By DEREK MOORE / Press Democrat
Photo by Press Democrat
Toraj Soltani hammered on the pedals of his mountain bike as he powered up a steep fire road in Trione-Annadel State Park. He and two buddies had hooked up after work on a Friday evening in May to ride the forested open space before nightfall, a lung-busting journey that would take them from Santa Rosa to Kenwood and back.
Soltani, 51, a lifelong Santa Rosa resident, grew up exploring the trails in Annadel. It was to be a housing development, but Sonoma County financier and philanthropist Henry Trione stepped in with more than $1 million of his own money in 1969 to complete a $5 million purchase that handed the property over to the state. When Annadel was slated to close in 2012 amid state parks’ fiscal crisis, Trione ponied up $100,000 to help keep it open under county administration.
Last week, the California State Park and Recreation Commission honored Trione’s legacy by voting to change the park’s name to Trione-Annadel State Park.
The park remains an urban gem, beloved by trail runners, mountain bikers and equestrians. Soltani, the owner of Mac’s Deli in downtown Santa Rosa and a well-known local cyclist, paused briefly on his ride to share his memories of hiking at Annadel with his mother. Several years ago, Soltani and his wife bought a home near Annadel so the family could have easy access to the park.
“It’s so woven into our lifestyle,” he said. “We hold it very dear.”
But Annadel also serves as a prime example of the pressures and failures besetting the state parks system. It suffers from its own popularity, attracting an estimated 120,000 visitors annually. On weekends, it is not unusual to see horse riders, cyclists and others on foot squeezing onto the same paths. Many of those trails are in dire need of maintenance, with erosion from wear and tear and weather taking a clear toll over the years. At the same time, a widening number of trails are unsanctioned, carved out mostly by renegade bikers exploring terrain that established paths skirt. Homeless encampments also have sprouted in some areas of the park. Read more