Mount Hood, also known as Hood Mountain, is a mountain near the southeastern edge of

Santa Rosa, California Santa Rosa (Spanish language, Spanish for "Rose of Lima, Saint Rose") is a city in and the county seat of Sonoma County, California, Sonoma County, in the North Bay (San Francisco Bay Area), North Bay region of the San Francisco Bay Area, Bay A ...

, at the northeast of the

Sonoma Valley Sonoma Valley is a valley located in southeastern Sonoma County, California, in the North Bay region of the San Francisco Bay Area. Known as the birthplace of the California wine industry, the valley is home to some of the earliest vineyards a ...

and attains a height of . The original name was Mount Wilikos, an Indian name meaning "willows." Most of the drainage from Mount Hood contributes to the

headwaters The headwater of a river or stream is the geographical point of its beginning, specifically where surface runoff water begins to accumulate into a flowing channel of water. A river or stream into which one or many tributary rivers or streams flo ...

of Sonoma Creek. A prominent feature is the extensive rock face visible on the upper half of the mountain as viewed from State Route 12. The

habitat In ecology, habitat refers to the array of resources, biotic factors that are present in an area, such as to support the survival and reproduction of a particular species. A species' habitat can be seen as the physical manifestation of its ...

s on the mountain include mixed oak forest, pygmy forest,

chaparral Chaparral ( ) is a shrubland plant plant community, community found primarily in California, southern Oregon, and northern Baja California. It is shaped by a Mediterranean climate (mild wet winters and hot dry summers) and infrequent, high-intens ...

and

riparian zone A riparian zone or riparian area is the interface between land and a river or stream. In some regions, the terms riparian woodland, riparian forest, riparian buffer zone, riparian corridor, and riparian strip are used to characterize a ripari ...

s. In

prehistoric Prehistory, also called pre-literary history, is the period of human history between the first known use of stone tools by hominins million years ago and the beginning of recorded history with the invention of writing systems. The use o ...

times the slopes of Mount Hood were inhabited by a division of the Yuki tribe. Most of Mount Hood is within the Hood Mountain Regional Park maintained by

Sonoma County Sonoma County ( ) is a county located in the U.S. state of California. As of the 2020 United States census, its population was 488,863. Its seat of government and largest city is Santa Rosa. Sonoma County comprises the Santa Rosa-Petaluma ...

. Mount Hood is part of the inner coast Mayacamas Range, and lies mostly within

, with a part of the mountain geographically within Napa County. Mount Hood affords overlooks of the

Pacific Ocean The Pacific Ocean is the largest and deepest of Earth's five Borders of the oceans, oceanic divisions. It extends from the Arctic Ocean in the north to the Southern Ocean, or, depending on the definition, to Antarctica in the south, and is ...

San Francisco Bay San Francisco Bay (Chochenyo language, Chochenyo: 'ommu) is a large tidal estuary in the United States, U.S. state of California, and gives its name to the San Francisco Bay Area. It is dominated by the cities of San Francisco, California, San ...

and "a spectacular view east to the

Sierra Nevada The Sierra Nevada ( ) is a mountain range in the Western United States, between the Central Valley of California and the Great Basin. The vast majority of the range lies in the state of California, although the Carson Range spur lies primari ...

Range."

Area setting

Mount Hood is most easily accessed via State Route 12, which runs along the bottomland of the Sonoma Valley and connects the town of Sonoma to the city of Santa Rosa. Closest viewing areas of Mount Hood from the valley floor are from the village of Kenwood, from the intersection of State Route 12 with Pythian Road, and from the community of Oakmont, the easternmost neighborhood of Santa Rosa. From these viewing locations a volcanic rocky outcrop near the peak of Mount Hood, also known as Gunsight Point, is prominent on the Mayacmas ridgeline, along with Bald Mountain, within Sugarloaf Ridge State Park, itself located approximately three miles east. Mount Hood is also visible from the floor of the

Napa Valley Napa Valley is an American Viticultural Area (AVA) in Napa County, California. The area was established by the Bureau of Alcohol, Tobacco, Firearms and Explosives (ATF) on February 27, 1981, after a 1978 petition submitted by the Napa Valley Vin ...

as well as eastern slopes above that valley. From the summit there are expansive views westerly to Annadel State Park and beyond to Sonoma Mountain. On clear days there are distant views westerly to the Pacific Ocean and easterly to the Sierra Nevada Mountains.

