Arastradero


Not one of the larger parks on the Peninsula but one of the most pleasant, Arastradero Preserve is also one of the most convenient to get to. Right off 280 at Page Mill Road. Several trails criss-cross this open space. The park is small enough that by doing the main loop consisting of the Corte Madera, Acorn and Perimeter Trails hikers can see almost all the park. These three trails circle the outside of the park while the Meadowlark and a portion of the Acorn Trail forms a cross in the center of the park. Maps are available where the trail starts at the parking lot.


Looking east from the top of the ridge along Long Ridge Road
Looking back towards the parking lot before the access trail crosses Arastradero Road.

Parking is actually on the other side of Arastradero Road from the Preserve. The trail heads down a little ways and then crosses the road where you go through this gate. There are no really steep climbs here. Gate across the road from the parking lot.

This day I took a left where the person is standing soon after going through the gate and headed up the hill, of course after slipping through the mud. The views from up this hill are rewarding: oak trees and rolling hills. I love the oaks here, especially in the winter-- they look so naked and brooding.

Looking up the hill, showing trail to tghe left Oaks from the top of the first hill.
View looking toward San Francisco. Oak tree near the lake.

This trail, which is not on the map, takes you around the back of Arastradero Lake, where fishing is allowed. At certain times of the year there is lots of waterfowl here. In fact at the parking lot there is a description of most of the birds you can see in the park, including many birds of prey. Arastradero Lake

This side track brings me back to the Corte Madera trail, where I take a left to continue to the Acorn trail, past lots of oaks, barren of leaves this time of year.

On this day in February it had just rained and the mud was thick on my boots, so I took the Acorn Trail to the Meadowlark Trail for some higher and drier ground. This is looking back down the somewhat drier trail. Looking back down the trail and the mud

This also brought me closer to my favorite spot in the park: a bench at the top of a hill in the center of the park. This bench is off the trail under an oak tree and is at the end of the service road that extends from "John Marthens Lane". It affords great views of the Valley and Bay Area.
Oak tree with bench underneath. View towards San Francisco and Searsville Lake.
The tree with the bench underneath. View towards San Francisco and Searsville Lake.

From here I continue down the service road or take the Acorn Trail which goes past another bench. The trail takes me down a small valley full of great oaks and connects to the Perimeter Trail. This segment does not seem to be named on the map and there are two routes, one higher than the other. The lower trail is actually an unimproved road.

The Perimeter Trail runs along Arastradero Road and goes past the "Hanging Tree"-- I am not sure what is hanging here, the tree or someone's imagination. The light is more dramatic closer to sunset.

Hanging Tree

From here the trail winds back past some more interesting oaks to the same gate where you entered the park. In all the hikes here are pleasant, with out a lot of huffing and puffing in some of the more hilly parks (try Windy Hill for a steep climb).

Oak trees. Oak trees.




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