Hood Mountain Regional Park Hikes (Santa Rosa)

Last Update: July 18, 2009

Description:

Hood mountain park is a sonoma county regional park located on the eastern edge of Santa Rosa, just off of HWY 12. It doesn't see as much traffic as Annadel or Sugarloaf, so it's a bit more peaceful. The hood mountain summit trail links this park with Sugarloaf, making for an awesome 9 mile 1-way hike through gunsight rock.

This page is in the early stages of creation, so there are lots of areas to fill out. Some of the hikes have a lot of info & will help you to plan future events. I've done a first 4 hour edit on this page - it needs another 2-4 hours to read well.

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Trailheads and Hikes:

Trailhead	Driving Time To Trailhead	Hike	Difficulty	Length (miles)	Elevation Gain	Carpool and Hike Time
3000 Los Alamos Road	30 minutes	Visit Grandmother oak tree	low	3.6	~700	TBD
3000 Los Alamos Road	30 minutes	Steep hike to gunsight rock and back	high	10.6	2400	TBD
Johnson Addition	30 minutes	Hike from Los Alamos to trail Junction	med	6.2	~1600	~5 hours total
Johnson Addition	30 minutes	Johnson Addition Loop Hike	high	4 (+6.2)	600 (+1600)	~7-8 hours total
Nattkemper Goodspeed Trailhead (Sugarloaf)	30 minutes	Steep hike to gunsight rock and back	high	7.4	~2000	TBD
		1-way hike through gunsight rock and hood mountain to hood mountain state park	high	9	2000	TBD
		1-way hike also taking side trail through johnson addition	high	12	3000	10 hours

Other Links
Hood Mountain Park (Sonoma County Official Site)

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

Special Items to Bring for Hood Mountain:

Good Hiking Boots: Mount hood trails have a lot of rock in them. This includes the southern ascent using the nattkempter-goodspeed trail on the sugarloaf side, and the northern ascent using the hood mountain summit trail from the Los Alamos side. Sturdy hiking boots (I prefer high-tops for ankle support) will keep your feet happy.
Tiva's / hiking sandals: The western trails in the park cross Santa Rosa creek. This creek is fairly shallow, and can be crossed on rocks during winter, or walked through if you wish to take your hiking shoes and socks off for a short dip. (which is more refreshing in the hot summer months). If you bring sandals, you can switch shoes to cross the creek, and then use them for your feet at the end of the hike.

3000 Los Alamos Road:

Map WIP

Directions to trailhead:

From Santa Rosa: Take HWY12 east. If you are leaving the Santa Rosa carpool spot in Coddingtown, you can save a few minutes by taking Guerneville road east, turning right/south onto Franklin Avenue, left onto Pacific Ave/Bryden lane, then veer left onto 4th street which becomes HWY12. Follow HWY12 east towards Sonoma. Near the edge of town, you'll pass by stoplights at Calistoga road, Mountain Hawk Road, then turn left/east at the light onto Los Alamos Road. This is a long, narrow, and windy road, and it will take you about 15 minutes to take it to the very end where it runs into the parking lot for the hood mountain state park. It costs $4 to park here, and the gate at the top of the road often closes after sunset.

Visit Grandmother Oak Tree

Picture WIP

TBD ... there is a map/trail display at the entrance to the park..

Hike and Event Itinerary

Trail	Details	Description
Setup	Duration: 0:30	First drive to the Los Alamos road trailhead. It takes about 30 minutes from west Santa Rosa.
Hiking Trail		We haven't mapped out any hikes through this park yet, but you can take a number of trails and spend anywhere from 30 minutes to 1.5 hours walking through the redwoods on the valley floor.
Drive Home	Duration: 0:30	It takes ~30 minutes to return back to west Santa Rosa or 15 minutes to East Santa Rosa.
Total	Duration: ~0:30 (+1 hr) Distance: TBD El. Gain: TBD El. Loss: TBD	TBD

Experiences:

TBD

Steep hike to Gunsight Rock and Back

Picture TBD

Intro TBD

This is a great hike through the redwoods, climbing up the valley on the left hand side to the top of the ridge in back of the park, then returning down the right hand side.