Geology and hydrology

The base of Mount Hood consists of soils of the Goulding-Toomes-Guenoc association, which are well-drained gently to very steep

loam Loam (in geology and soil science) is soil composed mostly of sand (particle size > ), silt (particle size > ), and a smaller amount of clay (particle size < ). By weight, its mineral composition is about 40–40–20% concentration of sand–si ...

s and

clay Clay is a type of fine-grained natural soil material containing clay minerals (hydrous aluminium phyllosilicates, e.g. kaolinite, ). Most pure clay minerals are white or light-coloured, but natural clays show a variety of colours from impuriti ...

-loams situated upon upland formations. The upper reaches consist of the Kidd-Forward-Cohasset association, which group ranges from well drained to excessively drained moderate to very steep

gravel Gravel () is a loose aggregation of rock fragments. Gravel occurs naturally on Earth as a result of sedimentation, sedimentary and erosion, erosive geological processes; it is also produced in large quantities commercially as crushed stone. Gr ...

ly and stony loams. Specific soil map patches on the upper slopes include Boomer loam on some 15 to 30 percent slopes; Goulding cobbly clay loam on 15 to 30 percent slopes; Henneke gravelly loam on some 5 to 30 percent slopes; Henneke gravelly loam on 30 to 75 percent slopes; and rock land on 15 to 75 percent slopes. Considering the steepness of much of the terrain there is a remarkable lack of erosion, primarily because human access has been historically low, and vegetative cover has been kept intact. The headwaters of Santa Rosa Creek rise on the northern slopes of Mount Hood, whereas the central and eastern portions of the mountain contribute to the watershed of Sonoma Creek which rises in the Sugarloaf area. Hood Creek and Graywood Creek, draining portions of Mount Hood, are smaller tributaries that feed Sonoma Creek. Precipitation amounts to approximately per annum on Mount Hood.

Ecology

There are several distinct

s in the Mount Hood area, including: * Mixed

oak An oak is a hardwood tree or shrub in the genus ''Quercus'' of the beech family. They have spirally arranged leaves, often with lobed edges, and a nut called an acorn, borne within a cup. The genus is widely distributed in the Northern Hemisp ...

woodland A woodland () is, in the broad sense, land covered with woody plants (trees and shrubs), or in a narrow sense, synonymous with wood (or in the U.S., the '' plurale tantum'' woods), a low-density forest forming open habitats with plenty of sunli ...

Chaparral Chaparral ( ) is a shrubland plant plant community, community found primarily in California, southern Oregon, and northern Baja California. It is shaped by a Mediterranean climate (mild wet winters and hot dry summers) and infrequent, high-intens ...

* Pygmy forest *

Riparian zone A riparian zone or riparian area is the interface between land and a river or stream. In some regions, the terms riparian woodland, riparian forest, riparian buffer zone, riparian corridor, and riparian strip are used to characterize a ripari ...

In addition there is a specialized habitat on the upper western face consisting of extensive rock

outcrop An outcrop or rocky outcrop is a visible exposure of bedrock or ancient superficial deposits on the surface of the Earth and other terrestrial planets. Features Outcrops do not cover the majority of the Earth's land surface because in most p ...

s, which can be considered a variant of the chaparral habitat with small

forest A forest is an ecosystem characterized by a dense ecological community, community of trees. Hundreds of definitions of forest are used throughout the world, incorporating factors such as tree density, tree height, land use, legal standing, ...

pockets. The mixed oak woodland habitat dominates the lower elevations with coast live oak,

Douglas fir The Douglas fir (''Pseudotsuga menziesii'') is an evergreen conifer species in the pine family, Pinaceae. It is the tallest tree in the Pinaceae family. It is native to western North America and is also known as Douglas-fir, Douglas spruce, Or ...

California buckeye ''Aesculus californica'', commonly known as the California buckeye or California horse-chestnut, is a species of buckeye native to California and southwestern Oregon. Description Aesculus californica is a large deciduous shrub or small tree, u ...

and bigleaf maple forming the majority of the canopy. The understory is sparse, particularly of the deep ravine areas such as Hood Creek riparian zones. Some toyon, poison oak and hollyleaf cherry are found beneath the canopy. At mid-level elevations there are also considerable numbers of tanbark oak and Pacific madrone contributing to the canopy. Chaparral areas are dominated by several varieties of manzanita, including notably '' Arctostaphylos manzanita'' 'Mount Hood'. There is also a considerable abundance of poison oak and coyote brush present in these exposed rocky thin soil habitats. Fire risk is naturally greatest in this ecosystem, and some evidence of fires are seen at an estimated age of twenty years past. There are sizable pygmy forest areas on the west facing slopes and more level inner plateaus of Mount Hood. Here the predominant species are Sargent cypress, various ''Arctostaphylos'' species and coyote brush. The Sargent cypress were formerly misidentified as Mendocino cypress (''Cupressus pygmaea''), which would be far out of their native range here. The height of the pygmy forest is and these patches of relatively dense thickets extend for about in patch size. The riparian zones tend to occur in deep, heavily forested

ravine A ravine is a landform that is narrower than a canyon and is often the product of streambank erosion. Ravines are typically classified as larger in scale than gullies, although smaller than valleys. Ravines may also be called a cleuch, dell, ...

