When the Moon Hits Your Eye: Noctourism in Sonoma County

When the sun dips behind the Mayacamas Mountains, night becomes the destination in Sonoma County. Noctourism adventures here include stargazing under skies free from city glow, chasing bioluminescence along the Sonoma Coast, and sipping wine under a canopy of stars. In Sonoma County, the night sky stretches high and clear above you, just waiting to be explored.

The Stars

Set within 3,900-acre Sugarloaf Ridge State Park and surrounded by a ring of hills, the Robert Ferguson Observatory is in a perfect dark-sky spot for stargazing – not to mention it’s Northern California’s most active public observatory and the largest observatory in the western United States, completely dedicated to public viewing and education. One Saturday night each month, the observatory holds a “star party,” inviting the public (for a fee) to peer at the heavens through multiple telescopes.

You could also book your own private star party with Night Sky Adventure, which sets up high-powered telescopes either at your location or the company’s own countryside viewing site about a half-hour from Healdsburg. Brothers Dan and Bill Gordon guide the stargazing adventure, answering questions along the way

The Moon

Want to paddle a lazy river by the light of a full moon? Almost every month, you can join watercraft outfitter The Floathouse Petaluma on one of the company’s Moon Paddle tours, taking to the Petaluma River in Hobie pedal kayaks, accompanied by a guide. Each of these tours celebrates a different full moon, be it the Flower Moon, Strawberry Moon, Harvest Moon or more. In spring and summer, these Moon Paddles are held from roughly 7 to 9:30 p.m., and come autumn, from 4 to 6 p.m. For upcoming paddles, check out our Outdoor Activities Calendar.

The Night Sky

Sonoma County has a handful of public spots with low light pollution where you can get the best views of the night sky, especially during astronomical events like comets, meteor showers, or even the Northern Lights. From Bodega Head, a clifftop headland at the south end of Sonoma Coast State Park, you can observe the beauty of the night sky above the Pacific Ocean, from either a wide, flat path or a grassy lawn. And at the remote Lake Sonoma Recreation Area, set in Geyserville at the northern end of Dry Creek Road, observation points along Rockpile Road include the parking lot for Lone Rock. When visiting these public spots and others, be sure to bring a flashlight for the journey to and from your vehicle.

Aquarius Night Vision Tours based out of Healdsburg can help make the experience even more memorable, bringing professional white-phosphor night vision technology to both locations, plus others.

Armstrong Redwoods State Natural Reserve is another great place to go, where a Night Forest Immersion Walk is led once or twice a month by docents for Stewards of the Coast and Redwoods. You’ll be asked to pre-register for these guided walks along the reserve’s flat, winding paths, and to bring a UV flashlight to illuminate critters and fungi on the forest floor.

Once or twice a month, Sugarloaf Ridge State Park is another option, offering a guided, roughly 4-mile Full Moon Hike, where you can see the sun set over Sonoma Valley, the moon rise over the Mayacamas Mountains, and the whole night sky stretch high above.

Also at Sugarloaf Ridge State Park, the Robert Ferguson Observatory holds occasional “Focus Nights” throughout the year, giving groups of 40 people the opportunity to hone in on a particular feature of the night sky and ask questions of astronomy docents. Past events have focused on individual planets, Perseids meteor showers, and lunar eclipses.

Bioluminescence

From July through October, WaterTreks Eco Tours leads roughly 3-hour “Bioluminscent Night Tours” of the Russian River Estuary in Jenner. Guests climb in a kayak and follow their guide to see glowing trails of dinoflagellates (tiny plankton). These seemingly magical night tours are held by the light of a full moon, when the plankton’s bioluminescence is at its strongest.

Moths by Moonlight

In mid-July, Hallberg Butterfly Gardens in Sebastopol hosts Moth Night, an after-hours event timed to catch the height of moth season. From 7:30 to 11:30 p.m., guests can explore this 9-acre pollinator garden’s lush and blooming trails, keeping an eye out for fluttering silkmoths at special UV light stations. (Note: Peak moth-viewing hours are 10-11 p.m., so nap or caffeinate accordingly.)

Wine Tasting at Night

If heading out into nature at dark isn’t quite your style, check out a night event at a Sonoma County winery.

St. Francis Winery & Vineyards offers occasional multi-course wine-pairing dinners that begin after dark in its grand dining room and gravitate out to the estate grounds. In November, the winery’s Dinner & the Dark Sky event features a guided stargazing experience with Night Sky Adventure.

Each August, Amista Vineyards hosts an annual dinner in the Vineyard, with a long table set up for a multi-course nighttime meal in the Morningside Vineyard.

Boho Manor, a small resort hotel set beside the Russian River in Monte Rio, also regularly hosts evening events like its Farm-to-Table Garden Dinner, which includes wine pairings and is held riverside in mid-April.

The third Friday of each month, Gundlach Bundschu Winery holds a Rhinefarm Afterhours gathering with wine and a DJ on the winery lawn. Each summer, Rodney Strong Vineyards hosts its popular annual concert series with wine, chairs and blankets on the vineyard green, and Dry Creek Vineyard holds a monthly Magic Hour on the estate grounds, featuring wine, live music and lawn games as the sun goes down.

The Robert Ferguson Observatory in Kenwood also pairs sips with stargazing at special events in spring and fall, featuring wines from nearby Landmark Vineyards paired with astronomy talks and peeks at the night sky.

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Written by Melanie Wynne