A letter is taped to the wall facing the counter at Trail House Cafe on Montgomery Drive. It came from a group called BusinessRate and congratulates the business as the "Best Bicycle Store in Santa Rosa," based on Google reviews. It arrived in the mail on Monday, Oct. 19, according to The Press Democrat. That was a few hours after a work crew had cleared every bike, tool and machine out of the shop at the back of the building.
Today the back of Trail House is an empty room, and the cafe in front is still pouring coffee. The closure was decided by a company headquartered in Morgan Hill. The next changes to the trails around it will go a different way. The 49-acre Southeast Greenway and the trail plan for Trione-Annadel State Park are both being drawn up in public. The greenway is taking comments now, and Annadel's revised plan goes out for public review next.
The one piece of the routine no one here controlled
Trail House opened on Dec. 13, 2016. It was a bike shop and a cafe in one building at 4036 Montgomery Drive, and it became a regular stop for people heading to or coming back from Trione-Annadel. In March 2022, Specialized Bicycle Components bought the bike shop side. In the same round it bought two other Santa Rosa shops on College Avenue, NorCal Bike Sport and Bike Peddler.
The cafe was never part of that sale, so it stayed when the shop closed. Former general manager Shane Bresnyan told The Press Democrat that the shop's employees have moved to the company's two other Santa Rosa stores.
The closure is part of a pullback well beyond Santa Rosa. Rick Vosper, a former global marketing director at Specialized, told The Press Democrat the company had 59 U.S. stores in June, based on TheBikeShopList.com. With Trail House closed, it was down to 48 in October. The paper linked the cuts to tariffs pushing up prices and to lower demand and fewer people walking into stores.
Here is what still runs at the same address:
- Trail House Cafe, co-owned by Crystal Ramirez, according to The Press Democrat. Its site lists hours of 7:30 a.m. to 8 p.m. Monday through Friday, 8:30 a.m. to 8 p.m. Saturday, and 8:30 a.m. to 6 p.m. Sunday.
- Trivia Night every Tuesday, free and hosted by North Bay Trivia. Seating is first come, first served, and teams can have up to six players, according to the cafe's events calendar.
- Two regular groups Ramirez described to The Press Democrat. The Sip and Stitch crew crochets over coffee, and the Sip and Sniff group is dog walkers who come in with their dogs.
For repairs, Breakaway Bikes is an independent shop less than half a mile northeast on Montgomery. It posted a note of support for the Trail House crew after the closure.
The Redwood Trails Alliance had held its trail committee meeting at Trail House the week before the shop closed. Executive director Tom Boss told The Press Democrat that the hybrid shop and cafe "was something unique to Santa Rosa, and that will be missed with the bike element leaving." The trail work that group cared about is now moving into public plans.
The old highway strip that could connect Farmers Lane to Annadel
The largest of those public plans covers land that was set aside for a road. Starting in the 1950s, Caltrans bought a 58-acre corridor to extend Highway 12 east from Farmers Lane. Neighbors formed the Southeast Greenway Campaign in 2009 to keep the strip as parkland, and the highway extension was cancelled in 2014. Santa Rosa completed its purchase of 49 acres in October 2024 for $1.8 million. A $1 million grant from the Sonoma County Agricultural Preservation and Open Space District covered part of the cost. The state kept about 9 acres near Farmers Lane, which are slated for housing.
The parcel is 2.2 miles long and 300 feet wide, running between Mayette and Hoen avenues out to Spring Lake Regional Park. In June the city hired San Francisco's CMG Landscape Architecture on a $2.67 million contract to lead the master plan. CMG also planned the Petaluma River Park.
For anyone who rides or walks the east side, the important part is the connections. Ideas already on the table, according to The Press Democrat's September report, include:
- A walking and bike path the full length of the property. It would connect to the Prince Memorial Greenway and the SMART trail to the west, and to Spring Lake and Trione-Annadel to the east.
- A new entrance to Spring Lake at the greenway's eastern end.
- Better trailheads and crossings over the three creeks that run through the property, plus access points from the surrounding neighborhoods.
- Ball fields, courts and picnic areas on the flat western sections, with the easternmost end left mostly as natural open space.
