Category Archives: Trail Maintenance

The Upper Loop Project, Part 1

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Before

For about 22 years, water created a ditch on the upper part of the Upper Loop of the Sonoma Overlook Trail and sent a creek down a “climbing turn” above the bench at the top of the trail, eroding it down to expose big rocks that are now well above the trail bed (see photo). Perhaps you know of it. Over the years, it became a complete mess. A shit-show, actually. I would hate to know what hikers and runners thought about it. I hated it. 

For years, I pondered what to do about it; then eventually, it hit me. I would break down the central rocks and simply take the trail straight up the center. But first I needed to deal with the drainage leading up to it, which was a real problem. This is because the water was flowing straight down the trail. Continue reading →

Our Current Overlook Trail Renewal Campaign

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If you’ve been reading our posts here for any length of time, you know that I’m somewhat obsessed with trail smoothing. That is, removing rocks from the trail so that hikers, and more importantly, runners, don’t trip (I’ve take a few bad falls while running myself, so this is quite personal). But it’s also more than that. 

The badly ditched trail

We also very much need to regain control of water on the trail, which means removing ditching and regaining ,at minimum, a 5-degree outslope on the tread. So I’ve been on a campaign to do just that, and recently I’ve become enabled to take this campaign to the very top of the trail.

Two key things recently happened to make this possible:

  1. The City of Sonoma bought and delivered a pile of aggregate (Mayacama Red Pathway Fines Only, to be specific) to the top of the trail, going through a neighboring vineyard property with their very appreciated cooperation (thank you, Dan and Andrea Son!).
  2. In cooperation with the same vineyard property as well as City of Sonoma Public Works  (thank you Terence Erickson!), who kindly donated a 120-gallon water tank that was subsequently filled by the vineyard property staff, we now have everything we need to get serious about fixing the entire Upper Loop of the Sonoma Overlook Trail.

Continue reading →

The Great Wall of Montini

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Recently, we’ve been redoubling our volunteer maintenance efforts at the Montini Preserve by instituting a monthly trail work day in association with staff from Sugarloaf Ridge State Park and Sonoma Ecology Center.

One of the jobs we wanted to tackle early on was a particularly sketchy spot that had narrowed from a rock falling out of the trail. This was just above a steep hill that if someone fell, they could really get hurt. On the first work day the team determined a wall, or more accurately a buttress, would need to be built up from some distance below the trail to support the trail and enable us to widen it safely. Continue reading →

Heavy Lifting

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Moving boulders is a science

A hardy band of young men and women from California, Florida, Illinois and other states spent 12 weeks earlier this year solving hard problems — large sections of bare, rough rock in the Overlook trail bed.

As regular users know, the upper trail was closed between the Toyon Junction and the summit during the project. What went on beyond the “Trail Closed” tape? Every morning, a six-person crew from American Conservation Experience arrived around 7:30 a.m. from their campsite at Sugarloaf, did the daily stretch, and discussed the day’s plan. Then they hiked up to the site.

Continue reading →

Lace up your Hoka’s: The upper loop is open! 🥾🥾

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Yes, the rumors are true: the upper section of the Overlook Trail is open!

The entire trail bed rehabilitation has been completed right on time, conducted over 11 weeks by nonprofit organization American Conservation Experience (ACE) in partnership with the Sonoma Overlook Trail Stewards and the City of Sonoma.  Additional steps, rock walls and drainage features have been installed to protect the integrity of the trail and to make the way more sustainable, walkable and enjoyable.  These improvements should last for decades and make our jobs as Overlook Stewards much easier.

We want to thank those of you who donated to this cause and those who had the patience and thoughtfulness to stay off of the trail whilst the ACE team did their intensive work; we know it wasn’t easy.  😜  We also thank Sonoma Police Department for helping us keep the work zone safe and clear.

Welcome back, Sonoma.  The Overlook awaits.

Before and after:
Trail Smoothing