Tolay Lake Regional Park

Trail
12.00 Miles
355 Feet
$7.00
3point5stars (3.75)4
3stars (3.00)
3stars (3.25)
N/A
Yes
Yes
No
5869 Cannon Lane
Sonoma
Sonoma
More Info

Tolay Lake Regional Park is one of the newest and largest parks in the managed by Sonoma County Regional Parks. At 3,400 acres there is plenty of room to spread out and get some solitude in the hills of southern Sonoma County.

History

The Cardoza Road Trail is one of the few trails in the park with any hint of shade.
The Cardoza Road Trail is one of the few trails in the park with any hint of shade.
The Tolay Creek valley has had cultural significance for Coastal Miwok Indians. It was thought to have been a sacred place used for multi-tribal gatherings. The lake was once the largest lake in Sonoma County prior to the damming of reservoirs. Starting in the 1800's farming and ranching altered the topology of the land and the shape and size of the lake changed as a result.

The park as it exists today consists of two parcels purchased separately by different entities. The Sonoma County Agricultural Preservation and Open Space District purchased the northern half of the park then known as Tolay Lake Ranch. The southern half of the park, known as the Tolay Creek Ranch was purchased by Sonoma Land Trust.

Agricultural pursuits continue to take place at Tolay Lake even after the park's opening. Cattle grazing and hay production are the most prominent, but you'll find some goats, chickens and a miniature pony in the old farm buildings adjacent to the main parking area.

Trails

Coppertone heads down the mountain from Three Bridges Vista Point
Coppertone heads down the mountain from Three Bridges Vista Point
The park occupies the space between two ridges that frame Tolay Creek as is flows towards San Pablo Bay. From one extreme of the park's boundaries to the other one can look to the opposite ridge a over a mile away and see nothing but parkland.

As mentioned above, there is still some active agriculture at Tolay Lake. The most obvious sign of that will be the cows dotted through the fields. In this case the cattle are not separated from the hikers by fences. You'll be walking through their home and you might encounter a few right on the trail. Many are leery of people but are not aggressive.

From Bay View Vista looking SE one can see Mount Diablo in the East Bay in the distance at center.
From Bay View Vista looking SE one can see Mount Diablo in the East Bay in the distance at center.
With cows come cow patties. You'll see lots of it laying about. Keep an eye where you plant your feet, particularly for the fresher samples left behind. Watching your step is also a good idea for the trail surface in general. The trails here are packed dirt tractor/jeep trails with sometimes large tire ruts. Twisting an ankle is a possibility so footwear to protect from such an event is recommended.

A prime consideration for hiking at Tolay Lake is sunscreen. There is precious little shade to be found on the trails. That does provide for sweeping vistas and miles-log views in multiple directions. But for exposed skin that can mean a bad case of sunburn. Cover up and/or apply sunscreen to protect yourself.

There is also no potable water on site. Bring all you'll need for your outing.

Mount Tam resides in the distance at the center of the shot. Rolling in the foreground at the hills of the park. On clearer days the Golden Gate Bridge can be spotted, part of the reason for this spot's name, Three Bridges Vista Point.
Mount Tam resides in the distance at the center of the shot. Rolling in the foreground at the hills of the park. On clearer days the Golden Gate Bridge can be spotted, part of the reason for this spot's name, Three Bridges Vista Point.
One of the few trail segments with any tree cover is the Cardoza Road Trail adjacent to the trailhead. It starts behind the group picnic area. The trail follows a seasonal stream and is lined with Eucalyptus trees.

The longest trail segment is the West Ridge Trail which measures out to 3.55 miles. This segment provides access to two of the highlighted vista points in the park (Petaluma Marsh and Bay View Vistas). At its start the trail may be somewhat marred by the high tension power lines that practically overhang it, but the lines thankfully veer off in another direction when the trail intersects with the Burrowing Owl Trail sparing the remainder of the path.

From the Three Bridges Vista Point, looking out over the width of Tolay creek's valley back towards the park's headquarters and our trailhead.
From the Three Bridges Vista Point, looking out over the width of Tolay creek's valley back towards the park's headquarters and our trailhead.
To enjoy the views at Bay View Vista be prepared for a round trip distance of about 8 miles. The wide view of San Pablo Bay is only interrupted by the looming presence of Cougar Mountain to the south. From the spot one can see Vallejo, Mount Diablo, the Richmond Bridge, Oakland, San Francisco, the Petaluma River and Mount Tam. A possible distraction from natures wonders is the sound of race cars at Sonoma Raceway just on the other side of Cougar Mountain.

The best viewpoint in the park is likely at the end of the East Ridge Trail. From what might be the highest point in the park, one is not only afforded a perch from which to see practically the entirety of the park, but also sweeping views of San Pablo Bay and further afield. When the weather is clear enough it's possible to see the Richmond, Bay and Golden Gate bridges, hence the spot's name, Three Bridges Vista Point.

