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After 51 years, you can finally hike this Bay Area park. I did, and it made me furious.
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Palo Alto’s Foothills Park opened to non-Palo Alto residents for the first time in 51 years on Thursday, December 17th, 2020. I, Grant Marek, hiked the entire park on Sunday.Christopher Partin/ Special to SFGATE
I’m blinded by seething rage as I pass by the entrance kiosk of Palo Alto’s Foothills Park.
“Look at this f king lake. It’s beautiful,” I mutter under my breath. “Jesus, are those docks? And of course there’s a god damn meadow, is that a deer? Oh my god, are those baby deer? And this is the bathroom? Did the Ahwahnee design this s t? COME ON.”
Toward the trails near Wild Horse Valley, two Palo Alto residents, who declined to provide their names, said they opposed opening the park to nonresidents on the grounds that the city s residents are the ones who pay the taxes for the park s maintenance and that it isn t fair for everyone else to use the space without paying.
Several other park visitors from Palo Alto didn t express opposition to the park going public as much as apprehension about sharing a beloved place with newcomers.
Verdant moss-covered trees await hikers on the Steep Hollow Trail at Foothills Park. Photo by Kate Bradshaw.