Hike and Event Itinerary (trail map)

Trail	Details	Description
Setup	Duration: 0:30	First drive to the Los Alamos road trailhead. It takes about 30 minutes from west Santa Rosa. Plan for an additional 15 minutes to get meet people at the trailhead, get everyone organized, and to introduce the hike.
Trail to Creek	Duration: TBD Distance: ~0.8m El. Gain: none El. Loss: 200ft	TBD
Dirt road to Azalea Creek Camp	Duration: TBD Distance: 1.1m El. Gain: ~500ft El. Loss: ~0ft	TBD
Summit Trail	Duration: TBD Distance: 2.5m El. Gain: 1400 El. Loss: ~0ft	Near Azalea campground, you'll see the summit trail leading off of the dirt road. You can continue on either the road or the trail to the summit, I prefer trails when I have the chance. You'll want to take the dirt road if you wish to explore the Johnson addition. This trail is fairly steep in places and has a fair amount of rock in the trail. You'll hike through pine forests and a pygmy forest near the top.
GoodSpeed Trail	Duration: TBD Distance: 0.2m El. Gain: ~0ft El. Loss: ~300ft	This trail continues all the way down to Sugarloaf park. However, we'll take it a short 0.2 mile distance to the gunsight rock trail. At the junction, turn right/west.
Gunsight Rock Trail	Duration: TBD Distance: 0.2m El. Gain: ~0ft El. Loss: ~0ft	This short trail will take you to the gunsight rock overlook. There are beautiful views up and down the Sonoma valley (Valley of the moon), and clear views to Annadel state park, the city of Santa Rosa, and Sonoma Mountain. On clear days, you can see the bay and the bay bridge. This is a wonderful place to eat lunch and enjoy the views.
Return back	Duration: TBD Distance: 5.3m El. Gain: ~500ft El. Loss: ~1900ft	Return back the way you came in. For added variety, you may want to take the dirt road down, and if you have lots of extra energy, perhaps try the optional Johnson Addition hike.
Johnson Addition (optional)	Duration: ~2h Distance: 3.0m El. Gain: ~1000 El. Loss: ~1000	Optional: If you chose to do the optional hike through the Johnson addition, you'll see an old cabin and a couple of lakes. The sugarloaf maps have not been updated yet to show these trails, but we have a copy online. The trailhead starts from the hood mountain dirt road where it takes a sharp bend at ~2200 feet and heads south along a dirt road marked on the main map as "no public access". This detour will add an ~1000 foot descent and climb to your hike, 3 miles total, and take about 2 hours for relatively tired hikers.
Finish	Duration: 0:30	It takes about 30 minutes to drive back home to Santa Rosa.
Total	Duration: TBD Distance: ~10.6m El. Gain: ~2400ft El. Loss: ~2400ft	TBD - We did this hike from the mt. hood side several years back, but didn't take any notes to help plan it later.

Variations and alternate hikes:

13.8 mile/3400 foot climb loop hike: If you're really adventurous, you can hike the Johnson addition as well.

Experiences:

TBD	We hiked this route a lot in the late 1990's and got tired of it, so we haven't hiked it lately.

Johnson Addition Trailhead (middle of park):

At this time, the only entrance to the new (circa 2003?) Johnson Addition is from the hood mountain trail close to the summit of Hood mountain on the northwest side of the mountain. As it is a 6.2 mile hike to get to the Panorama Ranch trail and back to your car, it's quite a hike to get there.

Johnson Addition Trail Map

Directions to trailhead:

From Santa Rosa: Follow directions and drive to Los Alamos road trailhead. Follow your map or the above directions and hike to the Panorama Ranch Trail. We recommend that you print a copy of the Johnson Addition map for your hike.

