoramic views of Palo Alto and San Francisco Bay. And the foothills are a great setting for the metal and straw sculpture exhibition by Tom Otterness.
I'm posting some pictures from my walk today so you can get an idea what it's like. There's always lots of ground squirrels, and usually a lot of hawks flying overhead. Occasionally, you can see an egret on a great blue heron. Once I saw a small coyote, and my husband claims that he once saw some mountain lion cubs.
