Name: Hike @ Jack London State Park
Start: 2024-12-07T10:00:00-08:00
End: 2024-12-07T14:00:00-08:00

"I write for no other purpose than to add to the beauty that now belongs to me. I write a book for no other reason than to add three or four hundred acres to my magnificent estate." -Jack London

Today Jack's Beauty Ranch is a [National Historic Landmark](https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/National_Historic_Landmark "National Historic Landmark"), there are over 29 miles of back-country trails that traverse through mixed forest, redwood groves, oak woodlands, and grassy meadows, we will explore about seven miles of it.

We'll meet in the main parking lot and hike downhill to the ruins of the Wolf House, visit his modest grave site, then head back uphill to the central part of the ranch where his efforts to make the place an agricultural Eden are on display. There's a grove of prickly pear cactus from his friend Luther Burbank, the remains of a winery, and the perfectly intact Pig Palace which includes the first concrete silo built in California. Just uphill from that is London Lake where we will stop at the picnic tables and have lunch. After lunch we'll head out on the network of trails that goes on for miles and eventually links up with Sonoma Mountain Regional Park and the Sonoma Developmental Center open space.

The Wolf House was built with redwood sourced from the ranch, the redwood groves are all second growth from the logging that was done over a hundred years ago. One ancient tree is so spectacular that Jack decided to leave it. The great, well-known ancient trees of the world have names like Prometheus and Methuselah, this tree is like that, the little seating area beneath it has a cathedral like quality about it, like being in the presence of the numinous. It's like his shrine, I'll bring a few pages of his most timeless writing to read to you and give you a sense of his "author's voice".

**This will be an easy hike with a distance of between 7 and 8 miles, elevation gain of around 1,000'**

**No dogs** are allowed on the trails, there's a **$10 entrance fee** payable at the kiosk at the entrance to the parking lot. (**FREE** for those with CA State Parks passes or Sugarloaf/ Jack London passes.)

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Hike @ Jack London State Park

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Hike @ Jack London State Park

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