Hiked the Oat Hill Mine Road from the Silverado Trail, Calistoga on Sun 12/12/10. We hiked w/ the…read moreNapa Land Trust starting at 9am, I got up really early to do this hike. Parking - across from the pizza place La Prima (Lake St & Lincoln Ave) or next to the Trailhead. No Bathrooms - just gotta pee in the off to the side of the trail or find a bush. We did the Lower Oat Hill Mine Trail & lunch at Holms Place. Then we went off trail cross country to Point Duff & had great views of Mt St Helena w/ fog under it. Pretty cool. We didn't go to Duff cave w/ platform, but saw a cave - I didn't go up to get a close look, others did. Started 9am, finished 3:40pm with lots of breaks. We did about 11 miles round trip. Advice: Go on a clear day or when there's 10% chance of rain or less. There were a bunch of crazy mountain bikers that don't tell you they are coming up or down so be careful. Didn't see ticks Sun 12/12/10, but saw them 5/13/07.

Outdoor lovely views great gradual hike with shade sun and views…read more... I would rather hike here than write about it so go hike it. It's so worth it especially rocky outcroppings. It's 8.3 miles. Take a hike and enjoy this destination in the Napa Valley

We just spent one night at Bothe-Napa State Park, and it was the perfect first outing with our…read morerooftop tent! we loved it so peaceful. !! The campground is small but charming, nestled between Calistoga and Saint Helena -- a true hidden gem. We've driven by this park so many times on our way to Calistoga. Finally got to check it out and experience it. It's surrounded trees and the soothing sounds of a creek , offering a serene escape from the hustle and bustle of nearby towns. Trails and even a swimming pool that's open on the weekends. The park is well-maintained, with clean bathrooms and a great atmosphere. It was our first time using the rooftop tent, and this spot couldn't have been more ideal. We're already planning to come back and explore more of the park!

One plus is the sites are pretty shaded. CDs: bathrooms are disgusting. It's obviously Boone cleans…read moreit. Maintenance just comes and restock the toilet paper only. Showers are also disgusting. There is poison oak everywhere so not ideal for little children. There are also gigantic rocks embedded in the ground. You're literally tripping every 5 minutes. No wood burning fires so that made night time kinda suck.

I always enjoy a hike to waterfall but it was quite disappointing that this fall was just a…read moretrickle. Though it's understandable because it is summer that the water flow is probably way better after some good rain. To get here, Google maps was help to get me to the parking lot. However, from the there i was quite confused reading others yelp or goggle reviews. Hopefully I can help those going. When driving up the hill from Napa, on the right you drive pass the Pacific Union College sign then pass by the city Angwin sign, immediately you will turn to your LEFT pass the baseball field into the gravel parking lot. From the baseball parking lot cross the street and walk along the bike path as you are walking against traffic flow. You will go back and pass the Pacific Union college sign and then you will see a bike path sign see pics. You walk on the pavement path for 6 min and then see the sign of Linda Fall preserve. See the map and the caution of the wild mushroom you should not eat. The path to the Falls is about 20 minutes in and 20 minutes out. You wil see your firstb Linda Falls sign. Then you will see a second Linda Falls sign. After the 2nd one be prepared for slippery dry dirt. You will want shoes with good grip. Soon you will be at Falls. Ther are lots of boulders to climb over to get close to the Falls. Its a small area and gets crowded. I suggest going before 11am. In my opinion age 6 and above it accurate. You will have to help kids the last 5- 10 minutes of the hike. Do not suggest infants and or in carriers. Im Glad I did this Falls hike while in Napa so I can write about and tell other people. It's a nice hike to get out with the family and friends, eat a snack or lunch at the Falls and head back. I recommend this hike just wish the beginning of the trail to get there had clear signs up.

So happy to finally be able to cross this hike off my bucket list. It was certainly worth the wait…read more It's not a long hike, but there is a little bit of climbing on rocks, especially towards the end I suggest wearing good shoes with traction The scenery along the way to the falls is lovely and changes throughout the hike. Meadows, fir trees, boulders, and ponds! We made it to the Falls on the last day of April. I would think that during the summer they wouldn't be flowing as greatly as they were now. Sitting below the falls was majestic. We also did the hike at the fork of the road, which eventually ends due to all the brush on the trail, and it was lovely as well with a beautiful pond

Lovely hike up a forested path to a fire road the rest of the way up the peak. I went in February…read moreand it was a treat to see the snowy top. I would recommend bringing a sandwich and plenty of water if you're going all the way up. I just had some jerky and wished I had brought more.

