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Before shorter days, winter weather and, harsher still, the state budget take their toll, get out and enjoy the three nearby state parks. While you can, and while they’re in their prime.
Early in the state budget crisis it was feared more than 200 of the California 279 state parks might be closed, with Sonoma, Jack London and Sugarloaf on the potential chopping block.
Now Gov. Arnold Schwarzenegger has announced that all of California’s state parks will remain open. The catch: reduced hours, meaning less access. And reduced or deferred maintenance, which translates into ill-kept trails, un-repaired buildings and dirty bathrooms.
The partial or seasonal closing of some parks is likely as well, so your favorite trail may be put off-limits, or the whole park closed for weeks or months at a time.
Elizabeth Goldstein, director of the California State Parks Foundation (CSPF), said the governor’s solution is not at all a restoration of funding. “While the Governor has found a clever way to get political cover on this issue, it’s not clear that this plan won’t actually leave Californians with just as limited access to their state parks as if they had been fully closed,” she said.
In other words, put on your walking shoes. Play tourist. Get out and enjoy the beauty – before the paint at the visitor’s center starts to peel.
Sonoma State Historic Park couldn’t be more convenient, with its multiple historic structures arrayed around the Plaza. The main attractions are the Mission San Francisco Solano and the Sonoma Barracks; nearby are the Toscano Hotel and the Servants Quarters.
About a half-mile walk away along the bike path, and included in the one price of admission, is the Vallejo Home. The estate of General Mariano Guadalupe Vallejo has, to this point, been fastidiously preserved, complete with period furnishings. A short trail winds up the wooded hill behind the house.
Jack London State Historic Park in Glen Ellen contains the cottage residence where the author and adventurer lived, and the barns and structures used in his progressive agricultural endeavors. Short walks lead to his grave, the dramatic ruins of his ‘Wolf House’ and London home now used as a museum.
Longer and more demanding trails weave up the mountain, through redwoods and around streams, to the spectacular summit vista.
Sugarloaf Ridge State Park has 21 miles of trails, including a self-guided nature trail along Sonoma Creek. From its headwaters on the mountain, the winter creek runs through a canyon and across the flowery meadow to a 25-foot waterfall.
Within the 2,700-acre park – which rises from 600 feet to 2,729 at the top of Bald Mountain — are chaparral-covered ridges, forestland along open meadows and a redwood forest in the creek canyon.
Of the three parks mentioned here, Sugarloaf is the only one to offer overnight camping. Of course that means park rangers, which takes money, which means you better visit before the weather gets cold or the ‘closed’ sign comes out.
