Howarth Park to Glen Ellen, out and back

Starting from the tennis courts on Summerfield, we ride east past Lake Ralphine in Howarth City Park, through Spring Lake County Park along the dam there, thence to Channel Drive in Annadel State Park. Watch for the little bridge crossing the creek on the left just past the pond. Into Oakmont we go, where you have to be 55. I know -- you can't be 55. Yes, you are more than that. Get over it.
Moving right along past the little houses that all look just the same, we take a short hop on the high-speed Hiway 12, Sonoma Highway, to Lawndale. This will take us the back way around to Warm Springs Road. Ride carefully on in to Glenn Ellen, where the Village Market offers deli sandwiches, coffee, and other items. There is very likely some good outdoor seating somewhere there in this time of Covid.

The Glen Ellen Village Market

Glen Ellen was home to Jack London, and is where he built his dream house, The Wolf House, which as we all know sadly burned shortly before he moved in. I fondly recall his novels, 'The Call of the Wild', and 'White Fang'.
The whole of Glen Ellen was severely damaged by the Nuns Fire during the October 2017 Northern California wildfires. You will also see evidence of the Glass Fire of 2020, which burned along the highway corridor. Climate Change is real.

Jack London at work

“He was mastered by the sheer surging of life, the tidal wave of being, the perfect joy of each separate muscle, joint, and sinew in that it was everything that was not death, that it was aglow and rampant, expressing itself in movement, flying exultantly under the stars.”
― Jack London, The Call of the Wild

The return trip retraces much of the same route, but we'll pedal through Kenwood instead of taking Lawndale. When we get to Spring Lake County Park, we'll loop around the south shore then reconnect with Spring Creek Trail, taking us back to the parking lot.
I hope you enjoy the ride!
Geoffrey