Up and Down the Ridges of Sonoma and Napa Counties

a view in Hood Mountain Regional Park

It's been a whole year since we hiked on the Bay Area Ridge Trail! How wonderful that we are back on this marvelous trail, this time for an extended visit.

We spent five days hiking and camping along the trail in June. Since it is a fair ways from our homes in Santa Cruz, we wanted to pack in some miles. The general topography of the North Bay as it relates to the San Francisco Bay is such that the trail goes up and down north/south running ridges, which means lots of elevation gains and losses for us hikers. AND it was hot: summer temps of high 80's to 100 degrees every day on our late-June trip. 

We camped at Sugarloaf Ridge State Park and Bothe-Napa Valley State Park in between our day hikes.  On our first day out, we crossed paths with Karen Buchanan, the tour and education manager for Jack London State Historic Park, and who was on a lunchtime hike herself. In addition to providing us with lots of on-the-spot information about Jack and Charmian London, she told us about the long-term plan of hike-in campgrounds spaced all along the trail, each one a day's walk from the next. We thoroughly enjoyed the peaceful sites we had in the state parks, and the showers were just what we needed after so many miles in extremely warm temperatures.

Sugarloaf's park manager John Roney shared with us that maybe the missing links in the trail can be completed now that the demographic of the land owners is changing. Ranches are being sold to folks who buy the land to retire on or go to recreate on. Having a trail on their property now can mean that their land is connected to a much bigger piece of wild land. Ranchers tended to be reluctant to have strangers walking through. An uninterrupted trek around the Bay would be fabulous!

Here are the maps of the trails in the parks with their links:

• 10 miles in the North Sonoma Mountain Regional Park into Jack London State Park, a newly completed section of trail in a new park near Penngrove, with Amy and Enrique joining us.

Donna starting up Sonoma Mountain

• 10 miles in Annadel State Park, including the section not completed yet in Howarth Park near Santa Rosa, with friend Larry joining us.

an old property line in Annadel

pileated woodpecker

manzanita and oak, Annadel

• 14 miles in Hood Mountain Regional Park near Kenwood (2500 ft. elevation gain) and Sugarloaf Ridge State Park (1550 feet elevation gain, for a total of 4050 feet that day!)

                                  

view of Mt. St. Helena from Bald Mountain

top of Bald Mountain

• 9 miles in Calistoga, on the Oat Hill Mine Road, with Lorna joining us.

Feather found on Oat Hill Mine Road

• 6 miles in Bothe-Napa Valley State Park with Lorna, near Calistoga, then 5.4 miles in Moore Creek Park near Napa.

Spicebush, blooming abundantly in Bothe-Napa Valley State Park

a shady trail in Bothe-Napa Valley State Park

the secret swimming hole in Moore Creek on a very hot day

More photos from this fantastic five-day feast are here.

Three Days in May, 2014

Blooming Buckeye!

On May 3, 4, and 5, we walked for about 35 miles through the beautiful rolling hills of Marin and Sonoma Counties.  We used the following maps:

Indian Tree Open Space Preserve

Mount Burdell Open Space Preserve

Helen Putnam Regional Park to Petaluma

Jack London State Historic Park

Millie, David, Adrian, Richard, Amy, and Julia joined Donna and me for all or part of Leg 11 of our round-the-bay walk.  We spent our first two nights in Fairfax with Millie, and we stayed in a hotel in Petaluma our third night.  This leg was especially social, to boot -- we played music with Donna's family one night, had dinner with Julia's aunt another night, and stopped in to visit Donna's sister-in-law as we walked through Petaluma on our third day.

But first, the turkey eggshell.  We found this as we walked up into the hills above Novato on our first morning.  Further down this page you will also see Donna's hand holding something else we found.

View of the San Francisco Bay from the ridges above Novato

Heading up towards Little Mountain Open Space Preserve

Birders on the flanks of Burdell

still ascending...

