Seeing Stars at Sugarloaf Ridge State Park

Photo by Jessica Taekman.

by Jessica Taekman

Straddling the mountains between the Napa and Sonoma valleys, Sugarloaf Ridge State Park offers spectacular vistas from windswept Bald Mountain. Hike up the mostly paved 2.8-mile trail to the 2,729-foot-high summit, and the reward will be views of Mount St. Helena, Mount Tamalpais, and Mount Diablo--and, on the clearest days, the Golden Gate Bridge to the southwest and Pyramid Peak in the Sierra, over 129 miles away on the eastern horizon.

The park offers more than 20 miles of trails through shady oak woodlands, open chaparral, and tree-lined meadows watered by Sonoma Creek and its tributaries. When fed by winter rains, the creek also fuels a 25-foot waterfall that's easily accessible from the Canyon Trail, below the park campgrounds.

Winter rains contribute to a flamboyant display of wildflowers, including poppies, cream cups, lupine, penstemon, shooting stars, trillium, and Indian warrior. During any season, hikers will find woodlands with Douglas ﬁr, buckeye, live oak, big-leaf maple, and bay laurel.

The park's Robert Ferguson Observatory, run by the nonprofit Valley of the Moon Observatory Association, houses a 40-inch reflecting telescope, one of the nation's largest solely for public viewing.

Getting there: Take Highway 101 north to Highway 12. Go east 11 miles, then left on Adobe Canyon Road, and north to the park. $6 per vehicle day use fee.

Bay Area native Jessica Taekman spends her spare time hiking, surfing, and baking.