There are many trails that you can go on at this state park. Like many have mentioned, the parking…read morelot is rather small and so it's best to arrive early. The parking lot can fill up and in that case, you will have to park farther down and walk to the trailhead. The earlier you start your hike, the more likely it wil be that you find parking, especially if you are going on a weekend. There are no bathrooms near the parking lot. There is also not a parking fee. We took the Table Rock Trail, which is about 4.4 miles total. It had amazing views. The trail has a rock labyrinth along the way that was fun to see. The trail is very rugged with lots of rocks the father you hike up this trail so come prepared with lots of water, hiking shoes, and dress in layers. The views from the top were amazing. There were areas with ice on the trail so be careful when hiking. There is a more popular trail to Mount Saint Helena that is very popular as well. We have not taken that trail yet, although plan to in the future. We will definitely be back at this state park and look forward to exploring the other trails.

I've hiked with Napa Land Trust a bunch of times & continue to hike with them when I can. My last…read morehike was Linda Falls on Sunday 1/9/11. It's a short moderate hike of about 3 miles roundtrip. To hike with them you need to plan ahead and make reservations. I booked my group of 4 about 3 weeks beforehand, but I've done it with only a few days notice. Meet the leader Chris, then we carpooled to a location she told us in Angwin. There wasn't much climbing, & only 2 rushing creeks that we had to cross - nobody fell in & I didn't even get my feet wet. That was nice. I was at the lower more dramatic falls to Linda Falls & was able to go down by following the pipe, then heading down. It was not too scary. The middle cascade up higher was nice, very top cascade wasn't much. Best to go to the bottom & look up. http://www.yelp.com/biz_photos/KjQcSZOtbG-Ev2PQaLb8TQ?select=59AxVR2wCFTnKP6ixCM0PA It's a 31 foot waterfall. Hike back was really short only about 10 minutes & we were done. Hike took 3hrs to finish from 10am-1pm. Next schedule Linda Falls hike with the Napa Land Trust is Sunday 2/13/11. Website here: http://napalandtrust.org/

From the owner: Land Trust of Napa County is a community-based nonprofit dedicated to preserving the character of…read moreNapa by permanently protecting land. In our 44-year history, we've completed 225 projects, protecting 81,000 acres of land - 15% of Napa County.

An amazing network of trails of all levels can be found at Sugarloaf Ridge State Park, as well as…read moreinformational trails that are great for kids. You can pick up a list of trails and rough map at the entrance. We meandered creekside, and looped Hillside Trail to meadow trail, all with amazing scenery. Very clean and well-maintained park, with plenty of rangers. Loads of great picnic areas as well. Can't wait to return and try more hikes.

This state park was relatively easy to get to despite the long drive and heavy traffic from…read morePeninsula. However the road leading up to the park was relatively straightforward. We are getting into camping this year and this was our trial run with all the new gears we bought. We rented camper site #1 which is labeled as "premium". Maybe it was a bit bigger than the regular sites but other than that it didn't feel particularly premium. Since #1 and 48 are the first and last sites in the campground loop and closest to the visitor center, they had the best WiFi reception. The downside is we were the farthest to the bathrooms and showers which were located on the opposite site of the loop. This made trekking over at night a bit inconvenient. The bathrooms were somewhat clean and the showers are coin-operated at the cost of 25c per minute. Shampoo and body wash were provided which is nice. All in all this was a nice introductory experience for us. If we were to come back to camp at this park we will opt for site #3 which is nicely tucked into the shaded corner and is fairly close to the bathrooms.

This is the best place to visit the redwoods in my opinion. Less packed compared to redwood…read morenational park and a lot closer to San Francisco and Santa Rosa if you happen to be staying in that area. About 40 mins from Santa Rosa. We enjoyed this park. We got there early and it was like having a private tour. I suggest getting there early to avoid the crowds. It was so peaceful on our private tour. We enjoyed it. It was very nice. The waterfall was magnificent! We spent a solid two hours there and enjoyed every minute. Get there early and enjoy! Easy five star review. Also parking is free just outside the park.

SCW and I visited Armstrong Redwoods State Natural Park one day while staying nearby. I'd use…read morecaution when using a driving app to get here as we were led along a very narrow road through a local residential area with no room and switchbacks galore. Suffice it to say we saw a few locals along the way that seemed perplexed why we were driving very slowly through their neighborhood. I think that had to do with a bridge closure. Anyways... The return was not the same route thankfully. The park has for pay parking areas and what seemed to be free parking along the road to the park at your own risk. We found a spot in the paid lot ($10). Get a receipt, put it on your car's dashboard and off you go. There's a small welcome center and info at the entrance as well. The Redwoods are incredible here, some alive for 1400 plus years. You simply can't see the tops of the Redwoods from the ground. Truly incredible. The trails are well marked and it's highly discouraged to get off the trails as the environment is very ecologically sensitive. Unfortunately we saw some disregard for that. Stay on the trails people! You'll find placards noting interesting names and places along the way in addition to information about the flora and fauna. The history of the park and previous residents from indigenous peoples to the parks name sake are along the trail. It's an incredible park to visit and appreciate nature. The redwoods are incredible and certainly worth a visit.

