If the age-old saying is correct about variety being the spice of life then Sonoma County of Northern California is, in fact, "sugar and spice and everything nice." In other words, Sonoma County is a true delight in every sense of the word. Within its total area of roughly 1,800 square miles, eleven percent of which is covered by water, it is well endowed with extensive variety of nature's gifts. Sonoma County has dry land formation such as mountain ranges and flat lands; a wide assortment of bodies of water that include rivers, streams, creeks, lakes, marshlands, bays and an ocean; a generous selection of wooded lands that consist of an oak woodland, a redwood forest, northern coastal scrub, grasslands, an oak savanna, a riparian woodland and vineyards. It has lots and lots of vineyards.
Sonoma County, the land of nature's delights, can be found in northern California which also happens to be northwestern part of the United States and it is surrounded by the Pacific Ocean on its west with 76 miles of coastline beaches and hydrographic formations such as Bodega Bay as well as the mouths of the Russian and the Gualala Rivers, and with Marin County on its south, Mendocino County on its north, Napa County on its east, Lake County on its northeast, Solano and Contra Costa Counties on its southeast.
Now that we have had a chance to glance at Sonoma County as a complete package or, better yet, as a broad picture, let us focus in on some of the details:
Dry Land ...
1. The Mayacamas Mountains are part of the California Coast Ranges and their highest peak is Cobb Mountain at 4,724 feet above sea level. The Mayacamas Mountains also include Mount Saint Helena and Hood Mountain.
2. The Sonoma Mountain provides a spectacular view of the Pacific Ocean on the West and the entire Sonoma Valley on the east from its moderate height of 2,287 feet above sea level. Sonoma Mountain's most southern crest is well known as Sear Point and projects into the San Pablo Bay.
3. Sonoma Valley is also known as the Valley of the Moon and it is the flat basin of Sonoma County and the place of birth of California's viticulture.
Wooded Lands ...
1. Oak woodland is a portion of land in Sonoma County that is overgrown with oak trees that form only limited shading which then promote undergrowth of shrubs, herbs and grasses.
2. Redwood forest is populated by redwoods which are also known as Sequoias. Reaching heights of up to 380 feet, these giants are known as the world's tallest trees and at up to 26 feet in diameter, they are not skinny either.
Bodies of Water ...
1, The Russian River runs southward from Lake Mendocino and is Sonoma County's largest river. The Russian River's largest offshoot is Laguna de Santa Rosa and is purported to be the home of the most abundant and varied wildlife in Sonoma County. The largest tributary of Laguna de Santa Rosa is Santa Rosa Creek which, in turn, has Brush, Mark West, Mantanzas, Spring and Piner Creeks as its key tributaries.
2. Sonoma County's additional bodies of water are the Petaluma River; San Antonio, Americano and Sonoma Creeks; San Pablo and San Francisco Bays; Sonoma, Tolay Ilsanjo, Ralphine and Fountaingrove Lakes; and last but certainly not least, the Pacific Ocean.
As I have said in my opening statement, Sonoma County is a true geographic and topographic delight.
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