Ragle Ranch Regional Park

 Today, we took a late afternoon walk at our local favorite:  Ragle Ranch Park.   We had kind of a slow, low-energy day, so around 3:30, Sara and I decided to go for a walk at Ragle.  This park is in Sebastopol, and we have been there dozens and dozens of times over the last 12 years.   It started with the playground, then the walking trails, summer camps, birthday parties, softball games, etc.     Its been pretty central to our lives here in Sebastopol!

Ragle Park has a lot going on in 157 acres with soccer fields, softball diamonds, tennis courts, volleyball courts, hiking/biking trails, a dog park, a peace garden and a playground.   There is lots of wildlife to be seen, especially birds because there are plenty of marshes.  I often see deer and bunnies here too.   It is primarily oak woodlands, but it does have a couple of redwood groves which are really sweet.


We like to take the longest trail, which is the blackberry trail, and we wanted to take it before it rains this weekend, because during the winter, it becomes impassible with mud, unless you have some serious mud boots that are comfortable to walk in.   

While walking the blackberry trail, we decided to take some of the smaller offshoots that we never took before, and we actually got a little lost.  We giggled because how could we possible get lost at Ragle Park?!?!   We came to a 3-way intersection of trails, and we had no idea which way to go.  One jogger recommend that we go the way she was going, which was completely backtracking where we just came from, and we didn't want to do that.  After resisting for a while, I pulled up Google maps on my phone, and we figured out where we were, and found our way back to the main trail by cutting off a huge piece that the jogger advised us to take.  It ended up that she came up behind us, and we all thought that was funny.  She had never taken the trail we were on, so she learned a new route too!   

We had an enjoyable walk with lots of winter scenery and many lively birds, and just as the light was disappearing we arrived back at our car, having taking a much longer walk than we planned, but energized from it.  The walk was exactly what we needed to pull us out of a low-energy day.   I came home and made a roasted chicken with sweet potatoes and a salad, then we drove around the county looking at over-the-top Christmas lights!  Here are some more photos:











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