Happy Hikers

Posted
Filed under Hiking, Seasons, Winter

Now that it’s winter and we spend more time indoors, it is SO-o-o-o-o enjoyable to start the day with a hike on the Overlook Trail.  Maybe a tad of cabin fever is being experienced here in Sonoma, because we had a BIG group of Happy Hikers show up today for our Wednesday morning hike. . . .Come join us any Wednesday at 8:30 for a Cabin Fever Cure.

PS. . . A HUGE thank you to Stewards Roy, Lynn, and Bill for getting the fallen tree on the trail removed PRONTO so that our hike was safe and  unobstructed.

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It Takes a Team

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Filed under Philosophical Musings, Stewardship, Trail Maintenance

One of the things I’ve enjoyed the most about becoming a Sonoma Overlook Trail Steward is being part of a motivated, energetic, and inspiring group of individuals who all love the land and hiking out in it. But now and then I’m reminded that the official stewards group is only the tip of the spear, as it were, in keeping the trail safe and well-maintained. This week was one of those times.

Usually I’m out on the trail every day when I’m not away, but this week found me in bed on Monday with a cold I caught in the wake of two weeks in Thailand. Literally on my sick bed I received a text message from Melissa Beasley, a friend who is a yoga teacher for The Lodge and also leads hikes on the Overlook Trail several days a week. She had in turn received a text message from her colleague Lisa Turchet, who also is a yoga teacher for The Lodge and also leads those hikes. Lisa was warning Melissa about a tree down on the trail (see photo), and suggesting she might want to consider alternate routes for the hikes she might lead later in the week. Before I had even gotten out of bed, I fired off an email to a couple colleagues who assist with trail maintenance, Lynn Clary and Bill Wilson, hoping that one or more of them could get by there and help mitigate the hazard. Bill also serves as our liaison with the City, so I knew he would report it to the City so they could come out with a chainsaw and do a full removal.

Sure enough, within hours Lynn, Bill, and Richard Gibson, another steward, were on it and had at least made it possible to more easily pass with care. Since Monday was a City holiday, it took another day or two to get it fully removed, but now it no longer presents a hazard. All told, at least six different individuals or groups were involved, working in concert, to get this resolved, and only half were actual trail stewards.

This experience is not rare, but it served to remind me how we stewards serve within a much larger community of those who care about the trails and the land that they pass through. It takes a team, and that team is much larger than I think any of us can fully grasp. Thank you all, for your love and support. It’s appreciated.

Kudos For the Trail

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Filed under Stewardship, Trail Maintenance

The Overlook Trail Stewards are happy to have the challenge of maintaining the wonderful resource that so many of us love. But every now and then it’s nice to know such work is appreciated. So it was with delight that we recently came upon this very nice (and accurate!) Letter to the Editor in the Sonoma Index-Tribune:

Overlook not to be overlooked

EDITOR: My wife and I are part-time Sonoma residents, but one of the resources we have enjoyed since arriving a few years ago is the wonderful Sonoma Overlook Trail just on the northern edge of town.

We especially like the combination of shade and sun, forests and grasses, while making the gentle climb to the top. It’s not even a mile from Mountain Cemetery to the peak and less than a 400-feet elevation gain, but the reward is a stunning view of Sonoma and the surrounding countryside you can’t get anywhere else so close to town. Last week we could see the Salesforce Tower and the Bank of America building looming over downtown San Francisco.

Our only minor complaints were that the trail was very rocky and steep in some areas, and suffered erosion both from downpours and from hikers straying off the paths.

A set of stairs to assist hikers and improve drainage.

Imagine our delight returning to Sonoma this autumn to find a renovated trail complete with drain dips and water bars, graded and stabilized paths, and a series of beautiful stone steps making the trail even more accessible and inviting. We prefer going up through the cemetery at the top of Second Street East, but you can drive to a number of accessible starting points and park for free everywhere.

We want to thank the Sonoma Overlook Stewards led by Joanna Kemper, Sonoma’s Public Works Department, the Sonoma Ecology Center, and those 12 hardy young people from the American Conservation Experience – how they moved those huge stone steps up the hill will forever remain a mystery. We are grateful to all of you for making a wonderful resource even better.

Richard Weiss

Sonoma

Thanks, Richard, for taking the time to write such a nice letter. You’re welcome!

Poison Oak is Back

Posted
Filed under Plant Life, Poison Oak, Seasons, Winter

Since western poison oak (Toxicodendron diversilobum) typically loses its leaves in the Fall and doesn’t start leafing out again until after the first of the year, you might be surprised to know that it is coming out now, as I was (see photo taken today). Chalk it up to global warming, I suppose, but the result is that poison oak season is elongating — it’s starting earlier and likely ending later, although I don’t have evidence of it.

This is bad news for hikers, and the stewards who try to keep it cut back off the trail. But since I haven’t yet had a chance to get out there with clippers (perhaps tomorrow), be careful. I’ve seen a few sprouts right at the edge of the trail.

Part of what makes poison oak tough to spot is that it presents differently at different times of year and in different growing conditions. To see some of this variability, see this web site, which has a number of pictures of poison oak in various stages of its life and in different growing conditions. Also, poison oak will often vine up into bushes and small trees, blending in with the other vegetation, which makes it even harder to spot. I’ve often missed noticing poison oak in such situations, even when actively looking for it.

Our program of control is limited to keeping it about 3 feet off the trail, as since it is a native species we aren’t interested in eradicating it like we are invasive species such as Italian and Yellow Star thistle. So if you stay on the trail you should be safe, at least after I get out with the clippers, but it doesn’t hurt to be vigilant.

 

Thistle Pulling Season Has Begun

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Filed under Invasive Species, Italian Thistle, Plant Life, Stewardship, Yellow Star Thistle

Lately I’ve noticed that Italian Thistle has been coming up, since recent rains have kept the soil moist and we haven’t had freezing temperatures at night. In the past, I haven’t started pulling it until February or March, but I see no reason to wait. When the soil is moist it’s easiest to get it out by the root, and since there is no danger of it going to seed it can be simply tossed aside. Later, we will need to bag it and carry it out, which is no fun.

Although we’ve been making very good progress with Yellow Star Thistle (YST) after half-a-dozen seasons of concentrated effort, and we may actually be close to declaring victory (fingers crossed!), Italian Thistle has, in a number of cases, apparently been moving into the new territory cleared of the YST. This is alarming, as Italian Thistle is even more dangerous than YST, as it will grow anywhere. At least YST is limited to sunlit meadows.

Italian Thistle has essentially overrun the Montini Preserve, so my only goal there this year is to keep it off the trails so it doesn’t bother hikers. On the Overlook Trail property, I will start the same way by first concentrating on the trail edges, but then I also hope to be able to work on the Upper Meadow, as there are clumps there that threaten to spread and coalesce across the entire meadow unless it’s controlled.

So if you’re out on the trail and see what appears to be a gardener pulling weeds, it’s just me, keeping up the ongoing war against invasive species. Maybe say Hi.