Los Trancos Open Space Preserve is small, just 274 acres in the Santa Cruz Mountains above Palo Alto, but it has a headline feature: the San Andreas Fault runs right through it.
The fault trail
The Nonette Hanko San Andreas Fault Trail is an easy 1.5-mile self-guided interpretive walk. Midpen, which runs the preserve, calls it an ideal spot to learn about earthquake geology. Wikipedia says the trail follows the main break from the 1906 San Francisco earthquake, with markers showing where the ground broke in various quakes. A downloadable guide is on the Midpen site.
For a longer outing, the Triple Loop Trail is a 2.5-mile self-guided walk with seven points of interest through grassland, chaparral and mixed evergreen forest. Midpen says it gains about 500 feet and takes one to three hours.
The view
The preserve sits at about 2,000 feet. On a clear day, Midpen says, you can see the skyscrapers of San Francisco and Mount Diablo across the bay.
A bit of history
The land was once part of a 13,300-acre rancho. State Sen. Louis Oneal bought it in the early 1900s and raised horses there, according to Wikipedia. A developer bought it in the 1950s, but plans stalled over the cost of city services, and Midpen acquired it in 1976.
Know before you go
- Parking: The lot on Page Mill Road, 7 miles west of Highway 280 and 1.5 miles east of Skyline Boulevard, has 23 spaces plus one ADA space. Overflow parking and restrooms are at the Monte Bello lot across the road.
- No bikes and no dogs are allowed in this preserve.
- Most Midpen preserves have no trash cans, so pack out what you bring.