Whitney Falls

A Brief History of a Forgotten Hike

by Bill Kortum

Whitney Falls—almost 70 feet high—are on the headwaters of Fowler Creek, which becomes Carriger Creek on the Sonoma Valley floor.

The hike to Whitney Falls was an early Petaluma tradition. An early morning start from the city put you at the falls for a picnic lunch, with enough time to return before dark. A woodcutter named Joe Warren kept a registration book in a box near the base of the Falls for hikers to record their visits.

Taking this hike was possible because of the early California tradition of trust, which included providing a meal to the stranger who came to your door, or seldom asking questions of people passing over your land.

According to an August 18, 1955 article in the Petaluma Argus-Courier, written by the late Ed Mannion, Whitney Falls takes its name from the A.P. Whitney Ranch, but is actually on adjacent property purchased by George Wratton from General Mariano Vallejo in 1860. Wratton purchased 1,240 acres for $4,000, borrowed at 2% interest. In the early 1870s, H.A. Hardin bought the property and it remained in that family until 1929. The family name remains on the Petaluma side of the mountain in the form of Hardin Lane.

You can no longer hike to Whitney Falls because no public trail across Sonoma Mountain exists, and property owners along the old route do not permit hikers to cross their lands.