San Mateo Highlands

The Highlands is a neighborhood and unincorporated district in San Mateo County, California, United States. It is bordered by Interstate 280 to the west, State Route 92 to the south, Polhemus Road to the east, and Crystal Springs Road, which parallels San Mateo Creek, to the north. The town of Hillsborough is just north of the Highlands and the city of Belmont is to the south.

The Highlands is known for its scenic views. The stunning geographical features and proximity to two major highways (Interstate 280 and State Route 92) make the Highlands both very attractive and convenient.

The Highlands sits on top of Pulgas Ridge, west of the city of San Mateo overlooking the Lower Crystal Springs Reservoir which lies just to the west and straddles the San Andreas fault. The Cahill Ridge of Montara Mountain lies just to the west of Crystal Springs and gives a dramatic view to the west side of the Highlands. The east side of the Highlands offers beautiful unobstructed views of San Francisco Bay, the San Mateo Bridge, and on clear days, Mount Diablo in Contra Costa County.

On three sides, the Highlands is surrounded by open space, with canyons to the north and east and a more gentle sloping hillside to the west.

Due to its location on the top of a ridge, near the gap in the Santa Cruz Mountains where SR 92 transects the mountains, the Highlands receives a good deal of foggy weather as hot dry air in the Central Valley pulls cool, moist air off the Pacific Ocean. Temperatures in the Highlands are typically five to ten degrees (F) colder than cities just to the south of the SR 92 gap.

...
Wikipedia