Category Archives: Trail Maintenance

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

Posted
Filed under Land Maintenance, Trail Maintenance

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

Trail rehab update: A little peek to whet your appetite for what’s to come…!

Posted
Filed under Land Maintenance, Trail Maintenance
Trail Construction

Building a rock border to prevent “trail creep”

Our current trail rehab project is well underway! The specialized crew we’ve brought in to undertake this endeavor, American Conservation Experience (ACE), is hard into the second “hitch” or work segment of the project, which is scheduled to wrap up on May 21. These improvements are designed to last beyond our lifetimes and will help ameliorate the rougher bits of SOT’s upper trail section.

The first hitch went pretty well, save the need to navigate a bit of poison oak and a quick visit from a rattler.  Morale is good and the crew assigned to this project are determined, mighty and enthusiastic.

Continue reading →

Overlook upper trail closed March 5-May 21!

Posted
Filed under Events, Trail Maintenance

Trail closedHello SOT devotees! Heads up: the upper trail on Sonoma Overlook Trail, from the Toyon Trail connection and higher, is closed from March 5th through May 21st as a specialized crew undertakes some dearly needed trail bed maintenance. Some of the remaining rocky sections will be smoothed and additional sections of steps installed, so you can look forward to a much nicer cruise up the trail.

We invite you to continue to use the lower trail system, including Toyon and Rattlesnake trails, as well as Montini Open Space Preserve and other local trail systems. As a reminder, the Valley of the Moon trail on Montini loops up and back down to the main trail and includes luscious, sweeping views down to the Bay and along the Valley.

If you would like to contribute to our trail rehab fund, we’d be thrilled. Thank you!

The Cyclone and the Damage Done

Posted
Filed under Fall, Trail Maintenance, Weather

Santa Rosa received more rain in three days than ever before in recorded weather history, and it seems likely that we had as much or more here in Sonoma. Given that, perhaps it should be surprising that we still have a trail. But I have a hard time not grieving for the havoc that the storm created.

I should point out that the hillside that the Overlook Trail traverses is essentially all rock. I’m reminded of this any time I try to dig up soil to put on the trail. My shovel is more likely to clang into stones than it is to sink into soil. This results in very little rain soaking into the ground—instead, it runs off. What water does sink into the soil only does for short distances, and it soon flows onto the trail which serves as a convenient exit from the rocky hillside.

And exit it did—in many locations and with great volume. On one section in particular, the water then plunged down the trail, blew through a couple small drains and scoured the trail for about 100 feet (see video below of one small section). This will take a lot of work and many wagonloads of aggregate to fix.

But yes, we already have a strong start to our winter rains. I just wish it would come in smaller increments, or over longer periods. Wish us luck.

All the Rocks You Never See

Posted
Filed under Safety, Trail Maintenance

I work on the trail, or hike it, most days. Even as I’m hiking I’m inspecting it. I know the rockiest places, I know where there are roots. I’m even familiar with individual stones. Call me obsessed, but in the best possible way. But yes, still obsessed.

By now I’m sure you know (if you’ve ever read this blog in recent years) that as the Trail Maintenance Chair I’ve been focused on “trail smoothing” or “tread renewal.” Many of our recent monthly volunteer workdays have been mostly focused on this (see this time-lapse video of rebuilding a section for a taste). There’s a reason for that. For many years we volunteer stewards (including me) did not believe in tackling what I now call “rock work.” That is, taking out or chipping down rocks in the trail. And it started to show — often dramatically so. Entire stretches of trail became difficult to navigate, even for the nimble.

Continue reading →