The trail provides a safety separation for pedestrians and bicycles from motor vehicle traffic on the parallel California State Route 12/Luther Burbank Memorial Highway.
[2] The right-of-way was converted to a walking and bicycle path by the Sonoma County Regional Parks Department after declining freight traffic caused abandonment of rail service over the route in the 1980s.
[4] Following housing losses of the Tubbs Fire, the trail became the site of a major homeless encampment located nearby Stony Point Road, which was the largest in Sonoma County history.
[6] Incidents such as fires and arson took place in the encampment three times in a span of two months from November 2019 to January 2020, including a tank explosion on New Year's Eve 2019.
[7] A county supervisor voiced concern that the campsite had steered away many would-be trail pedestrians and cyclists, and had become a nuisance for people who live in the neighborhood.