This is a beautiful stop in Sonoma County. It features easy walks that allow you to learn about…read moreJack London and explore his homes, including the House of Happy Walls Museum and the ruins of his Wolf House. The trails are well-maintained and shaded by trees, with some minor uphill and downhill sections, making it a great outdoor activity for all ages. There is a vehicle entry fee to get into the park, but it is covered if you have a California State Parks pass. Highly recommend checking it out if you are in the area or need a break from wine tasting.

Jack London is such a beautiful state park! We came for the first time this spring and were…read moreabsolutely amazed by all of the beauty this state park has to offer! We started in the museum which was very informative and educational. We then started a hike towards the old redwood tree. The trails are very clean and spacious. There is a good variety in terms of incline. We were excited to see the lake (which was unfortunately dry) but hope to come back sometime when there is water. Parking is very easy and I love that there is a lot of variety in both the trails and things to do. I definitely recommend checking it out!

If you don't mind hiking between 12 and 14 miles in a day with some incline, this is well worth the…read moretrip from the parking lot. Great views along the way for the coastal trail and you could turn this into a loop trail if you take the unofficial shortcut. This is one of the beauties of California. Recommended activities: Hiking, Running, Walking Parking options: Free parking lot

People who have never been to Oregon will tell you that this is one of only two tidefalls (a…read morewaterfall that flows into the ocean) on the entire West Coast. People who believe AllTrails will tell you that this is one of only two tidefalls in California. (If you use Alltrails, you aren't allowed to hike with me, by the way.) Neither of these statements are anywhere close to true. As a matter of fact, there are at least two tidefalls on this one beach, and there are many more in areas that are not easily accessible to the public. Tidefalls are common along the coasts of Oregon, Washington, and Canada. There are several tall tidefalls in Cape Perpetua alone. That being said, Alamere Falls might be the biggest, prettiest publicly accessible tidefall in Northern California. I recently hiked Alamere Falls for the first time in nearly ten years, and I couldn't believe how much had seemed to change. First of all, the road to the Palomarin trail was hell in a compact vehicle. Even going like two miles per hour, I got a little motion sickness from the thousands of deep potholes. The road is so bad that it almost seems beyond repair. At this point, it's probably only suitable for high clearance vehicles, although I did not notice any signs warning of such. Secondly, I'm pretty sure I was the only sober person on the trail. The vibes were so, so weird. Consider packing your (legal) weapon of choice. Thirdly, I was certainly the only person to take the 'legal' trail down, although I gained some new perspective on this. While the trail that I took is ostensibly the trail recommended by NPS, one does have to wonder why it is so overgrown. It feels like, "Obviously, no one ever really hikes this trail," because it's nowhere near clear or well-trodden. Certain areas of the trail were so overgrown that it was impossible to see my feet, and difficult to find my footing. These areas were chalk full of poison oak, stinging nettle, poison hemlock, and a wide variety of (harmless) snakes. By contrast, much of the "social" trail was four feet wide, flat, and clear. Which made me wonder-- which trail is really safer? The cliffs at the end of the social trail are constantly crumbling. The risk of falling, breaking a leg, or at least spraining an ankle, seems high. But by contrast, the risk of spraining an ankle on the recommended trail seems high, too. And the stinging nettle hurt a lot, but only for a few hours. My personal recommendation is to take the recommended trail, but wear solid boots, long pants, and tall, colorful socks. Tuck your pants into your socks, or wear gaiters. Use permethrin or your tick repellant of choice. While the official Palomarin Trail may be very long and difficult, it's also worth the trouble. The ocean views and wildlife were unbelievable. I actually saw a mother deer nursing two spotted fawns in the middle of the trail. On the beach, I found agates, fossils, shells, giant bull kelp, snowy plovers, and lots of by-the-wind-sailors jellyfish in multiple stages of life and decomposition. The waterfall itself is pretty-- but make sure to check the tide!! I never do, and I almost always get stranded. The first time I ever hiked this trail, I actually had to climb up a cliff in terror and wait 3 hours for the tide to recede. But that doesn't need to happen to you if you remember to check the tide before you come out, while you still have service.