Taylor Mountain Regional Park

After the big trip down to Tomales Point, we opted for something closer to home today:  Taylor Mountain Regional Park.   Sara and I had to be in Santa Rosa anyway, so we took a late-afternoon walk here.  We chose to do the Todd Creek trail, which connects to the Western Route trail to make it a loop.  There are much longer and more challenging trails, but this was perfect for today!   


Taylor mountain Park is essentially hilly Oak Woodlands with vistas overlooking Santa Rosa.  The Todd Creek trail, which we had all to ourselves, goes up into an oak forest for a lovely walk through the woods and a vista of Santa Rosa, then back down along the creek, which was almost completely dry.  I definitely enjoyed the winter sky and the golden afternoon sun.




It has started to get a bit more green from our last few rains as you can see in the photos, so a bit more enjoyable than the brown, crunchy parks that I visited a month ago.    Along the Western Trail, there are a lot of people walking and wearing masks.  Its a popular park, and the lot was almost full.  They also have an 18-hole disc golf course, which was heavily in use today.  If you want to get away from people, this is probably not the place, but you can get a little bit of space.  It is part of the Sonoma County Regional Parks, so there us a $7 parking fee, unless you have an annual pass (which I do, and I highly recommend).  I'm also excited to share that I received my CA State Parks pass, so I'll be visiting some of the local state parks coming up soon! Here's a few more pics:




Comments

Post a Comment

Popular posts from this blog

Mt. Tamalpais State Park / Cataract Trail

Image
 One of my all time favorite places to hike in the North Bay is Mt. Tamalpais State Park.   I used to hike here all the time when I lived in Sausalito.  The trail I chose to hike is the Cataract Trail starting from the Rock Spring Parking lot.  I wanted to hike here because it was my favorite hike to take with my dog Bonsai.  She is now 17 years old, and we are preparing to send to her soul over the rainbow bridge.  I've been doing a lot of reminiscing about her, and all the many hours we spent hiking together.  This was our favorite trail to hike together.  It is rare for a CA State Park to allow dogs on the trail, and this park does, but you have to keep them on leash.  We actually saw some people being lectured by a Ranger about their dogs being off leash.  He gave them a warning, and he said next time it would be a $300 fine.  I used to let Bonsai off leash here all the time (oops!).  This trail is so beautiful because it ...
Read more

Kortum Trail - Wright's Beach to Shell Beach

Image
Today, I took a solo hike on the Kortum Trail from Wright's Beach to Shell Beach.  It was exactly the medicine I needed to breathe and take my mind off the insurrection that happened at the Capitol the previous day.  I have been glued to the news, so I needed to break away.  Naturally, I decided that the coast would be the best place for me to breathe... breathe the sweet smells of the fresh, ocean air, feel the sun on my skin, move my body, and feast my eyes on the dramatic beauty of the Sonoma Coast State Park. As I drove out to the beach, I listened to the news on NPR while taking in the stunning views in West Sonoma County.  I feel so blessed that I live in this place, where I can escape to nature easily as a relief to what things that are out of my control.  This was the view from my parking spot at Wright's Beach.  .....Exhale... As I arrived at Wright's Beach Campground, I quickly realized that there is a parking lot immediately off to the right of ...
Read more

Hamilton Wetlands Trail / Bay Trail

Image
This morning, I ventured down to Novato with my bike to take a ride on the Hamilton Wetlands Trail , which is by the old Hamilton Airfield.  I rode on this trail with Sierra on Black Friday, and I absolutely loved it!  Everywhere I looked, I saw beautiful scenery and lots of birds.   The trail is a 2.7 mile flat stretch along San Pablo Bay.  It is a beautiful, wide, well-maintained trail with great parking and even Chargepoint EV charging stations.   It is part of the 500 mile Bay trail , and I am now motivated and fascinated to explore the Bay Trail!  Check out the website, it's pretty impressive. Today, I went North on the trail, to see how far it goes, and I was surprised at how far it went, then I went back South to the other end - probably about 4 mile in total.  I swear I had a smile on my face the whole time - it was chilly and a bit rainy, but it was so beautiful I didn't mind.  It also made it easier to wear a mask when I needed...
Read more