Go See Grandmother

Hike to the Grandmother Oak in Hood Mountain Regional Park

Grandmother Tree Hike Hood Mountain Sugarloaf park Sonoma

Grandmother’s calling, so you must go. And it’s going to be a lovely visit, one where you can get a lot of social distance too. In fact, you might be the only company Grandmother gets all day. The Grandmother Tree is the largest known coast live oak in Sonoma County. Unfortunately the tree toppled over last winter from the combination of wildfires, rain, strong winds, and erosion. Regardless, Grandmother will be happy to see you.

Visit her via a 5-mile (round-trip) hike high in Hood Mountain Regional Park, which crosses into Sugarloaf Ridge State Park. You’ll get big views, plentiful solitude, and Grandmother, waiting way up on a ridgeline that spills out to sweeping, spectacular views of the surrounding mountains. Just getting to the trailhead is an adventure, driving and winding up Los Alamos Road to the parking lot and the start of Hood Mountain Trail (the map on the sign shows the route).

Follow the trail down and through a forest canopy to a signpost reading McCormick Sugarloaf Ridge State Park. Here, you’ll go left, onto Sugarloaf’s Quercus Trail, a bit of a thigh-burner as you rise and wind with peek-a-boo views. Continue on, and at Headwaters Trail (signed) head left and keep going up. At the Grandmother Oak Trail follow the ridgeline path, taking in sweeping vistas before coming to a small forested area where you’ll find …. Grandmother! The toppled giant oak rests her thick trunk, a girth of impressive proportions, in the exact place where she lived in strength, branches reaching out in all directions, like the best ever air-hug. (Pictures below of before and after she fell.)

Continue up the hill to a trio of trees at the top, which we recommend as your end point because of its brilliant vantage of the Mayacama Mountain Range and rolling Sonoma County. It’s perfect for a lunch break. Return the way you came, and as you pass by Grandmother assure her you’ll be back soon. She already misses you.

The trailhead parking lot is at the north entrance of Hood Mountain Regional Park, in Santa Rosa (map). From the parking lot, follow Hood Mountain Trail until the McCormick Ranch/Sugarloaf Ridge sign. From here, go left, onto Sugarloaf’s Quercus Trail. Follow it about 1.5 miles and go left on Headwaters Trail to the Grandmother Oak Trail, which takes you right past the Grandmother Tree (it’s the big one!) and up to a sweeping vista point just beyond it (you’ll see three trees on the ridge). Hood Mountain Regional Park is dog-friendly, but no dogs in Sugarloaf Ridge State Park.

Trending Stories NorCal

View all Stories
  1. Afternoon on the Island

    What is it about tiny islands in the middle of lakes? There’s something that just draws you in. It’s even more fun when getting there is half the adventure because you have to reach it by canoe, kayak, paddleboat, or a ranger-guided boat tour!

    View
  2. Golden Gate's Blue Heron

    Golden Gate Park’s Blue Heron Lake is home to birds of many feathers, turtles lounging on rocks, visitors from afar, and locals who love this urban oasis in San Francisco. Try the "Boats and Breakfast" rowboat or pedal boat deal.

    View
  3. This Is Paradise

    Granite mountain-scape, superb sunset views, crystal lakes, and shoreline campsites … the trip to Paradise Lake in Tahoe National Forest lives up to its idyllic name.

    View
  4. Aloha from California

    Say Aloha without leaving California with a 7-mile out-and-back hiking adventure to Lake Aloha in El Dorado National Forest. You can also camp here, a premier place for stargazing.

    View

Trending Stories SoCal

View all Stories
  1. Walking the Los Angeles River Trail Through Frogtown

    Frogtown Strutter’s Stroll

    Don’t go dismissing the Los Angeles River as merely a 51-mile concrete channel. It’s a genuine urban artery that links real neighborhoods, and its riverside bike/ped paths endear i

    View
  2. Coming Up Roses

    Looking to spice up your hiking life? Give your partner a rose—Mount Rose! The 10-mile out-and-back peak hike goes up to one of the grandest views in all of Lake Tahoe. Get ready f

    View
  3. Underground Garden

    Looking to escape the summer heat? Head to Fresno and discover its cool secret: the Forestiere Underground Gardens–an enchanting garden and architecture oasis like no other.

    View
  4. Sequoia Re-opens Crystal Cave

    Step inside Sequoia & Kings Canyon National Park's hidden world by visiting the newly re-opened Crystal Cave—the only cave in the parks open to the public. Closed for four years, this rare marble karst cavern is welcoming visitors once again, but only through the summer season!

    View