Pomo Canyon Trail Named Sonoma County's Best For Hiking

SONOMA COUNTY, CA — The 4.4-mile Pomo Canyon Trail is the best hiking spot in Sonoma County, according to updated rankings published by the San Francisco Chronicle. Researchers at the newspaper crunched the numbers on 850,000 AllTrails reviews for thousands of hiking routes in the Bay Area, charting hikers' favorite trails in each of the nine counties.

"Our list is largely based on [the] average rating score for routes with at least 100 ratings," the Chronicle explains. "We also considered trail difficulty in specific cases: We excluded a few highly rated walks that are longer than 12 miles and considered very challenging — ones appropriate for only the hardest of hardcore hikers and runners."

The Pomo Canyon Trail to Red Hill ranked highest in Sonoma County, with an average rating of 4.75 among 192 reviews. The trail is listed as moderate difficulty, taking about 2.5 hours to complete the loop.

"After a rise of about 500 feet, the trail opens up into gorgeous rolling hills," the Chronicle said. "Finally, hikers reach Red Hill and one of the Bay Area's most spectacular views: the Russian River emptying into the Pacific Ocean."

In close second was the Armstrong Redwoods Grove Loop Trail, with a 4.72 out of 529 reviews, near Guerneville.

>> Check out the full trail rankings via the San Francisco Chronicle.