Before (in the rear), and after (in the foreground).

Back in August 2025 the trail maintenance crew of the Sonoma Overlook Trail began a project to completely rehabilitate the Upper Loop of the trail. For those familiar with the trail, you likely know what this meant. Roughly half of the Upper Loop was deeply (at least 6 inches) entrenched and eroded, while all the lower half and some of the upper half was very rocky.

In mid-September 2025 we collaborated with Terence Erickson with the City of Sonoma Public Works and Dan Son, the caretaker of an adjoining property, to have a City dump truck deliver a load of aggregate to the top of the trail. Terence also found us a 120-gallon water tank we could install nearby, and Don Son agreed to fill it as we needed. That meant we were totally supplied to essentially completely rebuild the upper loop. We were off to the races.

Rehabbing the upper part meant mostly cutting down the lower edge of the trail (berm) and throwing it and more dirt into the trail to regain an appropriate out slope. Once we regained a good slope, we covered it with a layer of Mayacama Red (Pathway Fines Only) aggregate from the Mark West Bodean Quarry that the SOT Chair specified that the City purchase for our use. In our experience, once you water this aggregate very well and pack it down, it tends to harden up almost like concrete.

The lower half of the upper loop was much more difficult, since it was extremely rocky, with a fair amount of bedrock that required a lot of chipping with our cordless rock chisel (see the before and after photo). But we also completely removed many rocks with a rock hammer, rock bar, and the rock chisel. If you look just below the trail, you can see many of those rocks. We also cut berm back up onto the trail as well as gathered soil from around the property to regain a good out slope and finally covered it over with the aggregate. To do the lower half required another dump truck load of aggregate as well as refilling our water tank, which was performed with alacrity by our appreciated collaborators.

As of today, all the major work has been completed. There are only a couple mopping up operations left.

With this project we’ve demonstrated that our all-volunteer crew can completely rehabilitate (essentially rebuild) the trail. We are now off to other projects, until we have the trail to the point where only minor maintenance will be required to keep it very hikeable and runnable.

We hope you enjoy it.

William “Bill” Wilson has championed Sonoma Overlook Trail’s more complex endeavors for over 12 years.  His engineering background and technical chops inform his immense contribution to our team. Enjoy this exchange between Bill and his wife, Overlook Steward Mary Nesbitt!

What sparked your personal interest in the Overlook Trail?
We discovered the trail in 2004 on one of many visits to northern California, looking for the right place to retire. Ten years later, settled in Sonoma and enjoying the Valley’s splendid natural beauty and network of trails, we heard from Joanna Kemper, then chair of the volunteer Overlook stewards, that a project was brewing in which we might be interested. And so the multi-year effort to thoroughly rehabilitate the Overlook Trail began.

What’s your background?
My working life was mostly in the heavy truck and trailer industry in the U.S. and Canada. Trucks and trails–quite different animals. But as an engineering manager, I was often involved in project management and those skills are transferrable.

What have you learned from the Overlook rehabilitation?
Some engineers have a saying: ”When in doubt, make it stout, out of things you know about.” It was the second element that proved the greater challenge. I‘ve really enjoyed learning from trail designers, geologists and others about the variety of soils and rock in these hills and how best to work with them to create a more durable trail for future generations to enjoy.

Bill managing a specialized crew

What’s the best part of being an Overlook steward?
I derive a lot of pleasure from working a project with other like-minded people–the common purpose of defining it, planning it, raising funds for it, and then watching and helping a group of young people (a specialized trail crew) struggle, learn and overcome the challenges of trail rebuilding. It’s wonderful to see and feel their pride in accomplishment.

What’s next with the trail?
The Stewards have one last major undertaking before them: replacing the old wooden steps about 100 yards in from the kiosk. In trail design, it is known as a “control point”; it’s the only way through, and confined by Norrbom Road on one side and a “vernal swale” on the other. The railway ties are rotten in places and cracked and bowed in others. We will replace them with stone once the design is finalized, hopefully with work starting in 2027.