To Lake Ilsanjo and back

Coppertone and I parked in the adjacent Sonoma County Park in order to get closer to a few trail segments in Annadel that we had not yet mapped out.  We start off heading south on Canyon Trail along Spring Creek for about a mile before we cross a bridge over the creek and into Annadel.  From there we continue on Canyon Trail until it runs into Lake Ilsanjo.  This part of our hike is somewhat dusty and mostly exposed to the Sun.  Hikers are also out numbered by the cyclists buzzing by. 

At Lake Ilsanjo we turn left onto Lake Trail for a short distance.  The view of the lake is alternately visible or hidden depending upon the dense foliage along its banks.

We turn left again onto Spring Creek Trail and it's almost like a different world.  First, the trail path gets much more rocky.  The extra difficulty does seem to filter out the less motivated cyclists.  On this trail hikers will outnumber cyclists.  The path also gets more shaded, a welcome relief from the exposure earlier in our hike.

Our path leads us back to a junction with Canyon Trail and then we doubled back to our starting point.