This plaque - CHL No.2 - commemorates that in 1769 the Portolá expedition of 63 men and 200 horses and mules camped around here, near the "El Palo Alto", The Tall Tree. They had traveled from San Diego in search of Monterey but discovered instead the Bay of San Francisco. Finding the bay too large to go around, and deciding that Monterey had been bypassed, they ended the search and returned to San Diego. The actual tree - the "palo alto" is still standing....it's just a few steps over the footbridge.