Recent visit: Sonoma Valley Walk

This has been a cool summer so we managed a walk at Sonoma Valley Regional in the afternoon. Amazing. The new plantings seem to be overwhelmed with weeds – hard to tell how they’re doing. The blackberries are creeping back. But the oaks and the grasses look just fine. It’s a great short walk on

Walking Cloverdale River Park

This post was from February 2013 with a few 2010 pictures added. We’ve visited Cloverdale many times  and it’s great for winter with its wide paved path. Going uphill to the cemetery will possibly be more soggy right now. Don’t forget it for the wildflowers in later in February and March. Cloverdale River Park follows

Sunday’s Revisit: The Hills are Alive in Petaluma

Here’s hoping our hills will look this green again. This post from March 2010. We headed south, avoiding Hwy 101, admiring the green hills of Petaluma. It was doing its best to look like Ireland. Pastures and hills dominated our vision. Helen Putnam Regional Park, west of Petaluma is an excellent place in spring for

Winery Walks: Preston of Dry Creek

I love a place to walk and if a glass of wine comes with it. Great. Last week, we visited Preston Winery in Dry Creek Valley near Healdsburg. A place with so many features to recommend.

Walking at Garland Ranch – Carmel

Before our recent trip to Monterey Peninsula, Mike studied a map of the area. That’s how we found Jack’s Peak and how we wound up at Garland Ranch Regional Park. Both great finds for us. Here’s a link to Jack’s Park and here is some of our visit to Garland Ranch Park. We drove out

Walking Jack’s Peak – Monterey

A thousand feet above Monterey is a county park called Jack’s Peak. With 8.5 miles of trails and the sweet smell of Monterey Pines, this is great place to meet nature and savor some views of Monterey Bay. However, it is also above the airport. It was a little noisy from traffic and planes on

Walking more Bay Trail & the Napa River

Last week I did another walk with fellow-Walkabouters at the JFK Memorial Park along the Napa River. Tule Marsh used to dominate the area until the mid-1800s.  San Pablo Bay (off of San Francisco Bay) was 18,000 acres of tidal marsh. Some of that is being restored. We chose to start our walk at the

Sugarloaf Ridge via Planetary Walk

Sugarloaf Ridge State Park, a 2700-acre park in the mountains above the Sonoma Valley, is still worth a visit even for people who need a flat walk. Just past the entrance kiosk, on the left, is a parking lot, with a trailhead to Bald Mountain and to Meadow Trails.

Bay Trail & Napa River Walk

Last week we walked a new trail around a landfill in American Canyon. Sounds perfect, right? Well, it was beautiful to be along the Napa River and have views of Sonoma Mountain, Mt Tamalpais and Mt. Diablo. The trail was new segment of the Bay Trail – that will someday go all around San Francisco

The Light’s still on at Pt. Cabrillo

North of the town of Mendocino is the Pt Cabrillo Lighthouse. In over 20 trips to the Mendocino Coast, we have never been to this light station. Big mistake.