SAVE THE DATE! Our Sonoma Raceway Spring Hike is coming back April 19th, 2026!

Posted February 20, 2026

Filed under Events, Fundraising, Hiking, Scenic Views, Spring

YES!!! The Sonoma Overlook Trail Stewards are excited to offer once again our ever-popular, super sellout event this spring,
the Sonoma Raceway Hike!
┏(-_-)┛┗(-_- )┓┗(-_-)┛┏(-_-)┛
SAVE THE DATE!
Sunday, April 19th, 2026 ~ 10 am
Rain Date: Saturday, May 2nd, 2026

A glorious, guided hike overlooking the bay….

Mark your calendar for an unforgettable spring hike through the hills of Sonoma Raceway’s 1,600-acre property on Sun, April 19, 10 am. Enjoy fabulous bay and vineyard views with wildflowers and quite possibly “woolly weeders” hard at work. Choose the three- or five-mile route; a light lunch will follow.

All proceeds will benefit the all-volunteer Sonoma Overlook Trail Stewards to help keep the trail in tip-top shape. We stewards will be on hand to hike along with you. This is a great opportunity to support your local trail and take in the panorama of open space along San Pablo Bay.

Ticket cost and details coming soon; we wanted friends of the trail to be the first to know about the return of this beloved event. Please save a spot on your calendar and tell your hiking buddies!

Sssnakes….

Posted April 30, 2025

Filed under Reptiles, Snakes, Spring

California Night Snake

It’s that time again: spring! Nature has been staging post-winter awakenings around here for weeks now, and due to what was another healthy rainy season, there is an abundance of plant life, which fuels a myriad of other life. Wildflowers, fawns, bees, lizards, and…snakes!

This little friend popped up in a pile of gravel on a trail work day last weekend. He/she is a California night snake (Hypsiglena torquata nuchalata), one of the rarest snakes in Sonoma County and although mildly venomous, known to be harmless to humans. California night snakes are nocturnal and are generally about 7 inches long at birth; this one was likely at its first molt. When coiled, it could have fit on a nickel. Their diet includes insects, lizards and other snakes.

Continue reading →

Hummmmmmmmm

Posted April 8, 2025

Filed under Bees, Insects, Spring

You may have noticed, on your treks up the Overlook Trail, that we have some fuzzy friends living in the base of a multi-trunk tree on the left just beyond the main trail/Rattlesnake Cutoff Trail junction. These European honey bees, also known as Western honey bees (Apis mellifera), are the most common kind of honey bee and are a generally docile sort with a placid temperament, only stinging when threatened.

Like all honey bees, European honey bees are extremely social, creating colonies of up to tens of thousands of bees, sometimes as high as 40,000 to 80,000. A hollow tree is an ideal habitat. The bees build intricate wax structures within to house food and their cooperatively raised brood. Colonial activities are organized via complex communication between individuals, untilizing both pheromones and the waggle dance!

So, enjoy the buzz as you go by and leave them bee. Considering that bees worldwide are seriously threatened by pests, diseases and pesticides, we count ourselves lucky to host these little friends.