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Annadel Hikes

Last Update: July 18, 2009

Description:

Annadel State Park is very close to Santa Rosa. It's a large park with many access points and trails. It is part of a 3-park system that are all joined together for a terrific hiking experience. One of our favorite hikes, the 4 lakes hike, crosses all 3 parks to see the major lake at each park and Ledson marsh.

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Trailheads and Hikes:

Trailhead Name Driving Time To Trailhead Hike Difficulty Length (miles) Elevation Carpool and Hike Time
Parktrail Drive (free) 15 minutes Basic Spring Creek / Canyon Lake Hike Easy 4.2 400 feet ?
Lake Ilsanjo / Buick Meadow Hike Medium 8.7 1000 feet ?
Lawndale Road (free) 25 minutes Ledson Marsh Loop Hike Medium 11.5 900 feet ~3 hours
Bennet Mtn Hike Medium 9.7 1100 feet ~4 hours?
Lawndale/Shultz Road Loop Medium 7 900 feet ~3 hours?
Channel Drive / Cobblestone Trail (free) 15 minutes Lake Ilsanjo Hike Medium 6.5 500 feet ?
Channel Drive / Parking Lot (FEE) 15 minutes Arrowhead Hike Easy 2.7 400 feet ?
Meadow and Lake Hike Medium ~10 1000 feet ?
Oak Knolls Picnic Area by Spring Lake (FEE) 15 minutes Spring Lake Hike Easy ~2.2 none ~1 hour
Montgomery Drive / Spring Lake (free) 15 minutes Spring Lake Hike Easy ~2.2 none ~1 hour
Howarth Park / Lake Ralphine (free) 15 minutes Lake Ralphine Walk Easy ~2.2 none ~1 hour
Multiple-Car hikes variable The high road   6.8 or 7.9 200 feet ?
The 4 lakes hike Hard 9.8 or 11 1000 or 1200 feet ~6 hours
Other Links
  • Annadel State Park (California State Park Official Site)
  • Annadel Park Brochure and Map (local PDF copy as of 2007, Jan)
  • Howarth Park / Lake Ralphine (City, Trail Map)
  • Spring Lake Park (County, Trail Map)

Note: times are approximate. Time to trailhead assumes that the starting point is near Coddingtown Mall in Santa Rosa. (our carpool meeting spot)

Map:

This old map was found on the web. It's useful to understand this web page, but please use the one in the park brochure above, as some trails have changed.

Lawndale Trailhead Hikes:

Hike Name Milage Elevation Change Time To Hike
Ledson Marsh Loop Hike 11.5 900 feet ~3 hours
Bennet Mtn Hike 9.7 1100 feet ~4 hours?
Lawndale/Shultz Road Loop 7 900 feet ~3 hours?

Directions to trailhead:

Take HW12 towards Kenwood. Turn right (south-west) on Lawndale road which is located between Oakmont and Kenwood. The trailhead will be on the right hand side. There is parking for about 8 cars.

The lawndale trail is very pretty. It is unlikely that you will ever hike it unless you park at the lawndale trailhead, because it's a ~2 mile trail into the park and isn't used for anything else. This trail has a gradual slope with a few rocky areas, so I would suggest wearing hiking boots or high tops for ankle support. Lawndale trail starts by hiking through a number of Eucalyptus trees. After this the true forest begins. Most of the trail is through forest. The second third of the trail is Redwood trees and the last part is pine giving way to oak. It's a very pretty trail and a part of Annadel not often seen.

Ledson Marsh Hike

Take Lawndale trail up to Ledson Marsh, then continue on Marsh trail until Buick Meadow. At this point, take Ridge trail back around to Marsh trail, then hike on Lawndale trail back out. The hike will take you around Ledson Marsh, and the Ridge trail has some great views of Bennet valley.

Bennet Mountain Hike

This hike extends the loop around Ledson Marsh and adds another 2.5 miles to your hike. Take Lawndale trail up to Ledson Marsh, then continue on Marsh trail past Buick Meadow. You will enter a series of pretty redwood groves. Take a right onto Upper Steve's S trail and this will take you close to the top of Bennet Mountain. Unfortunately, the top is on private land. Steve's trail will run into the Ridge trail. Continue forward to the right on the the ridge trail. Turn left at the Marsh trail, then hike on Lawndale trail back out.

Lawndale and Shultz Road Loop Hike

Another possibility is to leave a car near the Shultz Road Trailhead. There is no parking available at the Shultd Rd. trailhead, so you will need to park a few feet down the road, or take a fairly long walk down Shultz Road back to the Lawndale trailhead. Hiking back on the Shultz Trail won't add any distance to the other hikes.

