Hills staff, volunteers prep for outdoor community activities
Courtesy of Scott Vanderlip
The 26.9-mile “Los Altos Hills to the Sea Marathon Distance Hike,” which meanders over the Santa Cruz Mountains and terminates at a Half Moon Bay beach.
Throughout the pandemic, venturing outside has proven the stalwart respite for the involuntarily cloistered. While cold, rainy winter weather has somewhat dampened nature’s appeal in recent weeks, Los Altos Hills Parks and Recreation Committee and town staff members are already preparing for sunshine with a catalog of socially distanced activities.
“We’re really just looking for ways that are all COVID-compliant but still kind of feel like a community,” said Sarah Robustelli, community services supervisor, as she described one of the offerings, an 8-foot-wide pop-up photo frame, during the Jan. 28 Parks and Recreation meeting.
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.