On a clear morning, the paved loop around the Stanford Dish has views to San Jose, San Francisco and the East Bay. That's a big reason Wikipedia puts its traffic at 1,500 to 1,800 visitors a day. The trail is about 3.5 miles of steep, rolling hills in the foothills above the Stanford campus.
The telescope
The Dish is a 150-foot steerable radio antenna. The Stanford Research Institute, now SRI International, built it in 1961 for $4.5 million paid by the U.S. Air Force. In the 1960s it collected information on Soviet radar sites by picking up radio signals that bounced off the moon. Later it was used to communicate with satellites and spacecraft, including the Voyager probes. In 1982 it helped rescue the amateur radio satellite UoSAT-1. Stanford says it is still a working radio telescope used for research and teaching.
Rules on the trail
Stanford says the Dish area is open to the public from about sunrise to sunset all year, and no one is allowed in after closing. Dogs and bikes are not allowed. Service vehicles use the road, so step aside for them. Cattle graze the hills; Wikipedia counted 360 cows in 2018 on land Stanford leases to ranchers. Stanford has recently posted a coyote alert for the area.
The university also warns that access may be restricted or suspended during National Weather Service Red Flag Warnings. Check the Dish website before you go.
Why the land looks the way it does
Stanford's conservation program is restoring native grasses on the hills, and part of the area has new breeding ponds for the California tiger salamander. Crews thin trees and remove shrubs to reduce fire fuel. On purpose, they leave big logs on the ground and dead oak snags standing: the logs give shelter to amphibians, reptiles and small mammals, and the snags give woodpeckers and other birds places to nest and store acorns.
The Stanford Running Club holds an annual Dish race on a 3.25-mile loop.