Parktrail Trailhead Hikes:

Hike Name Milage Elevation Change Time To Hike
Basic Spring Creek / Canyon Lake Hike 4.2 400 feet ?
Lake Ilsanjo / Buick Meadow Hike 8.7 1000 feet ?

Directions to trailhead:

Take the HWY 101 / HW12 turnoff onto highway 12 heading towards Sonoma. Where the freeway ends at Farmers lane, go straight onto Hoen. Take Hoen and go right at the light at Summerfield road. Take a left on ParkTrail drive. You will see a gravel path along the road that leads into the park. Drive up ParkTrail until the path leaves the road and park there.

Spring Creek / Canyon Lake Hike

Park on Parktrail drive, then take the path up into the park. Take Spring creek trail to Lake Ilsanjo. Cross the dam and take a right on Canyon trail back to Spring Creek trail where you came in. This hike is a loop, with about 400 feet of elevation gain, and it covers 4.2 miles.

This trailhead is very easy and quick to get to from Santa Rosa. The Spring Creek trail hikes along a creek that has a lot of ferns and is very shady. Lake Ilsanjo is pretty to watch, especially during sunset. Canyon trail is out in the open and has some loose rock on it, so I would suggest hiking boots or high tops to protect your ankles.

Lake Ilsanjo / Buick Meadow Hike

You can extend this hike into a much larger loop by including South Burma trail and Marsh trail.

From the park entrance, take Spring Creek trail up to the dam. Cross the dam, and go left on Canyon trail. At the far end of the lake, take a right on richardson trail, then a right on South Burma trail. This will take you to Buick Meadow. Now take a right on marsh trail and then a left on Canyon trail. This hike is 8.7 miles with about 1000 feet of elevation gain.

Spring Creek / Canyon Lake Hike

.... include ridge trail and upper steves trail loop .... Other Ideas:
  • take rough go trail to the lake, then take spring creek or canyon trail back.

Cobblestone Trailhead Hikes:

Hike Name Milage Elevation Change Time To Hike
Lake Ilsanjo Hike 6.5 500 feet ?

Directions to trailhead:

Take the HWY 101 / HW12 turnoff onto highway 12 heading towards Sonoma. Turn right on Mission Blvd, then left on Montgomery Drive. Take a right on Channel drive and park at the side of the road next to the Cobblestone Trailhead. If you go to far on Channel Drive, you will enter the $2 fee area.

Cobblestone trail is very rocky. Make sure you have adequate ankle support in your shoes. This area used to be mined for Cobblestones.

Lake Ilsanjo Hike

Take Cobblestone trail 2 miles in, then go left on Rough Go trail. Follow Rough Go to a 5 trail intersection. Continue on Rough Go to the right. This will take you to Lake Ilsanjo dam. Cross the dam and go left on Canyon trail. Go left on Warren Richardson trail and this will take you back to the 5 trail intersection. Continue on Rough Go and go right onto Orchard Trail. This trail will dead end into Cobblestone. Go right back to the trailhead.

Channel Drive / Richardson Trailhead Hikes:

Hike Name Milage Elevation Change Time To Hike
Arrowhead Hike 2.7 400 feet ?
Meadow and Lake Hike ~10 1000 feet ?

Directions to trailhead:

Take the HWY 101 / HW12 turnoff onto highway 12 heading towards Sonoma. Turn right on Mission Blvd, then left on Montgomery Drive. Take a right on Channel drive and follow it to the end. There is a $2 charge to park here.

Steve's S trail will take you into the park from this trailhead. It goes through a forest with lots of obsidian. This was used to make arrow heads. It's a neat trail.

Arrowhead Hike

Take Steve's S trail for a mile, then go left on Louis trail. Go left again on Warren Richardson trail until it meets the Two Quarry trail. Go left again to stay on Warren Richardson trail back to the parking lot.

If you have more energy or time than you thought, you can .7 miles to this hike (for a total of 3.4 miles) by continuing on Steve's S tail past the Louis trail. Go left on Burma trail, then left again on Warren Richardson trail. Follow it until it meets the Two Quarry trail. Go left again to stay on Warren Richardson trail back to the parking lot.

Meadow and Lake Hike

Take Warren Richardson trail for about a mile, then continue onto the Two Quarry trail. At the restroom, take a right onto Marsh trail, then a right onto South Burma trail. This will take you past Buick Meadow. Now go left on Richardson trail to Lake Ilsanjo. Go right on Lower Steve's S trail and follow it all the way back to the parking lot.

