The terrain is varied through Trione-Annadel State Park in Sonoma County. (Image: Kathryn Reed)

One of the great things about the Oakmont neighborhood of Santa Rosa is the number of entrances to Trione-Annadel State Park. This means getting into this wonderful outdoor playground without going through the front gate, so to speak.

Considering all of the times I’ve been to this park, when I lived in Sonoma County years ago and more recently as a visitor, it amazes me there are still areas that are essentially virgin terrain to me. Even better, I still have more areas to explore. After all, there are about 45 miles of trails in this more than 5,000-acre park.

On the last Friday of March we parked on Oak Mesa Drive. What doubles as a driveway is actually the start to the hike. You’ll see the gate on the right near the top of the street. Just start walking.

This tiny frog blends in with its surroundings. (Image: Kathryn Reed)

While the route is pavement and wide at the get-go, it doesn’t take long before you feel like civilization is miles and miles away. First, though, you walk on White Oak Drive, which is part of a gated community—which is why we didn’t start there.

Then we were on Two Quarry Trail, Marsh Trail, and then took a no name well used shortcut up to Ridge Trail that had us circle back to Two Quarry as we exited the park. Being on the ridge we were able to see Mount Diablo in the distance.

We did a little side exploration that was an out and back to see where some other connectors are; and instead of going around Ledson Marsh we cut through a user created trail in a meadow to get back to Two Quarry.

Most trails in the park are single track. Some looked fun if we had been on two wheels, some not so much. All were ideal for hiking.

A few mountain bikers shared the trail with us. All were polite.

Various shades of green fill Trione-Annadel State Park in the spring. (Image: Kathryn Reed)

Wildflowers were out, though not in abundance. The grasses so green. Spring really is an ideal time to be here before the hills turn golden.

The thing about this state park in the middle of a city with more than 177,000 residents, is that it almost makes you feel like you are in wilderness. This is especially true when entering where the masses are not. It’s likely you’ll only see a handful of people if you start in the neighborhood.

In all, we did 5.52 miles with an elevation gain of 712 feet. The minimum elevation was 864 feet and the maximum 1,446 feet.