areas that are highly shaded. These typically steep woodlands have a high percentage of California laurel trees, understory

fern The ferns (Polypodiopsida or Polypodiophyta) are a group of vascular plants (plants with xylem and phloem) that reproduce via spores and have neither seeds nor flowers. They differ from mosses by being vascular, i.e., having specialized tissue ...

s and toyons. Several of the streams such as Sonoma Creek, Hood Creek and Santa Rosa Creek are generally year-round flowing, except for the very highest reaches (e.g. above ). Considerable bird life occurs in the Mount Hood environment, but particularly in the riparian zones scrub jay,

woodpecker Woodpeckers are part of the bird family (biology), family Picidae, which also includes the piculets, wrynecks and sapsuckers. Members of this family are found worldwide, except for Australia, New Guinea, New Zealand, Madagascar and the extreme ...

s and juncos are apparent.

Mountain lion The cougar (''Puma concolor'') (, ''Help:Pronunciation respelling key, KOO-gər''), also called puma, mountain lion, catamount and panther is a large small cat native to the Americas. It inhabits North America, North, Central America, Cent ...

bobcat The bobcat (''Lynx rufus''), also known as the wildcat, bay lynx, or red lynx, is one of the four extant species within the medium-sized wild cat genus '' Lynx''. Native to North America, it ranges from southern Canada through most of the c ...

s and

rattlesnake Rattlesnakes are venomous snakes that form the genus, genera ''Crotalus'' and ''Sistrurus'' of the subfamily Crotalinae (the pit vipers). All rattlesnakes are vipers. Rattlesnakes are predators that live in a wide array of habitats, hunting sm ...

s may be found throughout the area, with the snakes preferring west facing sun-exposed rocky slopes.

Hiking

Trails leading to the summit of Mount Hood begin at three locations: * Along Adobe Canyon Road within adjacent Sugarloaf Ridge State Park, on the southeast side of the mountain * At the end of Pythian Road, on the west side * At the end of Los Alamos Road, on the north side Trails leading from the first two trailheads involve relatively direct climbs of about 2,000 vertical feet (610 m) to the

summit A summit is a point on a surface that is higher in elevation than all points immediately adjacent to it. The topographic terms acme, apex, peak (mountain peak), and zenith are synonymous. The term (mountain top) is generally used only for ...

, whereas trails from the Los Alamos Road trailhead take a longer route to the summit but involve about the same vertical rise. The Goodspeed/Nattkemper Trail, which climbs to the summit from the Adobe Canyon Road trailhead, offers the most direct access to the summit and to Gunsight Rock, from which distant views to the south and west are available. From the Los Alamos Road trailhead, the Hood Mountain Trail descends to and crosses Santa Rosa Creek, then climbs via an easily walked fireroad to the summit, passing through the pygmy forest on the northwest side of the mountain. The Summit Trail branches from the Hood Mountain Trail at about 1,400 feet (427 m) elevation and offers a more rugged hike to the summit. From the Pythian Road trailhead, the Lower and Upper Johnson Ridge trails climb relatively directly to the Hood Mountain Trail and on to the summit. The Pythian Road trailhead also provides good access to the pygmy forest via the Panorama Ranch Trail. There is no

potable water Drinking water or potable water is water that is safe for ingestion, either when drunk directly in liquid form or consumed indirectly through food preparation. It is often (but not always) supplied through taps, in which case it is also calle ...

supplied within the Mount Hood area except at the parking lot at the Pythian Road trailhead. Limited overnight

camping Camping is a form of outdoor recreation or outdoor education involving overnight stays with a basic temporary shelter such as a tent. Camping can also include a recreational vehicle, sheltered cabins, a permanent tent, a shelter such as a Bivy bag ...

is available at two on-trail locations within the regional park. Dogs on leashes are allowed within the park.

Name

The mountain is named after William Hood, a settler from Scotland who climbed the peak in 1846.

References

External links

* * Nearb
Hiking Trails in Sonoma County - Sonoma County Wiki
{{DEFAULTSORT:Hood, Mount Mountains of Sonoma County, California Mayacamas Mountains Parks in Sonoma County, California Trails in the San Francisco Bay Area Regional parks in California Mountains of the San Francisco Bay Area Mountains of Northern California