Sugarloaf Ridge trail tagged with gang signs

When the rains come, many Sonoma Valley hikers head to Canyon Trail at Sugarloaf Ridge State Park to see a 25-foot seasonal waterfall – a waterfall which recently featured a jarring sight.

The trail to the fall, narrow and rocky through a forest of madrone, fir, bay laurel and redwood trees – feels remote and isolated, especially on a moist day – an immersion in the natural world.

But on Saturday, Nov. 22, around 3 p.m., a hiker reported to the Sugarloaf visitors’ center that he saw six young men on the trail spray-painting rocks and trees, says Park Manager John Roney. Although a park aide tried to block the suspects’ SUV with his vehicle while a park volunteer called the Sonoma County Sheriff’s Office, the suspects were able to angle their vehicle away and leave before a deputy arrived.

What they left behind, says Roney, were ?several black or blue spray-painted marks on about 20 rocks and trees on or near Canyon Trail. The marks were not words or pictures but, according to the sheriff’s office, gang signs and symbols.

Sgt. Cecile Focha, of the sheriff’s office, said in an email Tuesday that the case has been “forwarded to MAGNET (the county’s gang task force) and our graffiti abatement officer.” Focha refused to speculate why gang signs would be made on a fairly remote trail in the 3,900-acre park in the Mayacamas Mountains near Kenwood.

Roney also said he didn’t know why the trail was marked. Although there have been marijuana grows discovered in the park in past years, Roney doesn’t know if this incident is related.

Roney would like park visitors to remember, “If you see anything suspicious, let us know. Plus, we can always use more volunteers.”

Team Sugarloaf, the volunteer-fueled coalition of five nonprofit groups which has operated the state park for more than two years, has removed almost all the graffiti using a citric-based cleaner, says Roney, and they’ll wait until after this week’s storms to see what more needs to be done for marked rocks near the Sonoma Creek waterfall.

One large Douglas fir near the trail, about 50 yards from the parking lot, still sports a large blue spray-painted mark that looks like a lower-case “a” on top of a capital “H.”

Focha wrote that it stands for a Santa Rosa Sureno gang, “Angelino Heights,” though others might argue “AH” stands for something else about the taggers entirely.