 Larry Lane Trail is a hidden gem in the town of Portola Valley. Very secluded, low traffic and well marked trails...similar to Coal Mine Ridge and perfect for a dog hiking adventure! Starting out on Larry Lane Trail, we connected to Hayforks Trail which looped us back. This hike has a little bit of everything in one place: an open meadow, redwoods, benches throughout, even a couple of picnic tables. We will definitely be back here!  We saw three deer as soon as we hit the trail at Windy Hill. One was a buck with a nice sized rack - maybe six or eight points (hard to see from pic)... very cool! Once again, Leika was the first to spot the deer. :)
The trails were pretty quiet as we hiked, although we did come across a ranger patrolling the trail. Dash loves to sneak in some lizard hunting during the hike here. We still have much more to explore at Windy Hill...  Arastradero offers some nice hiking trails in a convenient, accessible location, just off of 280 in Palo Alto. We took Juan Bautista de Anza Trail, which runs along Arastradero Creek. Not far along, we saw two deer that were very close to the trail (unfortunately, no pic this time). We also saw a quail along the way as well as some other waterfowl at Arastradero Lake; although we mainly could hear them as the lake is secluded in vegetation. We turned right onto on Acorn Trail, then right on Meadowlark... nice views looking east, including the preserve's expansive rolling hills, as we looped back.  Stulsaft is located in Redwood City and is one of the few parks in the area with off-leash trails, although the park area itself is on-leash.
Nice park for a short hike... there is a small creek that runs through the park and several trail options. There are also picnic tables, barbecue pits, a playground and a nice little soccer field located here. The dogs enjoyed the hike, especially the brief off-leash time!  Water Dog Lake was even better the second time as we trekked a bit further around the park. There is a nice loop that takes you back to the lake where you are not far from the exit. We ran into some bikers along the way who zipped by us, but in a courteous way. We chatted with a lady walking her dog who informed us that you can hike all the way to San Carlos from here.  We discovered an alternate entrance to Windy Hill just across the street from Coal MIne Ridge. We hiked Meadow Trail to Spring Ridge Trail. We found a mix of forest and exposed open spaces here as well as several trail options. The Dashter had a great time hunting lizards and Leika was quite tired from our brief run up the hill.
We will be back here soon to explore further... |