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Across the Midpeninsula, there are hundreds of hiking trails through dozens of open space preserves, offering nature lovers impressive views of grasslands, redwood forests, creeks and more — views that are too impressive not to share.
This year, residents of Woodside and Menlo Park were awarded first place for their entries in the Midpeninsula Regional Open Space District’s photo contest, capturing starry night skies and early sunrise views.
Milky Way Chasing
Monte Bello Open Space Preserve in Los Altos, with its rolling grasslands, creekside trails and vistas, offers expansive views of the Santa Clara Valley during the day and a clear look at the Milky Way galaxy at night.
Julie Elmquist, a Menlo Park resident, won Midpen’s landscape category for her photo “Milky Way Chasing.” She said she’s had a camera in her hands since she was 10 years old and started exploring night and astrophotography in the last eight years.
“When you look up at night and you see this massive thing that runs from the horizon line, up above you and beyond that, behind you, that’s the Milky Way in its entirety,” said Elmquist. “You can take photos of the arch at certain times of the year in certain places.”
While carrying a tripod, two cameras, a headlamp and a flashlight, Elmquist ventures out from her suburban Belle Haven neighborhood into nearby open spaces to capture the night sky. Her winning submission was taken last September around 9 p.m., she said.
“I am in love with the starry night sky, so to capture this image so close to home with the quiet beautiful open space that we are blessed with was magical,” said Elmquist in her submission to Midpen. “The quiet expanse of the night is my happy place.”
“Milky Way season” in California starts around May and runs through early November, said Elmquist. Keeping up with weather conditions is crucial to being able to capture the galaxy, she said.
As she chases the Milky Way, Elmquist has become familiar with the local preserves. At age 68, she said she enjoys being out in nature, hiking and being able to capture the beauty of the landscapes. Being in nature “grounds me to the Earth,” she said.
Sunrise at Clouds Rest
Trail Less Traveled
The winning photo for the category “Trail Less Traveled” was taken in the early morning hours of the fall of 2025 at Cold Creek Open Space Preserve near Portola Valley. Woodside resident Max Kessler said he woke up before sunrise and biked along the road and onto a trail at dawn with his camera gear in hand.
“I went out on a foot trail and was just appreciating the change in the light and the colors in the sky,” said Kessler, who is also pursuing a doctorate in mechanical engineering at Stanford University.
His first place submission depicts a sunrise view of the Bay Area, with Mount Diablo and the Dumbarton Bridge in sight. From the vista where the photo was taken, Kessler said he can see as far south as San Jose and can even see Mount Tamalpais north of San Francisco.
“I really appreciate sunrises because they’re something that I have to seek out with more intention than a sunset,” said Kessler. “It often involves getting up early, and there’s this nice serenity before a sunrise as the colors start to shift and the birds start calling.”
Growing up on the San Juan Islands in Washington state, Kessler said he has always been connected to nature. Over the years, he’s observed changes in the snowpack on nearby mountains, rising sea level and changes in bird behavior within his hometown, he said. Kessler explained that his experiences inspired him to study methane as a greenhouse gas and understand how to mitigate and reduce its emissions.
Living in Woodside, he said he is glad to be close to several open space preserves and access trails at Cold Creek Open Space Preserve, Russian Ridge and Windy Hill.
Hiking and biking through the trails is rejuvenating and helps create a balanced life, said Kessler.
“It helps clear my head and give me new perspectives on what’s really important and why my work matters,” he said. “These preserves and the nature they present is a reminder that (it’s) an important part of my life and that wherever I may live in the future, having trails and access to nature will be a core requirement.”
While the views from the Bay Area may differ from the sights from San Juan Island, Kessler said that being able to see the Pacific Ocean from the preserves brings him back home.
Other local winners included Rebecca Richardson of Palo Alto, whose “One Frond of a Tangled Bank, Skyline Ridge Open Space Preserve” won the Plant Life category and Mountain View’s Ksenia Kolosova, who won the People In Nature Category with “Shared Trails, Purisima Creek Redwoods Open Space Preserve.”
See the full list of winning images at openspace.org.
