CA CA - Sunshine Borjas, 47, from Santa Rosa, left home 1:30pm to go hiking alone, vehicle found in parking lot at Bodega Head, 1 Oct 2025

[GraceG]

Santa Rosa resident here
"sneaker waves" claim a few lives every year at this part of the Sonoma Coast
It is a possibility
If she left Santa Rosa at 1:30 she would be at the trail in about 45 minutes
Sun sets at about 7pm
Many hours of daylight for her till then

Good thinking! My family had a small cabin at Cannon Beach when I was a kid, sneaker waves are a real risk in Oregon and California coastal waters. I remember running for my life once with my Mom when a huge one came in suddenly. It took out a car on the beach (you could drive on it back in the 60s) but no one was injured. I had just assumed she would have hiked the trail but she might have gone on down to one of the little pocket beaches.

 

[RedHaus]

Was also thinking #2b

[#2b: ...was with someone who... might have done something to SB.]

Hopefully LE is evaluating all possibilities and if available, can access SB's cell phone records to track her location at the park or elsewhere; and track any other cell phones at the park 10/1 PM.

IMO.

 

[KBlackRabbit]

Good thinking! My family had a small cabin at Cannon Beach when I was a kid, sneaker waves are a real risk in Oregon and California coastal waters. I remember running for my life once with my Mom when a huge one came in suddenly. It took out a car on the beach (you could drive on it back in the 60s) but no one was injured. I had just assumed she would have hiked the trail but she might have gone on down to one of the little pocket beaches.

Same here in Washington, we could drive on the beach in places.

Sneaker waves are definitely a risk, there’s a reason they say never turn your back on the ocean.

Those cliffs look beautiful but gnarly. If it was foggy it’s easy to see someone getting too close and not knowing it. Looking at my navigator there’s one beach access trail, everything else is along the top and well back from the edge. I hope she didn’t try to downclimb off trail.

 

[GraceG]

Same here in Washington, we could drive on the beach in places.

Sneaker waves are definitely a risk, there’s a reason they say never turn your back on the ocean.

Those cliffs look beautiful but gnarly. If it was foggy it’s easy to see someone getting too close and not knowing it. Looking at my navigator there’s one beach access trail, everything else is along the top and well back from the edge. I hope she didn’t try to downclimb off trail.

Thanks for the maps. The "foggy" may be deceptive. The fog information came from it being very foggy when a search was initiated, however the vehicle wasn't located until 2 AM the following morning, amost 12 hours after she left to go hiking. So it may have been completely clear at the time she was out. Woman, 47, Reported Missing After Disappearing on Solo Hike. Police Say Heavy Fog Delayed Search

 

[Bigditch]

Those cliffs do not look like my idea of a fun thing to do.

 

[Inthedetails]

Those cliffs do not look like my idea of a fun thing to do.

Has anyone found her social media? Does she like to share photos online of hikes, views, etc? There have been other cases where hikers fall trying to get a good shot or selfie with a landscape in the background.

jmopinion

 

[GraceG]

Has anyone found her social media? Does she like to share photos online of hikes, views, etc? There have been other cases where hikers fall trying to get a good shot or selfie with a landscape in the background.

jmopinion

Her FB was posted on the thread. There were a few outdoors photos by a lake, in the mountains, and one at a beach, most with the same guy (assume a boyfriend though one is not mentioned in her missing info). No hardcore hiking/biking/climbing type of activity anywhere.

 

[Unalienable Rights]

See the comment and picture posted by "SS" one day ago, after the Santa Rosa PD FB post:

Santa Rosa Police

SRPD News Release: SRPD seeks help in locating a missing adult Sunshine Borjas was reported missing to the Santa Rosa Police Department in the evening of October 1, 2025. Borjas left her Santa Rosa...

www.facebook.com

 

[RedHaus]

See the comment and picture posted by "SS" one day ago, after the Santa Rosa PD FB post:

Santa Rosa Police

SRPD News Release: SRPD seeks help in locating a missing adult Sunshine Borjas was reported missing to the Santa Rosa Police Department in the evening of October 1, 2025. Borjas left her Santa Rosa...

www.facebook.com

Good find!

So if we hypothetically say SB was alone and alive at 6:05pm (about 4 hours into her hike) and she seemed "OK" to another hiker, who she told she wanted to see a sunset (on a cloudy evening), and who believes she was heading "down", presumably back to the trailhead, IMO she either fell of a cliff after 6:05pm or she encountered someone nefarious at the trailhead before she could leave.

Given this hypothetical example also includes data that SB was comfortable standing on a cliff edge, the odds are, sadly, she fell off a cliff after 6:05pm.

IMO and Hypothetical.

 

[GraceG]

Good find!

So if we hypothetically say SB was alone and alive at 6:05pm (about 4 hours into her hike) and she seemed "OK" to another hiker, who she told she wanted to see a sunset (on a cloudy evening), and who believes she was heading "down", presumably back to the trailhead, IMO she either fell of a cliff after 6:05pm or she encountered someone nefarious at the trailhead before she could leave.

Given this hypothetical example also includes data that SB was comfortable standing on a cliff edge, the odds are, sadly, she fell off a cliff after 6:05pm.

IMO and Hypothetical.

Apparently, the cliffs have been known to crumble, resulting in at least one death (a man, as highlighted in the following 2018 article) Authorities: Crumbling cliff at Bodega Head led to Petaluma man’s death

 

[TMich6811]

Not sure I can post this... its from an LE FB page and is a family member comment.

View attachment 618354

Seems like that had a pretty good idea of where she was. If she fell you’d truly expect something found.

 

[angelainwi]

Seems like that had a pretty good idea of where she was. If she fell you’d truly expect something found.

That is a big question for me, could she fall off and go to sea with no trace??

 

[Knox]

I’m 90% certain this will turn out to be a tragic accident, leaving a small percentage for foul play being involved.

There have been cases where a body went into the water near the shoreline and was never recovered. I suppose it depends on the rocks, currents and where the tide was at the time the fall occurred. Not to mention sneaker waves, because we don’t know where she was when she disappeared.

 

[RedHaus]

Oops.

Posting this update from a family member on an LE FB page again, this time with the same link that was posted ^^.

Santa Rosa Police

SRPD News Release: SRPD seeks help in locating a missing adult Sunshine Borjas was reported missing to the Santa Rosa Police Department in the evening of October 1, 2025. Borjas left her Santa Rosa...

www.facebook.com