Olompali State Historic Park

 Have you ever been driving South on 101 and admired the beauty of the hills South of Petaluma, then you see the sign for Olompali State Historic Park and think, "I wonder what that place is like? I'd like to check it out sometime.".   I have, and I did check it out many years ago, when my girls were really little, and enjoyed it.  I found myself wanting to remind myself again why I enjoyed my hike here so much!

Sara came along with me today, and we hiked the loop trail, which they say is 2 1/2 miles, but we both think its longer!  The trail is 100% in Oak woodland forests that are Oaks (including many madrones) and Bay trees.  It goes up one side of a canyon, then traverses down the other side to complete the loop, so for half it it, it is a moderate uphill climb, then downhill the second half.  These oaks are big and old and there are very big madrones, which I just love!  They are so beautiful, smooth & twisty.  I took a number of photos of them below:





Also, we were treated to some beautiful views of the Petaluma River Valley:




And some more beauty....




Near the end of the trail, there is a demonstration Miwok village that has structures, native plants and a dance circle.  There is lots of interpretation there as well.   The park also has a historic ranch and buildings from the 1800's with interpretive signs - although I love history, my girl had no patience for this today, so we didn't spend a lot of time on this, but there's a brochure on the website that details a lot of the history.

There is a day use fee of $8 that you have to self-register for using the old-style envelopes.  I pretty much decided today that its worth it for me to get a state parks pass for the year.  The "Golden Poppy" pass, which is $125/year, covers all of Northern California from Big Sur and North, and I think I'll make it worth it pretty quickly because it includes a lot of local parks and it also includes those in the Sara Nevada Mountains!

We both really enjoyed the hike today, and I am definitely getting some great connection time with my girls.  It seems like Sara is my hiking buddy and GG is my biking buddy.  

I'm grateful that we had such a beautiful day for our first hike of winter!

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