Both the profile of the landscape and the vegetation are to be kept in a state as close as possible to their natural condition. The park's main feature is the Las Trampas Valley, a large meadow between two wooded ridges.
Picnic areas are inconspicuous except when filled with picnickers.
In 1833, Governor Figueroa gave a square league of land above the confluence of Los Trancos and San Francisquito Creeks to Domingo Peralta and Don Maximo Martinez. A daughter of Don Maximo Martinez married into the Boronda family and the property became known as the Boronda Farm. In 1914, a stockbroker, Sanford Sachs, bought it from the Borondas and later sold it to Leander James. In 1941, Dr. Russel V. Lee, founder of the Palo Alto Medical Clinic, bought the property and built on it a large A-frame barn which now houses the Interpretive Center. The vote was 6,542 for and 3,997 against.