Sonoma County opens new hiking trail in Hood Mountain Regional Park

Outdoors enthusiasts have a new trail to explore in the Mayacamas Mountains above the Sonoma Valley.

The Lawson Trail recently opened to the public in the Hood Mountain Regional Park and Open Space Preserve for hikers, cyclists and equestrians.

The 2-mile trail climbs through oak and chaparral forests, up to a vista overlooking the San Pablo and San Francisco bays and the adjacent Sugarloaf Ridge State Park. It’s the first part of a multi-stage plan to develop a 4-mile trail network on a 247-acre section on the west side of Hood Mountain.

Sonoma County’s Agricultural Preservation and Open Space District acquired the land in 2005 for $1.16 million and transferred it to Sonoma County Regional Parks in 2014. The district also contributed $485,000 to maintain the property. Additional funding to build the trail and link it to the rest of the 2,000-acre park came from grants and the Measure M sales tax Sonoma County voters approved in 2018.

“Parks and trails are essential to our health and wellness, now more than ever, and we’re fortunate to be expanding our park lands and creating opportunities to enjoy nature,” Bert Whitaker, county regional parks director, said in a prepared statement.

Susan Gorin, chair of the Sonoma County Board of Supervisors, whose district includes the park, said the new trail is a testament to the open space district’s effort to buy and preserve land for future generations.

“That is the beauty of willing property owners to recognize the value of these long-loved properties,” Gorin said.

On Friday, smoke from wildfires burning throughout Northern California, Oregon and Washington fouled the air in the park, deterring potential hikers.

Despite the poor quality, Al Martinson decided to check out the Lawson Trail with his dog, Murry. Martinson said he thought it was beautiful, not too steep and with a nice pitch.

Much of the park that the trail winds through was burned during the Nuns fire in 2017, and many pine and oak trees bear scars from the blaze. New seedlings can be seen sprouting at the bases of scorched trees.

“It is a wonder to see the park as a living laboratory for the natural role of fire and fire ecology and recovery,” said Gorin, who recently hiked the new trail.

That section of the Hood Mountain park was the site of several homesteads in the late 19th and early 20th centuries before the Lawsons, a family of cattle ranchers, bought the property in the 1960s. Prior to that, local indigenous tribes including the Wappo, Southern Pomo and Coast Miwok took care of the land.

Lawson Trail can be reached at 1450 Pythian Road in the park. The trail begins about a mile from the Pythian Road parking lot, from the Lower Johnson Ridge Trail.

You can reach Staff Writer Ethan Varian at ethan.varian@pressdemocrat.com or 707-521-5412. On Twitter @ethanvarian