Trail	Details	Description
Setup	Duration: 0:30	First drive to the Los Alamos road trailhead. It takes about 30 minutes from west Santa Rosa. Plan for an additional 15 minutes to get meet people at the trailhead, get everyone organized, and to introduce the hike.
Trail to Creek	Duration: TBD Distance: ~0.6m El. Gain: none El. Loss: 200ft	Follow the trail signs towards mount hood. It will lead you to Santa Rosa creek. Crossing is easy over rocks in the summer. If the water is higher in winter, one can easily wade across 1 foot deep water after taking their shoes off.
Mount Hood Trail to Azalea Creek Camp	Duration: TBD Distance: 1.1m El. Gain: ~500ft El. Loss: ~0ft	Make sure to cross the creek to the south towards mount hood. Continue on the mount hood trail (a dirt road) towards Azalea creek camp. There is a restroom at the camp turnoff.
Mount Hood Trail to Panorama Ranch Trail	Duration: TBD Distance: ~1.4m El. Gain: 900 El. Loss: ~0ft	After you reach Azalea creek campground turnoff, continue on the dirt road (aka hood mountain trail) up towards the summit. Do not take summit or cypress trails or you may miss the turnoff to the Johnson addition. Keep an eye out for a sharp left turn in the road about halfway up to the summit from the Azalea Creek camp. The Panorama Ranch Trail (another dirt road) leads off to the west and towards the Johnson addition. Please skip to the Johnson addition table below for more information.
Return back	Duration: TBD Distance: 3.1m El. Gain: ~200ft El. Loss: ~1400ft	Return back the way you came in.
Finish	Duration: 0:30	It takes about 30 minutes to drive back home to Santa Rosa.
Total	Duration: TBD Distance: ~6.2m El. Gain: ~1600ft El. Loss: ~1600ft

Johnson Addition Hike

We recommend that you print a copy of the Johnson Addition trail map before you go.

Trail	Details	Description
Setup	Duration: 0:30	First drive to the Los Alamos road trailhead. It takes about 30 minutes from west Santa Rosa. Plan for an additional 15 minutes to get meet people at the trailhead, get everyone organized, and to introduce the hike.
Hike to Trailhead	Duration: ~2-3h Distance: 3.1m El. Gain: 1400ft El. Loss: ~200ft	Follow the trailhead hike directions above and hike to the Panorama Ranch Trail.
Panorama Ranch Trail	Duration: 0:15 Distance: 0.32m El. Gain: none El. Loss: 300ft	From the mount hood trail (dirt road), take the panorama ranch trail right/west. The Panorama Ranch trail is also a dirt road. It's easy to find, as it is marked and occurs when the mount hood trail takes a tight 20 degree sharp left turn at ~2200 foot elevation. Take the Panorama Ranch trail south west, and you'll reach the park boundary and a gate across the road. Directly to your left side, there is another gate, a worn out map of the Johnson Addition, and the start of the Orchard meadow trail. (dirt road)
Orchard Meadow Trail	Duration: 0:30 Distance: 0.59m El. Gain: none El. Loss: ~100ft	Take Orchard Meadow trail down past Orchard Meadow and toward Blue Heron pond. As you approach the pond, look out for Banana Slugs on the trail.
Valley View Trail	Duration: 0:25 Distance: 0.77m El. Gain: none El. Loss: ~200ft	Orchard meadow trail reaches a 3-way junction with pond and Valley view trails. This is a nice loop, and you can hike it in either direction. We turned left onto the valley view trail. Aptly named, you'll see several views of HWY 12 and the valley of the moon. Before it meets up with Pond trail, you'll pass above Merganser Pond. The lowest point is at an ~1400 foot elevation.
Pond Trail	Duration: 0:18 Distance: ~0.33m El. Gain: ~200ft El. Loss: none	Orchard meadow trail reaches a 3-way junction with pond and Valley view trails. This is a nice loop, and you can hike it in either direction. We turned left onto the valley view trail. Aptly named, you'll see several views of HWY 12 and the valley of the moon. Before it meets up with Pond trail, you'll pass above Merganser Pond.
Return to mount hood trail	Duration: 0:30 Distance: 2m El. Gain: ~400ft El. Loss: none	Return back up the orchard meadow trail, then follow the panorama ranch trail back up to the mount hood trail.
Return to parking lot	Duration: ~2h Distance: 3.1m El. Gain: ~200ft El. Loss: 1400ft	Return down the mount hood trail back to the parking lot. This took us ~2 hours, but we were slow as we had hiked through from sugarloaf that day.
Finish	Duration: 0:30	It takes about 30 minutes to drive back home to Santa Rosa.
Total	Duration: ~2h Distance: ~4m El. Gain: ~600ft El. Loss: ~600ft	It takes ~2 hours to hike from the panorama ranch/mount hood trail junction through the Johnson addition and back. Add another 4 hours to hike from the car to that trail junction and back, and another hour for carpooling, and you're looking at ~7-8 hour hike.