Oak Knolls Picnic Area (FEE)

Hike Name Milage Elevation Change Time To Hike
Spring Lake Hike 2.25 ~100 feet ?

Directions to trailhead:

Take the HWY 101 / HW12 turnoff onto highway 12 heading towards Sonoma. Where the freeway ends at Farmers lane, go straight onto Hoen. Take Hoen straight past Summerfield road. Follow the signs along Newanga Avenue into the park. You'll have to pay a fee. Keep to the right and you can park by the lake. If you don't want to pay a fee, you can park on Montgomery Drive and you'll have easy access to the lake.

This area has a campground and several picnic sites.

Spring Lake Hike

 
Spring Lake

Follow the trail around the lake. This is a simple but pretty hike. Most of it is paved.

Montgomery Drive

Hike Name Milage Elevation Change Time To Hike
Spring Lake Hike 2.25 ~100 feet ?

Directions to trailhead:

Take the HWY 101 / HW12 turnoff onto highway 12 heading towards Sonoma. Turn right on Mission Blvd, then left on Montgomery Drive. You'll see a small dam to your right before the channel drive turnoff. Park for free by the dam, and take a trail to the top of the dam.

Spring Lake Hike

Follow the trail around the lake. This is a simple but pretty hike. Most of it is paved.

Howarth Park

Hike Name Milage Elevation Change Time To Hike
Lake Ralphine Walk ~1 0 feet ?

Directions to trailhead:

Take the HWY 101 / HW12 turnoff onto highway 12 heading towards Sonoma. Where the freeway ends at Farmers lane, go straight onto Hoen. Take Hoen and go left at the light at Summerfield road. Howarth Park and Lake Ralphine access will be on your right hand side. Pull in and park.

Howarth Park is a city park and has lots of things to do for little kids.

Lake Ralphine Hike

Follow the trail around the lake. This is a simple but pretty hike. Half is paved, half of it is an overgrown trail. :-) Most people hike by Lake Ralphine to Spring lake, then they hike around Spring Lake.

Multiple-Car Hikes:

Hike Name Starting Trailhead Ending Trailhead Milage Elevation Change Time To Hike
The high road Lawndale ParkTrail 6.8 or 7.9 200 feet ?
The 4 lakes hike Howarth Park / Lake Ralphine Lawndale 9.8 or 11 1000 or 1200 feet ?
These hikes assume that you have at least 2 cars. Drop one persons car off at the end point and drive them to the starting point. Use the directions to the trailheads written elsewhere in this document. Alternately, bring a cell-phone and call for a Taxi at the end of your hike to give you a ride back to your car.

These hikes are nice because you will always be hiking on uncovered ground. You will be able to see larger areas of the park.

The high road (free)

This trail will take you by Ledson Marsh and give you good views of Lake Ilsanjo. However, the trailheads are far apart and will add to your driving time. Drop off the first car at ParkTrail. If you have never been to ParkTrail, I suggest that you take 10 minutes to hike into where the park starts so you can recognize where to leave later. Give yourself about 30 minutes to drive to the Lawndale road trailhead. Note that you will have to drive back here again at the end of the hike.

At the Lawndale trailhead, take Lawndale trail up to Ledson Marsh, then take a left onto Marsh trail. Go right onto ridge trail, then keep going straight onto Upper Steve's S trail when Ridge trail heads right. Go left onto Marsh trail and you'll see some pretty redwood groves and views of Lake Ilsanjo.

If you parked at Parktrail trailhead, when Marsh trail reaches Canyon, go right onto Canyon, then left onto Rough Go and over the dam. Now go left onto Spring Creek. This small detour (an extra half mile over just taking Canyon) will take you down to the lake and across the dam.

The 4 lakes trail (free)

This hike is great! It will take you by Lake Ralphine, Spring Lake, Lake Ilsanjo, and then Ledson Marsh. Give yourself an extra 35 minutes to drop an extra car off. Drop off the bulk of your party at Howarth Park. Drive a few cars (enough to transport everyone + 1 car) to the Lawndale entrance parking lot, then drive back to Howarth Park. There are 3 possible routes for this hike

The high road: (10.7 miles, 1200 feet elevation gain)
Walk from Howarth Park along the south shore of Lake Ralphine to Spring Lake. Walk to the southernmost point of the lake, then head south (and slightly uphill) along a gravel path to Annadel. Take the Spring Creek trail to Lak Ilsanjo. Cross the damm, then go west on Canyon trail. Go south-east on Marsh trail to Upper Steve's S trail. Take this trail near the top off Bennet Mountain to the ridge trail. Continue South-East to the Marsh trail. Take this trail around Ledson marsh to Lawndale trail. Take this trail 1.9 miles to the Lawndale trailhead.

