'Senior Saunters’ make Sonoma County’s many parks more accessible

Some people approach hiking with the zeal of mountain climbers - the bigger, the harder, the better.

And then there is Sonoma County Regional Parks’ “Senior Saunters” program, which is geared toward those whose interest in hiking aligns more with a pleasurable stroll.

Held the first Tuesday of each month, Senior Saunters brings the county’s myriad park offerings to within reach of almost anyone.

Participants report “they really like the accessibility factor of a trail, rather than being daunted by a hike,” said Shelly Spriggs, a parks program assistant with regional parks who leads the senior program.

On a recent Tuesday morning, a half-dozen people joined a Senior Saunters event at Riverfront Regional Park near Healdsburg and Windsor. Following introductions and sips of cocoa brought by Spriggs, the group headed out along the park’s main path.

It wasn’t long before they were wowed by the sight of a bald eagle circling overhead, and by a pair of cormorants basking on a log in one of the park’s two lakes.

Around the bend, Spriggs stopped to point out two different varieties of blackberry bushes, one of them native to Sonoma County and the other, the Himalayan blackberry, brought in from elsewhere. The latter is considered invasive in this area, a fact Spriggs noted by showing off how the bush is crowding out other species of plants.

“This is essentially a barbed wire fence for animals,” said Spriggs, a Graton native.

The excursion was one of about a dozen Barry and Jan Gubrud have taken with Spriggs since the couple moved to Santa Rosa from Virginia in August 2017. The hikes have helped the couple - both retired federal defense contractors - to acclimate to their adopted home and to discover its many ?natural wonders.

“It’s so diverse,” Barry Gubrud said of Sonoma County.

Jay McAllister, a semi-retired landscape contractor from Geyserville, has driven by Riverfront countless times. But the Senior Saunters stroll was the first time he’d ever stepped foot in the park. He said he is planning more outings.

The program, which debuted in 2018, helps regional parks fulfill its mandate of making parks accessible to people of all ages and abilities. That mirrors a statewide effort to upgrade and add facilities for the disabled at parks.

Parks selected for the Tuesday walkabouts in Sonoma County feature easy access, as well as easy to navigate trails.

That is, unless Mother Nature intervenes. The Riverfront group had to cut short their excursion due to trail flooding, the result of winter storms overfilling lakes inside the park.

Normally, walkers can access the full 2-mile Lake Trail, which loops around Lake Benoist and includes a short spur to a small gravel beach on the Russian River. The half-mile Redwood Hill Trail climbs through a grove of coast redwoods.

Riverfront features a total of 3.12 miles of trails for hiking, biking and horseback riding. The park is a perennial top vote-getter in rankings compiled by the parks department.

Sonoma County’s parks network spans more than 55 parks, trails and beaches, totaling 12,000 acres and more than 150 miles of trails for running, hiking and biking.

The next Senior Saunters excursion is set for March 5 at the Coastal Prairie Trail in Bodega Bay. Future outings include the West County Regional in Forestville (April 5) and Cloverdale River Park (May 7).

For more information, visit parks.sonomacounty.ca.gov.