Visit & Photos of Sonoma Valley Regional Park & Lake Suttonfield

I took an unexpected hike at Sonoma Valley Regional Park when I discovered Jack London’s help was late opening the gates.  Even though I was closer to the entrance on the Arnold Drive side of the park, I didn’t like the parking so I drove around to the highway 12 side that had ample parking.  I have an annual pass for Sonoma County Regional Parks so I didn’t have to pay the $7.00 parking fee. I was not familiar with the park and I wanted to see the lake and took the West Sutton lake trail which led me to a gate opening that had a sign Park Boundary Restricted Area Beyond this point, so I went back and took the Corridor Ridge Trail assuming I would be able to spot the lake from the top of the mountains - it was hilly terrain which led me to the Arnold side of the park and I never saw the lake.  That side opens up into Lake Suttonfield which is not part of the Sonoma Valley Park but a reservoir.  I could not find very much information on this lake online.  After hiking around the lake I started back to my car from the other side of lake on well-cut trails but found myself walking in what could have been private property – it was very confusing where the park started and stopped and what trails were private or not. I found myself having to use my GPS to figure out where I was most of the time. My fitbit hit 10,000 steps by the time I got back to my car so expect this was about 4 miles. The hike starts with some pretty impressive vistas of the Sonoma Valley and Glen Ellen area.  The wildlife I saw was limited to birds. I saw acorn woodpeckers, turkey vultures, western jays, and a lot of tweets.  At the lake I saw Mallards, Cormorants, Herons, Coots and a solo Bufflehead that looks lost and out of place.  The park was not much to see the lake was pretty cool.  Anchored with a dog park this place is good for dog walkers and noticed some jogging and signs of equestrian activity.  I guess there is a fair amount of birding here too as a birding site has information on this park as well. Living in Petaluma, I don’t think I would make a special trip to visit here. It is a nice spot for the locals. Click here for more photos of this park.