The middle road: (9.8 miles, 1000 feet elevation gain)
Walk from Howarth Park along the south shore of Lake Ralphine to Spring Lake. Walk to the southernmost point of the lake, then head south (and slightly uphill) along a gravel path to Annadel. Take the Rough Go trail to the Warren Richardson trail. Near Lake Ilsanjo, there is a Gazebo that you can eat lunch in. Continue on the Warren Richardson trail to the South Burma trail. When you hit the Marsh Trail go southeast to the Lawndale trail. Take this trail 1.9 miles to the Lawndale trailhead.

The low road: (11.1 miles, 1200 feet elevation gain)
Walk from Howarth Park along the south shore of Lake Ralphine to Spring Lake. Walk along the NORTH shore of Spring Lake and leave the dam to Montgomery drive. Walk along Montgomery, then take Channel drive (for a total of ~1 mile on roads) to the Cobblestone trailhead. Take cobblestone to orchard trail to rough go. Annadel. Take the Rough Go trail to the Warren Richardson trail. Near Lake Ilsanjo, there is a Gazebo that you can eat lunch in. Continue on the Warren Richardson trail to the South Burma trail. When you hit the Marsh Trail go southeast to the Lawndale trail. Take this trail 1.9 miles to the Lawndale trailhead.

Experiences:

2007, Jan 14

[pics]

 Overview: This was a great hike, with a good turnout. We had 15-18 people. (some joined/left at various points) It was a cold weekend, with nights in the low 20's, and we had a lot of ice on the ground. It was also in the middle of a 3-day weekend. With the combined cold and holiday weekend, we were surprised at the turnout.

Special Notes: None - a few had hats and gloves to help with the cold.

Next Time: We all enjoyed being outside, and most of us were lost in conversation as we went by each lake. It might be fun to stop and point out each lake (1 min interruption) as we go by it. Also, it would add about 10 minutes to go right from rough go, cross the Ilsanjo dam, and loop back to the gazebo. Going left didn't give us any views of Ilsanjo at all this time.

Summary of times: Give 45-60 minutes from home to setup carpools, 2 hours to hike from Lake Ralphine to the Gazebo for lunch, 30 min for lunch, and 3 hours to hike to the end. For people meeting at Lake Ralphine, the entire hike took 5:45.

Detailed Timings: We list timings to help plan future events. This hike had good timings to capture, as we had both a slow and fast group. The hikers met at 10:30 at Lake Ralphine. Since this was a 1-way hike, Kerstin and I left home ~9:30 and met Paul and Cheryl at the endpoint - lawndale trailhead at 10am. Give yourself 30 minutes. We left a little earlier than 9:30 and got some chai/coffee on the way. From Lawndale to Lake Ralphine only took us 15 minutes, but it was good to get there early, as people cycled through the bathrooms. We did intros & hike overview for ~10 minutes, starting at 10:30, and this let a few late people show up. We got to the boat loading ramp on Spring lake at 11am. (20 minutes to get there). We got to the Rough Go trailhead at 11:23am. We made it to the junction with the loop trail around Lake Ilsanjo at 12:13pm,  turned left, and arrived at the gazebo for lunch at 12:25pm. We had lunch for 25 mins, and left at 12:50pm. We made it to buick meadow at 1:45pm, the outhouse at 2:10pm, and Ledson marsh at 2:30pm. We hit lawndale trail at 2:35pm, and finished the hike at 3:42pm at the endpoint of the lawdale trailhead. People finished their conversations around 4pm, we carpooled back to Lake Ralphine at ~4:15, and Kerstin and I were home soon afterwards. Paul & Cheryl's van held 8 people (7 usually) and Kerstin's Honda CRV held 7 people (4-5 normally), as 2 of the petite women rode in the back. (only 15 mins to starting trailhead)

 

 

Other multi-car hikes

Suggestions include:
  • Lawndale to Channel drive
  • Lake Rauphine to Spring Lake to Lake Ilsanjo & back out on channel drive or Parktrail.

Remaining work to do for this web page:

  • Obtain time estimates for hiking many of the trails.
  • Get a map to Lake Ralphine (city) and Spring Lake (county).
  • Include hikes from these 2 locations.
  • Try to design a 3 lake hike.
  • Write a few more multi-car hikes.

See Also:

  • Return to the Examples Page
  • Return to the Outdoor Exchange
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