Bartholomew Memorial Park

I hope you are having a wonderful holiday season, however you celebrate!

After two days off to focus on all things Christmas with my family, I was itching to get back out and discover a new park that was not in my normal path of travel.  My internet search turned up Bartholomew Memorial Park. Bartholomew Park is owned and operated by the Frank H. Bartholomew Foundation, a private non-profit operating foundation. Situated on 375 acres of vineyards, gardens, and forest, the Park is a protected space where the public can enjoy the beauty and history of the land.

As usual, the drive to this park was quite enjoyable, as the park is located in Sonoma, CA, so our wine country drive was just beautiful.  When we arrived, the grounds of the park were quite lovely as most vineyards are.  There were CCOF (organic certification) signs, which is always reason to celebrate! The winery is on site too, so wine tasting  is available along with lots of beautiful picnic spots.  This is a view of the vineyard (where we started) and main park area from high on the trail:

We started on the 2.4 mile hike on the "Grape Stomp Trail" which initially traversed through the vineyard, passed a duck pond, then up, up, up for a total of 600+ feet of elevation gain.  It was absolutely gorgeous and a great workout!   The hike included mostly oak woodlands, madrones and bay trees, but at one point, we crossed a creek, and surrounding the creek was a lovely redwood grove:

Since it had just rained all day on Christmas day, we enjoyed how moist and fresh everything was.  There was a great earthy smell throughout the hike, and lots of signs of life on the forest floor:

The hike was well marked with "you are here" maps and trail signs, which was much appreciated.  It had nice benches strategically placed throughout, and the trails were very well maintained.  We enjoyed excellent views of the Sonoma Valley and San Pablo bay before we traversed down on the "You-Walk Miwok Trail".  Another thing of note is that dogs are allowed on this trail, and the locals definitely took advantage of that.  It made me miss going on hike with Bonsai (our 16 3/4-year-old dog).   There are a lot of birds on this trail, and we mostly heard them, but did not see them.  At one point, we stopped to take a breath, and Sara was dive-bombed by a hummingbird which caused me to yelp in surprise!  We must've been near a nest or feeding source.  It was quite humorous!  Here are some more photos:

San Pablo Bay in the distance:

I know it can't possibly be conveyed through the photos, but Sara and I really enjoyed this hike, and she stated that the half of our family that didn't come was "missing out"!  As we ended on the trail, we had to walk through the part of the park which featured the vineyard and winery, and it was lovely.  Sara got her first taste of how beautiful a wine estate can be.  Here is one final photo  of the wintering vines from where our car was parked:

Here is an article about the hike in Sonoma Magazine, that I really enjoyed.