Love, Lizard Style

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Filed under Lizards, Love
Love Lizard Style

Sonoma Overlook Trail, May 8, 2024

Words of affirmation, acts of service, receiving gifts, quality time, physical touch…the five classic Love Languages.

Lizards have their own seduction style. Redefining the term “love bite,” lizard courtship is known to include the male clenching his desired tightly behind the neck, for hours or even days, until she becomes ready to mate.

Sonoma Overlook Trail lizards are no exception; if you come upon a pair thusly engaged, please leave them undisturbed!  The female will emerge from the ritual unharmed.

We Overlook Stewards revere lizards for their own sake as well as for a particular aspect of their role in the eco system that contributes to the protection of humans.  Our local breeds of lizards, including the western fence lizard and the northern alligator lizard shown here, eat ticks and also contain a protein that kills the spirochetes in the guts of Lyme infected ticks. So if an infected tick bites one of these lizards, it’s cured of its Lyme Disease.  This doesn’t preclude the need to take caution in regards to ticks, but it’s one more reason to appreciate our little friends on the trail.

How to Take Care of Your Feet on a Hike or Ruck

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Filed under Hiking

“…if you ever do have to hoof it over a long distance, you’ll quickly come to see how essential it is to know how to keep your feet in tip-top shape; the health of your dogs can mean the difference between an enjoyable outing and a terrible one, and even between life and death.”

How to Take Care of Your Feet on a Hike or Ruck

The mountains are calling….

Why We Do What We Do

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Filed under Stewardship, Trail Maintenance

IMG_4001I’ve long intended to bring my recent campaign of tread renewal/trail smoothing from the Overlook Trail to the Montini Preserve, and today I finally did. There had been a short section that I had had my eye on for quite some time, as it checked two big boxes for needing attention: 1) a really rocky and awkward trail, and 2) a section so awkward that hikers and runners had started a mini trail around the awkward part, thus needlessly widening the trail.

Therefore this morning I got our trail wagon out of our toolshed in the Mountain Cemetery, loaded up some buckets with aggregate, threw some tools and all the rest in the back of my SUV and headed up to the trail. Entering from Norrbom Road on Rattlesnake Cutoff, I pulled the wagon into the middle of the Montini Preserve to the section I wanted to fix.

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SEEKING OUTREACH VOLUNTEERS!

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Filed under Fundraising, Stewardship

Overlook VolunteerAre you a devotee of the Overlook Trail? (Heck, aren’t we all?) We SOT Stewards are seeking new volunteers to help with outreach and fundraising and we’d LOVE for you to join us!!! No minimum commitment or required hours; just join us and pitch in where you can.

With over 60,000 visits a year, Sonoma Overlook Trail is in one sense the largest nonprofit in the Valley. What better cause than this natural, nurturing space to devote a few spare hours? PLUS, did you know that volunteering is good for your brain?!? Yes!! CONTACT US now for more info….