Nattkempter-Goodspeed Trailhead (Sugarloaf):

TBD

Picture TBD

Directions to trailhead:

From Santa Rosa: Take HWY12 east. If you are leaving the Santa Rosa carpool spot in Coddingtown, you can save a few minutes by taking Guerneville road east, turning right/south onto Franklin Avenue, left onto Pacific Ave/Bryden lane, then veer left onto 4th street which becomes HWY12. Follow HWY12 east towards Sonoma. Near the edge of town, you'll pass by stoplights at Calistoga road, Mountain Hawk Road, Los Alamos Road, and a few others. Follow the sign and turn left onto Adobe Canyon road towards sugarloaf state park. Look for the trailhead on the left side of the road just after you cross the park boundary, and before you climb up to the ranger kiosk where you pay to enter sugarloaf park.

Hike from Sugarloaf to Gunsight Rock

Picture TBD

Introduction

Gunsight rock has beautiful views of the valley of the moon. On clear days you can see the bay and bay bridge. This is also one of the steepest hikes I know. It climbs ~2000 feet in just 3.5 miles. The trail is fairly rocky - we recommend that you bring sturdy hiking shoes.

Hike and Event Itinerary

Trail	Details	Description
Setup	Duration: 0:30	It takes 30 minutes to drive from NW Santa Rosa to the nattkemper-goodspeed trailhead. There is no fee to park here.
Nattkemper-Goodspeed trail to bear creek	Duration: 0:45 Distance: ~0.7m El. Gain: ~200ft El. Loss: ~0 ft
Continue to gunsight rock trail	Duration: 1:20 Distance: 2.8m El. Gain: ~1800ft El. Loss: none	This trail is fun - you'll cross Gilliam Creek 10 more times before you reach Austin Creek. This trail takes a while if you try to find ways across without getting wet. If you took our advice and wore Hiking Sandals (Tiva's) or are confident in high-top Gore-Tex hiking boots, you can do it much faster by hiking through each crossing. We tried to stay dry, and crossing single file took the 1:40. You'll reach Gilliam Creek trail camp at the bottom, just before Austin Creek. You may want to cross and eat lunch.
Gunsight Rock	Duration: 0:10 Distance: 0.2m El. Gain: level El. Loss: level
Hood Mountain Summit (optional)	Duration: 0:25 Distance: 0.4m El. Gain: ~300 El. Loss: ~300	Optional: After you return to the Nattkemper-Goodspeed trail, you can optionally take a short hike to the summit of hood mountain and back again. It's 0.2 miles to the top, and somewhat steep. The values to the left refer to the time and distance to go to the top and return. The mountain top is wooded, so there are not many views. Gunsight rock is much prettier. If you have the energy, it's worth going to the top just because it's there.
Return to cars	Duration: TBD Distance: 3.7m El. Gain: none El. Loss: ~2000	Time to return the way you came in. It's steep on the way down and somewhat hard on the knees.
Finish	Duration: 0:30	It takes about 30 minutes to drive back home to NW Santa Rosa.
Total	Duration: TBD Distance: 7.4m El. Gain: ~2000ft El. Loss: ~2000ft	We've done this hike several times, but haven't measured the total hiking time yet. We prefer the 1-way hike through to the Los Alamos trailhead as that way down is easier on the knees and has more variety.

Variations and alternate hikes:

7.8 mile/2300 feet: Visit hood mountain summit after gunsight rock.
9 miles / 1700 feet / 8 hours: Hike as planned above.
12 miles / 2800 feet / 9.5 hours: Hike loop hike and take optional Fox mountain side-trip.

