1
Foothills Nature Preserve
Nature preserve
1,336 acres19.7 mi of trail
Los Trancos TrailPanorama TrailToyon TrailCoyote TrailChamise Trail
Dog rules not recorded
Outdoors · Palo Alto
Palo Alto, CA parks, trails & bike paths
About 40% of Palo Alto is conserved land, roughly 6,660 acres. There are about 82 miles of mapped trails, and the biggest networks are in Foothills Nature Preserve (19.7 mi), Monte Bello Open Space Preserve (15.9 mi), and Enid Pearson-Arastradero Preserve (11.2 mi).
Conserved land, trails, parks and bike routes in Palo Alto, measured from OpenStreetMap and USGS data.
At a glance
Palo Alto outdoors
Conserved land
40%
6,660 of 16,536 acres
Trails
82 mi
3.2 mi per sq mi · 75 on conserved land
Parks & preserves
38
99 conserved acres per 1,000 residents
Bike routes
82.0 mi
49.2 mi lanes · 19.6 mi off-road paths
Conserved land is a share of the whole town area. Bike lanes are often missing from the map in smaller towns, so that number is likely low.
Map
Conserved land, trails & bike routes
Tap a number or a place below to zoom in© OpenStreetMap contributors · USGS PAD-US
Places to walk
Parks & preserves with trails
Ranked by mapped trail miles. Directions go to the nearest marked trailhead or public parking.
2
Monte Bello Open Space Preserve
Managed by Midpeninsula Regional Open Space District
2,073 acres15.9 mi of trail
Canyon TrailMonte Bello Road (Trail)White Oak TrailStevens Creek Nature TrailIndian Creek Trail
No dogsMapped in OpenStreetMap
3
Enid Pearson-Arastradero Preserve
Managed by City of Palo Alto
654 acres11.2 mi of trail
Meadowlark TrailRedtail Loop TrailArastradero Creek TrailBowl Loop TrailJuan Bautista de Anza Trail
Dog rules not recorded
4
Byxbee Park
Managed by City of Palo Alto
154 acres6.5 mi of trail
Adobe Creek Trail
Dog rules not recorded
DirectionsTo the parking lot
5
Los Trancos Open Space Preserve
Managed by Midpeninsula Regional Open Space District
191 acres4.6 mi of trail
Page Mill TrailLost Creek Loop TrailFranciscan Loop TrailSan Andreas Fault Trail
Dog rules not recorded
No trailhead mapped yet
Website
6
Upper Stevens Creek County Park
Managed by County of Santa Clara
234 acres2.7 mi of trail
Grizzly Flat TrailGrizzly Flat Trail NorthCanyon TrailGrizzly Flat Trail SouthTable Mountain Trail
No dogsMapped in OpenStreetMap
7
Rancho San Antonio Open Space Preserve
Managed by Midpeninsula Regional Open Space District
249 acres1.8 mi of trail
Black Mountain TrailMonte Bello Road (Trail)Quarry Trail
No dogsMapped in OpenStreetMap
No trailhead mapped yet
Website
8
Skyline Ridge Open Space Preserve
Managed by Midpeninsula Regional Open Space District
25 acres0.8 mi of trail
Chestnut Trail
No dogsMapped in OpenStreetMap
No trailhead mapped yet
Website
All 38 parks & preserves
Showing 1–10 of 38 parks & preserves
Foothills Nature Preserve1,336 acres · 19.7 mi of trail
Monte Bello Open Space Preserve2,073 acres · 15.9 mi of trail · Midpeninsula Regional Open Space District
Enid Pearson-Arastradero Preserve654 acres · 11.2 mi of trail · City of Palo Alto
Byxbee Park154 acres · 6.5 mi of trail · City of Palo Alto
Los Trancos Open Space Preserve191 acres · 4.6 mi of trail · Midpeninsula Regional Open Space District
Upper Stevens Creek County Park234 acres · 2.7 mi of trail · County of Santa Clara
Rancho San Antonio Open Space Preserve249 acres · 1.8 mi of trail · Midpeninsula Regional Open Space District
Skyline Ridge Open Space Preserve25 acres · 0.8 mi of trail · Midpeninsula Regional Open Space District
Foothills Open Space Preserve222 acres · 0.7 mi of trail · Midpeninsula Regional Open Space District
Hidden Villa90 acres · 0.6 mi of trail · Trust for Hidden Villa
Who protects the land
6,660 conserved acres
Who manages it, from PAD-US. Approximate, because parcels can overlap.
Biking & sports
Bike routes, courts & fields
- Painted or protected bike lanes49.2 mi
- Off-road bike paths19.6 mi
- Shoulders & shared lanes13.2 mi
- San Francisco Bay Trail (bike route)3.9 mi
Courts & fields
- Tennis97
- Basketball66
- Soccer30
- Baseball21
- Pickleball8
- Football4
- Volleyball3
Counts include school and college facilities, which aren't always open to the public.
Nearby
Palo Alto and its neighbors
Towns whose outdoors data has been built so far.
| Town | Conserved | Trails | Parks & preserves |
|---|---|---|---|
| Palo Alto | 40.3% | 81.5 mi | 38 |
| Menlo Park | 24% | 22.3 mi | 23 |
| Los Altos | 0.7% | 1.7 mi | 12 |
| Mountain View | 9.4% | 17.2 mi | 33 |
| Los Altos Hills | 3.6% | 27.4 mi | 4 |
| East Palo Alto | 14.5% | 1.4 mi | 7 |
| Stanford | 0% | 7.8 mi | 5 |
Trail talk
Conditions & tips from neighbors
No recent posts about Palo Alto's trails yet. Muddy, icy, a bridge out, where to park: a quick post helps the next person.
Sources: trails, parks, preserves, courts and bike lanes © OpenStreetMap contributors (ODbL), map data as of 2026-09-28. Conserved land: USGS Gap Analysis Project, Protected Areas Database of the United States (PAD-US). Measured against the Census town boundary.
How we measure
"Trails" are OpenStreetMap paths, bridleways, public tracks and unpaved footways, plus footways inside a park or preserve or on a named trail route. Sidewalks are left out. Areas are counted on a 31.5-meter grid, so overlapping parcels count once. "Conserved" includes conservation easements, which protect land from development but are usually private property. Trailheads are the nearest marked trailhead, public parking lot or information board within about 150 meters of a preserve. Dog rules come from OpenStreetMap when someone has tagged them; otherwise we show what's typical for the land manager, or say the rules aren't recorded.