Coppertone and I elected to go back to Jack London to map out the few remaining trail segments in the park that we had not previously visited.  Also, given our recent trip to Europe, which involved a lot of walking, we figured we were in better shape as of late.

We took the Mountain Trail to get as to the top of the park as quickly as possible.  After mapping the end of Mountain Trail we also looped around to finish off Hayfields Trail and Cowan Meadow Trail.  Despite our false bravado having walked a lot in Europe we still managed to tire ourselves out quite a bit.  But it was nice to complete our personal map of the park.

The Hayfields Trail has a logical turnaround point near a power pole, though the trail continues on with an overgrown singletrack.  I don't recommend continuing to the actual park boundary line.  It's overgrown and there's no view at the end that makes it worth the effort to get there.

Coppertone and I had passed by the Petrified Forest a couple of times in the past and always remarked we should visit someday.  Recently, we say that the park was up for sale.  Though the family that owns it appears to be looking for the "right" buyers, we have some concerns about how things might turn out.  If nothing else, we had better get our visit in while we can!

We start off our hike near the combined ticket booth and gift shop.  A very handy interpretive guide and trail map recommends a clockwise direction so we head left.

The trail surface will vary from packed dirt, gravel, pavement and "natural concrete".  The natural concrete is actually exposed volcanic ash that has solidified.  In general, the trail is easy to traverse with only a later paved segment providing a steep, but short, descent.

The guide's 21 markers provide insight into both petrified trees but also some currently living trees.  The main draw for the park are the petrified samples and there are plenty here.  Many of the trees felled here were ancestors of our modern day Redwoods so some of the long trunks are impressively large.

The Main Trail consists of a half mile loop.  All but one of the stations from the guide are situated along it.  The optional Meadow Trail adds another half mile (out and back) to the outing.  The end of the Meadow Trail provides nice views of the petrified forest's culprit, nearby Mount St. Helena.

We overheard a couple discussing when the volcano last erupted.  The husband indicated it last erupted in 1980.  Obviously, he was confusing Mount St. Helena with Mount St. Helens in Washington.  Imagine a catastrophic eruption in Napa Valley just a few decades ago!

After our enjoyable hike we stopped by the souvenir shop to buy a few things to remind us of our visit.  We really hope that we won't look back on these items in the future with nostalgia about a long gone attraction.

We had heard that there was a new trail segment at Montini which had just opened up, so we swung by there to check it out today.  Technically, it's not an entirely new segment.  An unofficial trail leading down from Two Goat Point to the Holstein Hill Trail had long been in use making a loop out of the officially one way Valley of the Moon Trail.  Not only was it a rogue trail but it was steep in places and largely exposed, which would have been less than ideal on a hot day like today.

We started off at the Field of Dreams parking lot and headed up Spotted Fawn Trail.  We turned left onto the Holstein Hill Trail and ran into a problem.  A tree had fallen across the trail.  Normally, not a big deal.  But in this case a healthy poison oak vine found the top of the fallen tree trunk to be a great place to grow.  So hopping over the tree was not so easy.  We picked our way around the obstruction and continued on.

The right turn onto the new trail segment is not obvious.  At least not yet.  The signage at the intersection clearly marks the Holstein Hill Trail going roughly east-west.  But it makes no mention of the clear trail headed roughly north.  We turn in the hopes that things will become more clear later.  Not too long afterwards we see a sign indicating a right turn instead of what would have been a continuation of the old rogue trail.  We found it.

The new trail segment snakes its way uphill, mostly through a line of oaks.  The rapidly rising temperatures become far more bearable when in the shade.  This new segment is not just sanctioned, it is clearly superior to what was here before.  We're not sure what the new trail segment should be called, so we just went with Valley of the Moon Trail name in our track file.

At Two Goat Point we turn right and head downhill along the long established Valley of the Moon Trail.  We turned at the next junction with Spotted Fawn Trail and then headed back to our trailhead.  Even though we were on the trails for less than 2 miles, we achieved our goals.  We got the new trail segment mapped and we got out of the Sun before the temperatures were expected to rise to 100 degrees.