Blue Rock Springs Park

While waiting for Val to finish up at the dentist's clinic in Vallejo, the wee one and I went to the Blue Rock Springs Park. What piqued my interest was the Greater Vallejo Recreational District's note about the park:

A historic site with large picnic areas (eight reservable sites) with BBQ's, open turf play areas, children's play equipment, a small lake and island with ducks and peacocks, offstreet parking and restrooms. A hiking trail provides access to the ridge of Sulfur Springs Mountain for spectacular views of Vallejo and the Napa River.

Island with ducks and peacocks! Of course, we had to go! I'd love to hike, but with a baby and by my lonesome, I wasn't planning on pushing a stroller up the mountain so I had to scratch that off my list of activities. Maybe if I was more prepared for hiking (e.g., with a backpack rather than a tote bag as a diaper bag).

Anyway, the park did not disappoint. A peacock was walking very close to the children's play area when we got there. My son was very entertained by the peacock so we started following it as it walked around the park. Unfortunately, a diaper change was needed so we had to leave our peacock chasing expedition. By the time we finished, it had gone to a different part of the park.

Our next agenda was to visit the small lake with the island. I didn't see much water as the lake has been overtaken by grass. There were some kids hanging out by the picnic tables on the island so we didn't stop there. Instead, we crossed the two bridges and ended up in the parking lot.

I've been wondering about what other things we could see in this park because we were not able to explore it as fully as other parks we've visited. A quick online search indicated that the park has been there pretty much since the establishment of Vallejo (in the mid-1800s, back when California was still part of Mexico). There are springs behind the mountain where the park is sitting on and people can easily hike to it. Because of this water source, the park became a popular Bay Area tourist destination.

And then I regretted reading about the park...

Because its claim to fame includes it being the scene of one of the unsolved mysteries in the Bay Area. When I read about it, I got goosebumps and started having second thoughts about going there again. But after thinking about how popular the place is (many families in the playground when we visited) and the event happening in the middle of the night many decades ago, I concluded that it's still a great and beautiful place to visit.

We'll be back!