If you are looking for a bit more solitude on the trail look to some of the trails near the center of the park such as Farm Bridge Trail, Pond Trail and Upload Pond Trail. You won't get to the best viewing spots in the park on these trails but the Tolay Creek Vista along Upland Pond Trail does provide a nice vantage point over much of the park with a nice view back to the trailhead buildings.

Plans are afoot for an expanded array of trails to currently inaccessible areas of the park. A new entrance and parking area off of Highway 121 should provide for easier access for visitors from Sonoma or Napa.

Photos
Headed back
Coppertone leads the way on the West Ridge Trail back our starting point. (Photo by Austin Explorer)
A little bit of everything
Near our turnaround spot the view included a bit of everything to see here. Open grassland, boulders, cows, thin tree lines and even a vineyard in the distance. (Photo by Austin Explorer)
Tolay Lake
Looking down the valley towards Tolay Lake. (Photo by Austin Explorer)
West Ridge Trail
Looking back on the West Ridge Trail. (Photo by Austin Explorer)
Cows and Cowgirls?
The park's resident cows kept a close eye on the equine visitors and their riders along the trail. They were not interested in being rounded up. (Photo by Austin Explorer)
Canyon
Looking up the small canyon that feeds into Vista Pond. (Photo by Austin Explorer)
Looking back
Looking over Fish Pond towards the buildings at the park trailhead. (Photo by Austin Explorer)
Vista Pond
Lots of cows seemed to enjoy the relative solitude around Vista Pond. (Photo by Austin Explorer)
Pond Trail
Pond Trail's surface was dry and fractured at the start. (Photo by Austin Explorer)
Cache Cow
After finding our first Geocache of the day this bovine passed by on its way to better foraging. (Photo by Austin Explorer)
Lakeville Road Trail
Like most trails at Tolay Lake, the path along Lakeville Road Trail is wide with open skies. (Photo by Austin Explorer)
Shade
As the sky cleared and temperatures rose even the cows were seeking shade under this lonely tree. (Photo by Austin Explorer)

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Log Entries
West Ridge Trail out and back
By Austin Explorer on 1/23/2022
Rating: 3stars Difficulty: 3stars Solitude: 3stars
Distance: 6.33 Miles Duration: 2 hours, 21 minutes

When Coppertone and I arrived at Tolay Lake we were initially disappointed and dejected.  The parking area was completely full.  We had never seen it so packed with cars.  We were not aware of any event going on there.  As we drove away Coppertone had the brilliant idea of checking out the equestrian parking lot, which was almost empty.  We did check for signs and didn't see any indication that non-equestrians users were restricted from parking there.

Packed parking lots, strangely, do not always mean packed trails.  We lucked out in the regard.  Because of where the equestion parking lies it connected us directly to the West Ridge Trail, which was our main target for today anyway.  And although we saw people now and then on the trail and always seemed to be within sight of someone (but remember, with no trees you can see forever!) it was never crowded.  All of the people in those parked cars must have been somewhere else.  Quite a lucky break!

As I mentioned we just hiked out along West Ridge Trail until we felt tired enough and then doubled back to our trailhead.  We did not make it out to the Bay View Vista spoot at the end of the trail.  I estimate we were about half a mile from that point when we turned around.

We had been to the Bay View Vista spot in a previous hike, so we've seen the views available there.  Besides, this was not the day for vistas.  It was hazy and visibility was pretty low.  So we did not miss out very much on this day by turning around early.

We tried to find a couple of geocaches on the way back and failed on both attempts even though we found the spots where the caches just had to have been at some point.

Despite the low visibility and 0 for 2 record with geocaches we considered ourselves quite lucky to have been able to hike on our preferred trail without too many people on a day when we initially thought we were going to be sent packing.

Hiking and caching, mostly with solitude
By Austin Explorer on 11/29/2020
Rating: 4stars Difficulty: 3stars Solitude: 4stars
Distance: 6.73 Miles Duration: 3 hours, 44 minutes

Coppertone and I picked Tolay Lake for today's hike based on wide trails (for proper social distancing), gently rolling terrain (she's coming off of some knee pain in the past), unmapped trail segments and a few geocaches (which we had picked up again after several years).

Though the parking area was fairly packed, the trail segments we chose turned out to be the least used in the park that day.  We chose well.  Our route included the Historic Lakeville Road Trail, Farm Bridge Trail, Pond Trail and Upland Pond Trail.  On the way back to the car we used the Causeway Trail, which was much more crowded.  I suspect most park visitors were headed up for the Three Bridges Vista Point, the highest point in the park.

The drought year was in evidence by the dry, cracked trail surface on some sections of trail.  This was most prevalent on the Farm Bridge Trail and lower sections of the Pond Trail.  Careful attention had to be paid to foot placement to ensure no twisted ankles or re-injured knees would result.

