Stanford University occupies over 8000 acres in the center of the San Francisco peninsula, and over 60% of that is open space. The foothills on the southwestern side of the campus are a popular recreational area, with over 3.5 miles of paved trails going up to and around the Dish. Over 1000 visitors each week will walk, jog and push baby strollers along these paths.
The Dish, pictures below, is a 150-foot-diameter radio telescope built in 1966, and the surrounding 1500 acres have been designated the Dish Area. The Dish has been used to study the earth's atmosphere and to communicate with satellites, including Voyager. Today, one of its main uses is as a destination for those who would like to take a walk in the hills.
My friend Barbara and I took this walk on March 5, 2014, a cloudy Ash Wednesday. I wanted to practice manually focusing a telephoto lens, and Barbara graciously accommodated my frequent stops to experiment.
Barbara
is walking along the trail, below right. The creek was along the west edge of the Dish area just before the entrance to the trails.
After our walk, Barbara noticed these cows across the street from the entrance to the Dish area, next to where we had parked.
These, she pointed out to me, are banded cows, a breed known for the distinctive band of white fur completely encircling their mid-section. Some folks call them "Oreo Cookie" cows. Barbara loves these cows, and that's more than enough reason to find a place for them on this page.