Trails Challenge
|
The Trails Challenge is a self-guided hiking program that promotes outdoor recreation in Sonoma County’s Regional Parks. The Challenge encourages residents and visitors to walk/hike a specific number of featured trails during the summer. Sponsors can be part of a popular outdoor recreation/health promotion with a shared message, shared audience, and shared objectives.
The Trails Challenge is geared to:
|
The trails are detailed in a “Trails Challenge Guidebook,” which is available in both English and Spanish as a free download on the Regional Parks website. A limited number of print editions are available as well. Participants are encouraged to share their Trails Challenge photos and stories on Facebook and Instagram, making them eligible for special prizes.
Sponsors provide critical support, including funding to cover the costs of designing, printing and distributing guidebooks and brochures. Trails Challenge promotions have included regional radio and newspaper ad campaigns, feature coverage by media and bloggers, participant engagement and paid ads on social media, posters and flyers, presentations and stories in Regional Parks’ monthly e-news and blog. In addition, retail sponsors have the opportunity to connect with Trails Challenge participants, such as by offering a coupon redeemable at a retail location.
Sponsors provide critical support, including funding to cover the costs of designing, printing and distributing guidebooks and brochures. Trails Challenge promotions have included regional radio and newspaper ad campaigns, feature coverage by media and bloggers, participant engagement and paid ads on social media, posters and flyers, presentations and stories in Regional Parks’ monthly e-news and blog. In addition, retail sponsors have the opportunity to connect with Trails Challenge participants, such as by offering a coupon redeemable at a retail location.
Thank you Trails Challenge sponsors!
For information on becoming a Trails Challenge sponsor, please contact Executive Director Melissa Kelley.
Santa Rosa Press Democrat features board member who met the challenge!
Justin Borton, a Sonoma County Parks Foundation board member, walks through the proposed Mark West Creek Regional Park & Preserve. (Christopher Chung/ The Press Democrat)
|
From the boat ramp at Hudeman Slough near Skaggs Island on the southeastern tip of Sonoma County, it’s about a three-hour drive to the sandy beach at Gualala Point, up on the northern county line.
But it still took Justin Borton, a local trail runner and park enthusiast, 55 days to make the trip — mainly because he stopped along the way at every one of the parks, beaches, campgrounds, and properties in the Sonoma Regional Parks system, 55 in all. His marathon park-a-day odyssey, just completed in mid-September, was launched with a commitment to raise public awareness. He set off in mid-July, juggling work and family obligations, with the goal of visiting a new park each day. “I issued myself a personal challenge to visit all 55 Sonoma County Regional Parks in 55 days, to highlight our county’s wonderful and fragile relationship with nature, and the need to address the climate crisis now.” READ MORE... |
