Basaltic Parent Materials and Soil

We will drive east on East Cotati Ave. to Petaluma Hill Road.
We will drive south (right) on Petaluma Hill Road for a half mile. Turn east (left) on Roberts Road. Drive one and one half miles to Lichau Road (you can only turn right, east).
Drive about three miles. We will be near the top of the mountain.

Clear Lake Clay Along Petaluma Hill Road.

Drive east on East Cotati Ave.
Turn south (right) on Petaluma Hill Road
We will stop at Mr. Cunea’s farm on the north side of the hill before Penngrove. If you get to “downtown” Penngrove you have gone too far.

Field Trip to Mt. Burdell

We are going to see some serpentine soil and pleggenized soil on the slopes of Mt. Burdell on the north side of Novato.
Drive south on Highway 101. Ten miles south of Petaluma you will come to Olimpali State Historic Park. Please meet us there. Parking costs $2 per car so please have the correct change in paper money (coins do not fit in the slot sometimes). If you are late, please look for us near on the other side of the buildings from the parking lot.
If you are really late, we may have gone to the Marin Open Space trail head on the south side of the mountain. Drive south on Highway 101. About two miles from Olimpali Park take the Atherton - San Marin exit and turn right. Drive about one mile to San Andreas Drive and turn right. Drive to the trail head at the end of the lane. We will be up the hill.

Old Depositional Soils Along Petaluma Hill Road

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Drive east on East Cotati Ave.
Turn south (right) on Petaluma Hill Road
We will stop several times near “downtown” Penngrove.
Then we will go north (right) on Old Redwood Highway
Then turn north (right) on Rail Road Ave.

Rhyolite Parent Materials and Soils

Drive out to the corner of East Cotati Ave.
and Turn south (right) on Petaluma Hill Road.
Drive a half mile.
Turn east (left) at Roberts Road.
Drive about two miles to the corner of Presley, Lichau and Roberts Road.
Go straight, the road changes name. You will pass Crane Creek Park. Drive another half mile. We will be parked just off the road on a big driveway on the right.

SALT POINT SOIL FIELD TRIP

This weekend we will go up to Salt Point State Park to see the famous "podzolitic development" on the elevated sea terraces. I hope that most of you will come with me in the van. We will gather at the classroom at 8 am, Saturday morning. If you have said that you will go with the van but are delayed or incapacitated call 664-2485 so that we do not wait for you. If you MUST drive yourself please car pool with as many people as possible. The rangers do not like us to fill up their parking lot.

The directions to the park from our campus are very simple.
Drive north on the freeway, Highway number 101, until you see the signs for RIVER ROAD and the RUSSIAN RIVER RESORT AREAS about four miles north of central Santa Rosa.
Turn west - left - and drive about 25 miles. You will go through all of the Russian River resort towns all the way to JENNER which is by the sea at the mouth of the river. You are then on Highway One.
You follow the coast for about 15 miles north until you see signs for SALT POINT STATE PARK. Go past the main entrances and drive about another mile to STUMP BEACH. We will all meet there between 9:30 and 10am. If you come late, we will have started at the trail head for the North Trail but we will have walked down hill to the coast south of Stump Beach and walked down south to the parking lots. We will walk up the road to the camp grounds and up the central trail in the park to the pygmy forest.
We will go rain or shine, and if we dress for the weather we will have a good time and learn a lot. Please bring many different types of cloths no matter what the weather report and no matter what the weather when you set out. Salt Point is a funny place and it can be very different from the rest of the region, and very changeable. It may rain, so be prepared for that. It will certainly drizzle in the morning even if there is no other rain on the rest of the California Coast. It may be very windy and the wind chill factor may be cold, though the temperature is rarely below 500F. It may be hot and sunny, and even muggy, so be prepared to shed your wind and rain protection and enjoy the heat. Carry sun screen. It might be buggy in some places, so be prepared. You should have a day pack for your lunch, and at least a liter of water and to carry all of the rain and wind gear when it is not needed. We could start out in a windy drizzle and end up a hike in a blazing muggy sun.

Todd Road Vernal Pool Reserve

Go to the Freeway and drive north to Todd Road.
Drive West (left) on Todd Road several miles and past Stony Point Road.
Look for the school van on Todd Road about a half mile past Stony Point Road.
We will be on the North (right) side of the road.
Please meet us there to see the Wright series loams.