Foothills Park, Palo Alto

The park is located in Palo Alto in the eastern foothills of the Santa Cruz mountains. Page Mill Road is the eastern boundary for most of it. To the north and the lowlands is the Arastradero Preserve also owned by Palo Alto and to the south is Los Trancos Open Space Preserve owned by the Midpeninsula Regional Open Space District. The small Foothills Open Space Preserve also owned by the district is adjacent for part of the east side. Los Trancos Creek is the southwestern boundary of the park and is joined south of the park by Buckeye Creek which flows through the park. The damming of a tributary of Buckeye Creek created Boronda Lake.

About 90 acres (36 ha) of the park are developed with amenities including a large grassy field, picnic sites, a campground, and a nature interpretive center. Boronda lake is used for fishing, rowing, and canoeing. The park also has 15 miles (24 km) of trails.[1]

The Bay-to-Ridge Trail, which when complete will link the Palo Alto Baylands Nature Preserve to the Bay Area Ridge Trail, runs through the park connecting Arastradero Preserve and Los Trancos Open Space. Non-Palo Alto residents can use this trail even though it is within the park.[3][4]

Most of the land for the park was bought from Russel V. Lee, a founder of the Palo Alto Medical Clinic, who offered, in 1958, 1,294 acres of his land at $1,000 an acre ($1.3 million total) to the city to preserve as open space.[5] The total cost was high so Palo Alto put it to a citywide vote in 1959 which passed with 62% of the voters supporting buying the land. The council also asked the neighboring communities of Portola Valley and Los Altos Hills to share in the cost and when they refused put in the restriction limiting access to Palo Alto residents and their guests.[5] Some land was added later to bring it to its current total.