Spring Lake Regional Park is in the heart of Sonoma County and provides access to boating, swimming, camping, and has a discovery center. Located right next to Trione-Annadel State Park known for dozens of trails great for horses, hikers, and mountain bikers make Spring Lake a great weekend destination! Stay in the cabins and use this as a perfect glamping spot with hundreds of amazing wineries to visit! A true hike then wine weekend!
Wedge Cabins
Graduate students from Cal Poly Pomona designed these adorable and functional wedge cabins as part of the California State Parks System “Parks Forward” initiative. We are fortunate enough to live here in Santa Rosa and hadn’t really thought about camping so close to home but when we saw there were these great cabins we just had to check them out!
Each of the three camping cabins has a barbeque with a prep table and food locker and picnic table near a fire ring outside. They are nicely spaced away from other campsites (the entire campground is) and we had a couple of oaks giving us some nice shade! Inside was a bench, twin bunk beds with plastic-coated mattresses, and one double platform bed with a plastic-coated mattress. Out back we had a deck with solar lights and 2 chairs to lounge in. There are lights inside the cabin and the front porch which is great! The shades drawdown for privacy too. The layout is perfect for a family wanting to have a weekend getaway. With so much to do in the area, you won’t get bored!
We spent the weekend relaxing on the deck, around the fire pit, and went for a nice hike in Annadel State Park. Since we live here we didn’t visit any wineries but Kenwood would be the closest and have several great wineries to choose from!
Trione-Annadel State Park
Trione-Annadel State Park is approximately 5,500 acres with 40 plus miles of trails ranging from easy to moderate. This is a heavily trafficked park where you will often see mountain bikers, hikers, and equestrians sharing the nice wide trails. With so many options to hike and ride, this is a great destination for Santa Rosa residents. There is a 26-acre man-made lake, Lake Ilsanjo named after prior owners Ilse and Joe, that you can fish or swim in. This year the lake is extremely low due to the drought. Learn more about the history of the park and find a map here.
It was a warm May weekend so we chose to only do a moderate 7.8-mile hike up to and around Lake Ilsanjo. Spring is a fabulous time to visit the park! Wildflowers are blooming and the temps are still moderate. There are some trails that provide shade but up toward the top of Annadel, it is more full sun.
From the Spring Lake Campground, we followed the trail down to Spring Lake then across the North Dam to Canyon trail where we entered Trione-Annadel SP. Canyon trail is a nice wide fire road and mostly level for the first mile with some shade and wildflowers. Once you get into the oak woodlands and bay trees it is nicely shaded and starts to climb a bit. We chose to take the Spring Creek trail up to Lake Ilsanjo to experience it before it got crowded. Watch for poison oak along the edges of the trail in here!
Once we reached the top we looped around Lake Ilsanjo on the Lake trail until we reached Canyon trail again. The wildflowers in the meadow area were beautiful! It was a nice offset to seeing the lake so low. Around the lake is where a handful of trails intersect. A lot more people were up here than we had expected but with so many different trails it wasn’t long before we saw fewer people.
On our way back down Canyon trail, we saw sheep grazing on a neighboring property! Wooly firefighters!
Overall this hike is moderate due to some climbing but is mostly a gentle grade which makes it perfect for all levels!
Spring Lake Regional Park
We spent the evening watching people fishing at Spring Lake then headed back to the cabin just before sunset to enjoy some wine on the back deck and s’mores around the fire. The next morning was a walk around Spring Lake before heading home.
Things We Love
Sunscreen! Don’t forget the sunscreen this summer and all year! We have found natural All Good Sunscreen Butter to be super effective in protecting us from UVA/UVB rays and as an added bonus, it comes in a recyclable tin container. All Good sunscreen butter is reef safe, natural, and is made in Morro Bay, CA by a woman-owned, solar-powered, certified B-Corp company. All great wins!
Click below to read more and see the ingredient list:
Even though we were glamping we still needed a sleeping bag. We absolutely love our Big Agnes Dream Island 15! It’s double-wide, zipper on both sides (extremely important!), and has a pillow barn to keep them in place. The roomy hoods have internal cinch control to snug them in when needed. Along with the “No-draft” collar, wedge, and zipper baffles you’ll both have control to fully vent or seal up and lockout unwanted drafts. Specially designed to drape and contour, the comforter-like top reduces air pockets, keeping your body heat next to your body.
We looked high and low for something that we both liked and we’ve really enjoyed using this sleeping bag! Keeps us warm on chilly nights and the double zipper allows both of us to adjust our sleeping temps by hanging a foot out if needed. 🙂
Check it out on Amazon below!