Lunchtime on Mount Burdell, elevation 1558', overlooking the Petaluma River

Mount Burdell is an anomaly in this region of ancient, sedimentary ocean floor.  The mountain is a 12-million-year-old volcanic intrusion punching through the sediment, and andesite is quarried near the summit.  Andesite is a light-grey volcanic rock named for the Andes.  Here is a link for more information about the geology of this region.

Olompali State Historic Park

The name "olompali" comes from the Miwok language and may be translated as "southern village" or "southern people." The Coast Miwok inhabited at least one site within the area of the present-day park continuously from as early as 6,000 BC, until the early 1850s. 

Olompali contains "kitchen rock," a large boulder used as a mortar in which early people ground acorns and seeds into a fine flour for food preparation. Many women would gather near such grinding rocks to prepare food and socialize. 

http://www.parks.ca.gov/?page_id=465

Worker's house at the Burdell Ranch

Camilo Ynitia [a Coast Miwok chief who received a Spanish land grant in 1843] built an adobe using in part bricks from the earlier adobe on this site constructed by his father and the Spanish exploring party of 1775-6.  Camilo’s adobe was so strongly constructed that it was incorporated in 1870 into Dr. Galen and Mrs. Mary Black Burdell’s two story home.  This ranch house was encased in 1915 by their son James Burdell with his 26 room mansion, which survived until 1969 when fire destroyed all but the walls of Ynitia’s adobe. 

(Read more about this story here at this link.  It's got pathos, vengeance, and heartache.)

You can see the 1915 house below, from a 1940 photo. 

http://heritage.sonomalibrary.org/cdm/ref/collection/p15763coll2/id/20640

(Here is a link to a photo of the mansion today.)

Petaluma bird house

Petaluma countryside

Petaluma tick

Vineyard at Jack London's model farm

(more information here)

You can see more photos of this thoroughly delightful 3-day jaunt here!

Spring Green in the North Bay

Lucas Valley Open Space Preserve

Day 11 on the trail: http://www.ridgetrail.org/index.php/loma-alta-to-lucas-valley


In this drought year, we've had many hikes on winter days where we could clearly see the San Francisco Bay. Our last hike on March 16 was one such day. We started at the top of White's Hill in Fairfax and immediately climbed to the top of Loma Alta, one the highest points in Marin County.  This 1592' summit descends into four distinct watersheds: Miller Creek to the northeast, Corte Madera Creek to the southeast, Lagunitas Creek to the southwest, and Nicasio Creek to the northwest.

Katharina, David, Donna and Millie on top of Loma Alta, elevation 1592'

The clouds created beautiful waving patterns through the blue and the grass was probably the greenest it will ever be this winter. 

Lucas Valley keyhole to view of Mt Diablo

The views through the velvet hills down to the bay were stunning. The uphill climbs were stunning too!  Below, we are heading up to Big Rock Ridge, elevation 1895', the second-highest point in Marin County (Mt. Tam is 2572').  Mountain lions and golden eagles are common in this quiet region of Marin.

The poppies have announced the arrival of Spring!

Lucas Valley Open Space Preserve

We ate chocolate at the top, then turned around and backtracked down the switchbacks. When the trail is finished, it will continue north to the next finished section in Indian Tree Open Space Preserve in Novato.

San Francisco Bay from Big Rock Ridge, elevation 1895'

Donna and David look out to the northeast from Big Rock Ridge

More pictures from this gorgeous day are here.

Salmon in Papermill Creek

Shafter Grade morning

February 1, 2014

Map that inspired part of today's walk: http://www.ridgetrail.org/index.php/samuel-p-taylor-to-loma-alta

We did see salmon in the creek in Samuel P. Taylor Park. They were building their redd in the streambed under the Shafter Bridge. But that was at the end of our day!

We started our hike early Saturday morning in the cold air (32 degrees F). Steep Shafter Grade warmed us up and we were back on the Ridge Trail in the sun atop Bolinas Ridge.

