Walking along the river and through history

The trail is a simple paved path following the Russian River.  It's rather short, slightly scenic but near constant road noise from Highway 101 takes away from the experience.  Might be a nice resource for nearby residents or a quick walk for visitors to Cloverdale or Alexander Valley who are in the area for other reasons.

It's grape picking time in wine country and some wild grape vines we saw near the parking area looked ripe for the picking.  Obviously the area is well suited to viticulture given that untended plants seem to flourish.

At one point we were almost taken out by a squirrel who may have been fleeing a rival when he appeared just a foot or two in front of us on the trail.  He quickly got his wits about him and scurried up a nearby tree.  Fence lizards were ever frequent on the edges of the trail, often perched on rocks trying to soak up the Sun's heat.

What really consumed our time here was the wandering we did around the cemetery situated at the southern end of the trail adjacent to the parking area.  We found grave sites as early as 1862 and many interesting headstones.

Coppertone and I planned to walk this trail, run a few errands and then try another hike in nearby Healdsburg but with all of the time spent in the cemetery we had to cut our walking/hiking short.  No complaints though.