- A community garden, play space for young children, and a path through a restored walnut grove.
If the first item gets built, a ride from downtown to Annadel could stay mostly off-street the whole way. The plan's funding comes from $1.2 million in park impact fees paid by developers, a $750,000 grant from the Metropolitan Transportation Commission, and campaign donations passed through Sonoma Land Trust.
Campaign co-chair Thea Hensel was clear about the pace when she spoke to The Press Democrat. "It's a long haul," she said. "This is not going to get built in a year." The timeline calls for consultants and city staff to sort through feedback over the winter and spring and draft alternatives for public review. A final draft master plan is expected next summer and then goes to the City Council. Design work starts only after the plan is adopted.
Annadel is redrawing its edge at Spring Lake too
The greenway's eastern end meets the park that Trail House was built to serve, and that park has its own plan underway. California State Parks' Road and Trail Management Plan for Trione-Annadel counts 36.8 miles of system trails and unpaved roads. The same January 2026 public draft says the park has almost 40 more miles of non-system routes, which are often user-created or left over from historic uses. State Parks evaluated these routes against three outcomes: adopt without changes, adopt with modifications, or find the route unsuitable and restore it.
The public draft includes these recommendations:
| Recommendation | What it proposes | Where |
|---|---|---|
| C-12 | Formalize at least two park access points from Spring Lake, add short hike/bike/horse loops, and build an out-and-back trail to a knoll overlooking Santa Rosa | Northern and southern Cobblestone Zone |
| R-08 | A hike- and horse-only connection of about 1.5 to 2 miles | From Canyon Trail at Lake Ilsanjo to South Burma or Marsh trails |
| B-02 | About 3 to 5 miles of new trail, including a multi-use route to Henry's Knob and a Canyon-to-Ridge connection | Bennett Mountain's north-facing slope |
The Press Democrat reported in February that more than 40% of Annadel's visitors are bicyclists. The plan tries to reduce conflicts between riders, hikers and equestrians by setting some trails aside for specific uses. Eris Weaver, executive director of the Sonoma County Bicycle Coalition, told the paper that separate-use trails are a "good idea" that "should be tried more often."
In its May 2026 response to public comments, State Parks said two things. The plan will not remove equestrian use from any existing system trail, and it will not propose downhill-specific or highly technical mountain bike trails.
The next document is a Proposed Draft along with its environmental review, and both will go out for another public review. The State Parks project page has listed October 2026 as the expected release month. Questions go to [email protected].
The current park rules haven't changed. Annadel is open 8 a.m. to sunset every day, the day-use fee is $8 for a standard vehicle, dogs are allowed only in developed areas like Channel Drive, and e-bikes are not allowed, according to California State Parks.
Where each piece stands this November
| Trail House bike shop | Southeast Greenway | Annadel trail plan | |
|---|---|---|---|
| Decided by | Specialized | City of Santa Rosa with Sonoma Land Trust and the Southeast Greenway Campaign | California State Parks |
| Status | Closed the week of Oct. 19 | Public input phase; draft master plan expected next summer | Proposed Draft and environmental document expected next |
| How to weigh in | Not applicable | Online survey and in-person workshops | Public review when the Proposed Draft is released |
The greenway calendar this month:
- Wednesday, Nov. 4, 5 to 7 p.m. English-language visioning workshop at Montgomery High School, 1250 Hahman Drive. RSVP is optional, all ages are welcome, and dinner is free.
- Thursday, Nov. 5, 5 to 7 p.m. Spanish-language workshop at the same school, on the same terms.
- Anytime. The community survey is available in English and Spanish. Updates on later input rounds, which the city expects later this fall and into early winter, are posted at SoutheastGreenway.org.
If you miss the workshops, the survey takes the same input. A stop at Trail House Cafe afterward also helps keep the one piece of the old routine that's still there.
Mark Spaulding has lived in Sonoma County for two decades, and The Spaulding Group follows plans like the Southeast Greenway because they will decide how easily the east side connects to Spring Lake and Annadel. If you want to know where a home sits relative to the proposed greenway path or Annadel's planned Spring Lake access points, ask us and we'll walk through the map with you. You can also start with an instant home valuation.