Not long after we started on the ridge, a long view north revealed Tomales Bay, the water glistening between Inverness Ridge and Black Mountain. 

We passed a craggy, grey lichen-encrusted rock that David and Molly assumed correctly was graywacke.

The trail follows the ridge for 4 miles through present day grazing lands. Homesteaders planted eucalyptus and fruit trees on these dairy ranches, which are the only remnants of their time spent here.

We then dropped down to the railroad grade that runs alongside Papermill Creek in Taylor Park for the remainder of the hike. Cool and damp air surrounded us in this shady redwood and bay forest. 

We finished the day gazing at the four salmon, who by magnetoception have returned to where they hatched in this exact spot to build their redd. They looked ragged and scarred, but still vigorously swam and swished their way up the shallow rocky creek. 

Click here for more photos of our great day!

Hiking in Donna's Hometown

Loma Alta from Camp Tamarancho, Fairfax

Day 9 on the trail: Shafter bridge at the Inkwells to near White's Hill in Fairfax

Parts of maps used on this leg:

http://www.ridgetrail.org/index.php/samuel-p-taylor-to-loma-alta

http://www.ridgetrail.org/index.php/loma-alta-to-lucas-valley

We hiked in the territory of Donna's youth. She rambled over these trails while growing up in the hills of Fairfax, falling in love with hiking, viewing and tree-climbing!

We were joined by lots of Donna's family, as they were excited to hike on trails not often traveled, even though they are in their backyards.

We got on the Ridge Trail up the hill from Shafter Bridge, and hiked in the fog through the open grasslands.

By the time we got up a bit higher, we saw the junipers and scrubby manzanita and rocky-lichen terrain of the ridge by White's Hill.

The finish was off the Ridge Trail proper, as we wanted to end up in the home of Donna's mom, where Donna grew up, which is just down the trail from the Boy Scout's "Camp Tamarancho."

More photos of this great day here!

Days 7 and 8: Mt. Tamalpais

November 2-3, 2013

Stinson Beach and Bolinas from Bolinas Ridge

Maps used on this 2-day leg are:

http://www.ridgetrail.org/index.php/golden-gate-bridge-to-tennessee-valley

http://www.ridgetrail.org/index.php/tennessee-valley-to-shoreline-highway

http://www.ridgetrail.org/index.php/dias-ridge

http://www.ridgetrail.org/index.php/mount-tamalpais-state-park

http://www.ridgetrail.org/index.php/mount-tamalpais-state-park-and-ggnra

http://www.ridgetrail.org/index.php/ggnra-and-samuel-p-taylor-state-park

We were joined by our cheerful and indefatigable walking friend David again, this time for a 30-mile overnighter.  Donna and I left a car in the Presidio at her friend Mary's house.  Mary drove us to the north end of the Golden Gate Bridge, where we met David, who'd walked there from his house.  Our first day out was approximately 15 miles long; David's was over 20.

Here is the north end of the bridge at about 9:00 Saturday morning.

An hour later or so, we had our first view of Mt. Tam.  The mountain's elevation is 2575' currently; it used to be over 2600' tall before the summit was graded for the installation of radar equipment.

We will spend tonight near the summit at the Pan Toll campground.  There are walk-in sites -- no reservation necessary!  We found a great site, visited with a camping chef who is getting ready to open an unusual Thai restaurant in downtown San Francisco, and we cooked our morning oatmeal on Sunday over a fire due to a balky backpacking stove.

Day 2: Mt. Tam and the Bolinas Ridge (below) are bits of the North American Plate which have been pushed up as the plate slides over and along the Pacific Plate.  More evidence of this plate-to-plate interaction is the preponderance along the trail of green-black serpentinite, which is formed underwater at the interface.  Serpentine is our state rock.

We will now be firmly on the North American Plate for the rest of our round-the-bay walk.  

Mt. Tam State Park 

Sunday afternoon: Lagunitas Creek. and the end of our beautiful 2-day trek.  You can find more photos and information about this leg here.