The Stanford Dish

The Stanford Dish run is one of the most popular and iconic runs in Silicon Valley. Accessible from the center of Palo Alto and the Stanford Campus, this is a great ~5 mile loop, featuring open pastureland, a small lake, great views of the Stanford Campus, and beautiful light, with the Stanford telescope that was built in 1966 always in view. It’s also hilly, with a 500-foot elev. gain. Good parking at Stanford Ave. & Juipero Serra Blvd. Our loop starts just outside the Stanford Campus in order to make it a 5-miler. If you’d like to run from the center of Palo Alto, start at the Caltrain station at the end of University Ave. It’s ~2 miles through the Stanford campus to the trailhead. You can add to this by running in and around Stanford University, or the residential areas of Palo Alto.