If you are putting up with my ramblings on this blog, you clearly love the Sonoma Overlook Trail and Montini Preserve enough that you are a true nature lover. Like me.

So like me, you are probably amazed at the embarrassment of open space riches that are ours here in the Sonoma Valley. Starting from the Bay and going north, here are a number of our choices (and amazingly, not all of them by any means):

• The Sonoma Baylands USFWS Refuge
• San Pablo National Wildlife Refuge
• Bartholomew Park (unfortunately, still closed as of this writing from the October 2017 fires, check their website for availability)
• Sonoma Overlook Trail (well, duh)
• Montini Preserve (totally, you’re here)
• Maxwell Farms Regional Park
• Sonoma Valley Regional Park
• Bouverie Wildflower Preserve
• Quarryhill Botanical Garden (see photo of intact park below damage from the October 2017 fires)
• Jack London State Park (locally managed by a non-profit association)
• North Sonoma Mountain Regional Park
• Sugarloaf State Park (locally managed by a non-profit association)
• Trione-Annadel Regional Park

From top to bottom the southernmost park is only 45 minutes away from the northernmost. This means that most people who live in Sonoma Valley (some 11,000+ people) are only about 20 minutes away, or much less, from all of these open spaces. Truly an amazing array of opportunities for exploring the outdoors, from baylands, to mountains well over 2,000 feet.

Not long ago my wife and I visited the Willamette Valley in Oregon, to taste their storied Pinot Noir wines. One morning we wanted to find a place to hike, and barely found even one place to do it. We are truly blessed here in Sonoma Valley, with so many options for outdoor recreation. I call the outdoors my “spin class,” as you will never find me in a gym. Give me the outdoors. Ever the outdoors. I will see you there.