Los Altos Hills may not have a lot going on – guides to the town always highlight the fact there is only one business, a bookstore – but there is a reason some of the highest-paid individuals in the country call it home. Nestled in the foothills of the Santa Cruz Mountains, the wooded hillsides of this town afford visitors expansive views of the San Francisco Bay and a peek at rural life in Silicon Valley before the industrial revolution.
Picking Apricots
- In the 1800s and 1900s, Santa Clara County was a major producer of dried apricots, due to its perfectly dry summers that allowed apricots to be dried naturally outdoors. The only remnants of this empire today lie in the orchards preserved through bequests, stands of a few dozen trees scattered around town. But one 70-acre orchard still is in operation and produces bags of dried apricots for purchase: the former home of Hewlett Packard founder David Packard. Named for the Taaffe apricot ranching family who owned the entire area of present-day Los Altos Hills, Taaffe House and Orchard at the end of Taaffe Road pays homage to the original kings of Los Altos.
Hiking
- Whether you’re looking for a strenuous mountain hike or a casual stroll through nature, Los Altos Hills’ numerous public and private reserves offer so many trails, it would take years to explore them all. The area is full of low-profile trails for easy hikes, such as the Canyon and Bella Vista trails at Black Mountain, and the Arastradero Preserve and Hidden Villa loop trails. Serious hikers should head up the 2,800-foot-high Black Mountain, laced with a variety of trails from the Black Mountain Trail summit hike to the Ewing Hill, Hostel, and Creek Trails that connect to the Hidden Villa area.
Organic Farming
- Even though Los Altos Hills is replete with wooded areas and protected open spaces, Hidden Villa still comes as a surprise. As you drive down a residential road and turn into the driveway, it’s as if an entirely new – and decidedly different – valley unfolds before you. Once home to the pioneering Duveneck family, who dedicated their lives to protecting people in need -- including Japanese-Americans during WWII and Cesar Chavez -- and local natural resources, the entire area was willed as a permanent wildlife sanctuary. Today, Hidden Villa’s activities center around educational programs exposing urban and suburban families to nature and farm life.
Poor Clares Convent
- Part of the order named for St. Clare, the female companion of St. Francis who established an order of nuns that reject materialism and live in communion with nature as St. Francis taught, the Poor Clares of Los Altos have operated a monestary in Los Altos Hills since 1921. After securing $3 million in donations to rebuild their crumbling home in 2002, the Clares opened a visitors’ room chapel allowing visitors to take part in their six daily prayers from the other side of a wall, preserving the nuns cloistered existence. Through a small door in the wall of the visitors’ room, you can submit prayers to the nuns, who pray for and respond with a written letter to each inquiry, or purchase their handmade blankets, quilts and greeting cards.