Generally, trail segments are easy to follow and well marked.  The one exception was the Upland Pond Trail loop adjacent to Vista Pond.  We ended up on a cow path leading down to Vista Pond.  It was better defined than the official trail.  We scrambled up a steep slope to get back on the correct, though more subtle, path.  A bunch of cows were congregating around the pond and gave us the evil eye before we figured out we had gone astray.

We also spotted a few horses on the trail.  One was riderless.  No, the animal was not roaming free.  Instead, the sadleless horse went for a walk with its owner, who led it by the reins.  We suspect it may have been recovering from an injury.

We found all three geocaches that lined the paths we hiked.  We found out what the aptly named Stinging Nettle looks and feels like on the third cache.

The 6.73 miles was the most we'd hiked in a day since the pandemic hit.  It felt good to get outdoors again.

Up East Ridge Trail to the best view in the park
By Austin Explorer on 6/16/2019
Rating: 4stars Difficulty: 3stars Solitude: 3stars
Distance: 5.37 Miles Duration: 2 hours, 36 minutes

Coppertone and I knocked out our third trail in our 2019 Sonoma County Trails Challenge at Tolay Lake Regional Park.  Two more to go!

We took the suggested route across the Causeway Trail and uphill on the East Ridge Trail.  We were rewarded with spectacular views of a wide swath of San Pablo Bay and even into San Francisco Bay.  The earlier clouds and fog were just beginning to clear so visibility was not ideal, but it was still impressive enough for me to consider this the best viewpoint in the park.

We started our day on the flat causeway walking along a dotted line of trees and being buzzed at high speed by acrobatic chimney swifts.  Later in the day on the return leg of the hike they had settled down a bit as the temperatures rose.

To our left were some fenced in fields and a low drainage ditch paralleled the dividing fenceline heading away from us.  We heard a rustle of grass and brush (more like a crash) and out of the grass emerges a cow.  Closer examination showed there to be several additional cows in the low spot.  The loud crash of vegetation and the unexpected emergence of large mammal called to mind a hike we had taken in Montana years ago.  But unlike the Moose we saw in Glacier National Park the cow here presented no possible danger.

About 1 mile into the hike the flat terrain turns slighty upward.  There are several gates that must be opened and closed along the path to keep the roaming cattle in their proper pastures.  Unlike the cows we saw in the ditch the ones from this point on up are in the same fields as hikers.  They generally clear a path and get well out of your way.

There's little tree cover on the trail, but as East Ridge Trail continues to climb it makes a turn and parallels and seasonal streambed.  Here a line oaks, buckeyes and some others provide a brief respite from the Sun.  The respite is short as the trail again breaks out into rolling open grassland for the final push.

We found a hiker already at the Three Bridges Vista Point.  She had a blanket laid out and has obviously planned to soak in the vista for an extended period of time.  We had a nice chat about the park and the things one can normally see to the south on clearer days.

As I said, the view is great but there are some unwelcome reminders we are not terribly far from cities.  A high tension powerline can be see along the west ridge on the opposite side of the park.  Sonoma Raceway provided near continuous racecar noise.  In addition a nearby gun club has a shooting range which projects the sound of gunshots much farther than I would have expected.

Due to plans later in the day we didn't spend too much time admiring the view, so we doubled back down the trail to where we started.

First visit to the new park
By Austin Explorer on 3/17/2019
Rating: 4stars Difficulty: 3stars Solitude: 3stars
Distance: 8.39 Miles Duration: 4 hours, 14 minutes

Coppertone and I made our first visit to the new park after a slight dry spell hinted that we might not have to deal with too much mud.  Our chief aim was to go directly to the Bay View Vista at the end of the Wsest Ridge Trail.  With over 8 miles put in we managed to do that.

The park is wide open, with very little tree cover anywhere.  That means sunscreen should be your word for the day.  You will be exposed to the Sun.  Expect it and prepare for it and you'll be fine.

From the top of the ridges that mark most of the parks boundaries one can see almost all of the park from almost every point.  Other hikers might be a mile or more away but if you look carefully, you can see them.  Does that inhibit a hike's solitude?  Not necessarily.

We did encounter a few spots of muddy terrain that required a short detour around the tractor trails that make up the park's paths.  Some of the larger puddles of water served the cows as watering holes just fine.  Yes, there are cows everywhere and they are not separated from visitors by a fence.  At one point we joked that we were being followed by a rather noisy cow but she was just headed towards a puddle she knew about for a quick drink.

Watch out for cow patties on the trail.  Seriously.

The views from Bay View Vista and Petaluma Marsh Vista are grand.  The one downside of Bay View Vista is the loud noises coming from Sonoma Raceway from the speeding cars.

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