Palou and Phelps

The playground at the northern entrance marks the park’s only flat section; the rest climbs along trails that provide habitat for a variety of bird species. The hillside shifts across the calendar, drying to golden brown through late summer and early fall as grasses drop seed, turning green by February, and flowering in spring with California poppy, blue-eyed grass, checkerbloom, and mule’s ears. A Catholic orphanage stood at the summit until the 1960s, and a Caltrain tunnel runs directly beneath the slopes.