Experiences:

TBD

TBD

1-way hike from Sugarloaf through Gunsight Rock to Los Alamos/Hood mountain trailhead

Picture TBD

Introduction

Hike and Event Itinerary

Trail	Details	Description
Setup	Duration: 1:10	It takes 30 minutes to drive from NW Santa Rosa to the endpoint at Los Alamos road to drop off cars. It takes another 30-40 minutes to drive back down to HWY12 and over to the start - nattkemper-goodspeed trailhead in Sugarloaf park. If you meet at the bagel place in SR at 10am, plan to meet others at the Nattkemper-Goodspeed trailhead 11:15am. That gives you 5-10 minutes of leeway to wait at the bagel place past 10am.
Nattkemper-Goodspeed trail to bear creek	Duration: 0:45 Distance: ~0.7m El. Gain: ~200ft El. Loss: ~0 ft
Continue to gunsight rock trail	Duration: 1:20 Distance: 2.8m El. Gain: ~1800ft El. Loss: none	This trail is fun - you'll cross Gilliam Creek 10 more times before you reach Austin Creek. This trail takes a while if you try to find ways across without getting wet. If you took our advice and wore Hiking Sandals (Tiva's) or are confident in high-top Gore-Tex hiking boots, you can do it much faster by hiking through each crossing. We tried to stay dry, and crossing single file took the 1:40. You'll reach Gilliam Creek trail camp at the bottom, just before Austin Creek. You may want to cross and eat lunch.
Gunsight Rock	Duration: 0:10 Distance: 0.2m El. Gain: level El. Loss: level
Hood Mountain Summit	Duration: 0:25 Distance: 0.4m El. Gain: ~300ft El. Loss: none	After you return to the Nattkemper-Goodspeed trail, turn left to take a short hike to the summit of hood mountain. The mountain top is wooded, so there are not many views. The summit is at 2730 feet above sea level.
Hood Mountain Trail to Panorama Ranch Tr	Duration: 0:30 Distance: ~1.1m El. Gain: none El. Loss: ~500	You have 2 choices: you can take the summit trail (a real trail) or the hood mountain trail (dirt road). If you plan to hike the optional Johnson Addition, we recommend that you take the dirt road or you will have to backtrack a bit.
Johnson Addition (optional)	Duration: ~2h Distance: 3.0m El. Gain: ~1000 El. Loss: ~1000	Optional: If you chose to do the optional hike through the Johnson addition, you'll see an old cabin and a couple of lakes. The sugarloaf maps have not been updated yet to show these trails, but we have a copy online. The trailhead starts from the hood mountain dirt road where it takes a sharp bend at ~2200 feet and heads south along a dirt road marked on the main map as "no public access". This detour will add an ~1000 foot descent and climb to your hike, 3 miles total, and take about 2 hours for relatively tired hikers.
Hood Mountain Trail to Summit Trail	Duration: 0:10 Distance: ~0.4m El. Gain: none El. Loss: none	Continue on the hood mountain trail (dirt road) for about half a mile on level ground (don't go back up!) until you reach the summit trail.
Summit Trail to Cypress Trail	Duration: 0:30 Distance: ~1.1m El. Gain: none El. Loss: ~800ft	This is a real trail and will take you through the pygmy forest to the junction with the cypress trail.
Cypress trail by Frog Pond to Azalea Campground(optional)	Duration: 0:20 Distance: 0.7m El. Gain: ~100 El. Loss: ~300	Optional: You can continue down the summit trail, or take a left on the cypress trail and head towards frog pond. We looked for the pond this last hike, but didn't find it. We were tired, so we didn't look very hard. If you choose to continue on the summit trail, it's about 0.3 miles to Azalea campground and ~200 feet elevation loss. There are bathrooms at the Azalea Creek Campground turnoff.
Azalea Creek Camp to Santa Rosa Creek	Duration: 0:25 Distance: 1.1m El. Gain: none El. Loss: ~600ft	Make sure to cross the creek to the south towards mount hood. Continue on the mount hood trail (a dirt road) towards Azalea creek camp. There is a restroom at the camp turnoff.
Creek to parking lot	Duration: 0:30 Distance: ~0.8m El. Gain: 200ft El. Loss: none	Follow the dirt road to the parking lot. The walk only takes about 15 minutes, we spent another 15 minutes crossing the creek and resting for a bit.
Finish	Duration: 1:00	It takes about 30 minutes to drive back to the starting point at the Nattkemper-Goodspeed trailhead in Sugarloaf park, then another ~30 minutes to get back to Santa Rosa.
Total	Duration: ~8h Distance: ~9m El. Gain: ~2500ft El. Loss: ~2200ft	We've done this hike several times, but haven't measured the total hiking time yet. We prefer the 1-way hike through to the Los Alamos trailhead as that way down is easier on the knees and has more variety.

