Monte Bello Open Space Preserve
When the Midpeninsula Regional Open Space District acquired Monte Bello from Stanford University in 1975, they inherited an unexpected population. A commune of about 100 people, calling themselves simply "The Land," had established a community along the Canyon Trail from Page Mill Road to Indian Creek. They built dwellings on platforms scattered through oak woodlands and secluded canyons, maintained a woodworking shop and a stained-glass workshop, grew their own food, and gathered for holiday celebrations in a large ranch building that served as their dining hall. They were evicted. The preserve that replaced their community now protects 3,133 acres of foothill wilderness -- Monte Bello means 'beautiful mountain' in Italian, a name given by the winemakers who farmed these slopes in the early twentieth century.
A Fault Line Valley
The preserve encompasses the upper Stevens Creek watershed in the valley between Monte Bello Ridge and Skyline Ridge. That valley is straight for a reason: it is the rift valley of the San Andreas Fault, one of the most geologically active zones in California. A sag pond at the beginning of the Canyon Trail, formed by fault movement and fed by a spring, provides habitat for secretive Virginia rails. The preserve's 15.5 miles of hiking trails traverse grasslands, Douglas fir groves, live oak forests, and a riparian corridor along Stevens Creek. The Black Mountain Backpack Camp, the only campsite in the entire Midpeninsula Regional Open Space District, sits a 1.5-mile hike from Page Mill Road, offering overnight visitors something rare: wilderness camping half an hour by car from Silicon Valley.
Loggers, Dairymen, Winemakers
The landscape bears the marks of successive occupations. Nineteenth-century loggers dragged massive Coast Douglas-firs along skid roads using oxen -- the Skid Road Trail follows one of these old routes. Italian farmers and winemakers settled on Monte Bello Ridge afterward, and dairies in these mountains supplied much of the milk for San Francisco and the Peninsula. George Morell, founding publisher of the Palo Alto Times and a Stanford trustee, bought the Black Mountain Ranch in 1940, drawn by what he called 'nature in the raw.' He donated the land to Stanford, which eventually transferred it to the open space district.
The Living Mountain
Today, second-growth Douglas fir seedlings advance uphill into the preserve's grasslands, a visible example of forest succession reclaiming the clearings that nineteenth-century logging created. California poppies, checker mallow, and blue-eyed grass color the meadows in spring. Coyotes, bobcats, deer, badgers, and mountain lions roam the larger territory. Red-tailed hawks and northern harriers patrol the thermals, while great horned owls and barn owls hunt at dusk. Golden eagles pass through during migration. The preserve connects to Stevens Creek County Park, Skyline Ridge, Los Trancos, and Rancho San Antonio preserves, making multi-day hikes possible from the valley floor to the coast.
From the Air
Monte Bello Open Space Preserve is at 37.31°N, 122.15°W in the Santa Cruz Mountain foothills west of Palo Alto. The preserve's main entrance is on Page Mill Road. Black Mountain (2,800 ft) is the highest point. Nearby airports: Palo Alto (KPAO), San Carlos (KSQL). Best viewed at 3,000-5,000 ft AGL.