Little Darby is a nature trail/hiking area/outdoor classroom about 15 minutes outside of Willits along Canyon Road and offers a beautiful and scenic short hike for outdoor enthusiasts. The main loop takes you along a creek and through a mixed evergreen canopy, then loops up into a south-facing slope populated by chaparral species like toyon, manzanita and ceanothus. BLM owns the land and did a nice renovation of the trail in late 2012. Interpretive signs were added and a new pedestrian bridge was installed over the creek at the trailhead. Hiking the full loop (which has a moderately challenging uphill portion) takes about 40 minutes. You can also do a shorter loop which takes about 20 minutes. We love to bring our Jack Russell Terrier here for a good off-leash romp in the woods. Two words of caution: some dog owners don't clean up after their dogs and you should look out for "land mines" at the beginning of the trail. Also, during the summer and late fall Little Darby is flanked by a goodly amount of poison oak. If you're one of those people who gets a rash by just looking at the plant, use the Brooktrails hiking trails instead during summer months. read more