Variations and alternate hikes:

12 mile/3500 feet/10 hours: Hike through Johnson Addition as well
12.4 miles /3600 feet /10 hours: Johnson Addition and Frog Pond search.

Experiences:

2007, Jan 28

Hiked from sugarloaf, nattkemper-goodspeed trail

to gunsight rock, then through johnston addition and

out the new trailhead.

This log is fairly detailed to help future planning.

High level timings:

It takes 25 minutes to drive from SR/carpool spot to the Los Guilicos trailhead. From there it takes 15 minutes to carpool to the Nattkemper- Goodspeed trailhead in sugarloaf. It takes about 2 hours to hike to gunsight rock, uphill for XX miles. Have lunch for 30 minutes. 15 minutes to top of Mt hood, then 50 minutes down to the first lake, 25 minutes down and around to second lake, and 50 minutes later to get out. Add 50-20 minutes to get cars back at starting point. About 4 hours for the full 8 mile hike, after adding in carpool shuttling and lunch, count on ~6 hours.(10:30am->4:30pm, coddingtown to coddingtown)

Detailed Timings:

At 10:40am, I left my house in SR, and drove to the end trailhead at Los Guilicos. It's at the end of the rd, and there is a $5 parking fee. I arrived at 11:05, 5 mins late. (sorry!) We did introductions, reviewed the map, and left at 11:20am, we drove to the start trailhead at nattkemper- goodspeed, and started hiking at 11:35am. At 12pm we crossed the river, and at 1:20pm we reached gunsight rock. we had lunch, left about 1:45, and got to the top of mt hood at 2pm. at 2:12 we reached the hood mtn trail and upper johnston ridge trail junction. At 2:27 we turn on knights retreat, 6 minutes later got to the view at the dead end (not much to look at), turned around, and at 2:40 we got back to the same junction. At 2:45 we made it to the meadow and old homestead ruins. At 2:52, we hit the first lake, at 2:56 hit T-junction of pond trail and valley view trail, and continued on valley view trail. At 3:07 we reached westernmost point of this addition looking out over valley and oakmont. At 3:16, we had gone around 2nd lake and stood on the dam. At 3:30, we crossed the bridge, and at 3:37 hit the junction of panorama ranch trail and lower johnson ridge trail. At 4:06, we reached the end trailhead.

2005, Feb 12

This log is fairly detailed to help future planning.

Timings:

9am: met at bagel place, left 9:10am.
9:42: reached end trailhead at hood mountain regional park on los alamos road. Dropped off cars.
9:50: left hood mountain parking lot for
10:00: reached hwy 12.
10:15: reach nattkemper-goodspeed trailhead in Sugarloaf.
10:25: started hike after we all met, parked, and did hike intro.
10:50: crossed dirt road.
11:00: crossed stream.
12:18: reached gunsight rock turnoff.
12:28: reached gunsight rock, had lunch.
12:51: left gunsight rock.
12:58: reached nattkemper-goodspeed trail/hood mountain trail.
1:15: reach top of hood mountain.
1:52 reached panorama ranch trail turnoff. (includes 10 minute break looking for trail)
2:07: reached johnson addition map and "real" entrance.
2:19: reached meadow.
2:28: reached first lake.
2:35: valley view trail and pond trail junction. went left on valley view trail.
3:01: climbed to dam of lower lake.
3:19: back to valley view/pond trail junction.
3:38: back to johnson map.
3:47: back to main hood mountain trail.
4:51: reached azalea creek campground.
5:14: reached santa rosa creek.
5:42: reached parking lot and cars. Finally!
6:15: back to nattkemper-goodspeed trailhead in sugarloaf to get other cars.
6:45pm: back to NW santa Rosa. (actually we stopped and had Thai food on the way)

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