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St. Helena High School 1401 Grayson AveSt. Helena, CA 94574

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There’s more to Napa Valley than wine.

In This Article

There tends to be a major misconception around Napa Valley—namely, that it’s stuffy and only for those of a certain tax bracket to enjoy. Before I moved to California and started visiting Napa, I thought much the same; after all, the region is world-famous for its wineries, estate vineyards, and Michelin-recognized restaurants.

When you actually visit the area, though, you’ll quickly learn what so many other people and I have: Whether or not you imbibe in the pinot noirs and chardonnays for which Napa is best known, the valley is far more down-to-earth and just plain fun than popular culture would have you believe. And in my opinion, one of the best places to experience the real spirit of Napa is at Bothe-Napa Valley State Park.

One of the area’s many hidden gems, the park is tucked away in a redwood grove in the valley’s northwest corner between Calistoga, California, and St. Helena, California, providing both a welcome alternative and a complementary counterpart to the region’s more extravagant attractions. Visitors can bike, hike, swim in the park’s seasonal pool, and get to know some of the fascinating local history, all across about three square miles.

“It’s a great way to get into nature—you can go from the vineyards straight into a forested area and see redwoods and beautiful creeks,” says Gerardo Capiel. He’s the owner and chief cycling guide at Vine Trail Adventures, an outfitter that operates cycling tours out of nearby Calistoga. “Once in the park, you can go for a hike, or you can even go mountain biking.”

Here’s how to make the most of a trip to Bothe-Napa Valley State Park.

What to Do

Much of the park encompasses a flourishing redwood forest, so a hike through the trees is a must. “The park is huge, so you can hike for quite a while if you want,” says Capiel.

One of the more popular hikes is the Ritchey Canyon Trail to Coyote Peak. You’ll start by walking beneath the redwood canopy along Ritchey Creek, then climb up to Coyote Peak, a 1,155-foot-tall summit with panoramic views of the upper Napa Valley and Mount Saint Helena. As you hike, watch both the trail at your feet and the giant trees around you—below, you could spot banana slugs, and above, woodpeckers and spotted owls frequent the redwoods.

While you’re out hiking, you’re likely to come across the park’s Native American Garden, a living collection of plants used by the native Wappo people, and the Pioneer Cemetery, where the graves date back to the 1860s and 1870s. Bale Grist Mill State Historic Park is also a short walk away. “That’s just south of Bothe-Napa Park,” says Capiel. “It’s one of two functioning mills for flour west of the Mississippi that’s water-powered. They run it on the weekend, so people can go and visit, and you can even go and buy flour.”

After a hike or two, those looking to explore Bothe-Napa Valley on two wheels are in luck. The Napa Valley Vine Trail currently runs for 33 miles from Calistoga to Vallejo, California, with plans for 14 additional miles underway, passing through vineyards, charming small towns, and, of course, Bothe-Napa Valley State Park along the way.

Capiel says, “The Napa Valley Vine Trail goes through there, so it’s nice because you can actually ride through the park on a protected, car-free trail.” Capiel and his team at Vine Trail Adventures also lead rides along Ritchey Creek within Bothe-Napa Valley State Park.

If you’re planning a longer visit to the park, you can spend your nights beneath the redwoods. The campground here holds the distinction of being the only state park campground in Napa Valley and has 56 tent and RV sites, plus 10 rentable yurts. Campers can also take advantage of the campground’s $1 shuttle service to downtown Calistoga and surrounding vineyards.

On that note, you’ll have an embarrassment of riches when it comes to wine tasting experiences. To name just a few, wine estates like Castello di Amorosa, Larkmead Vineyards, and Benessere Vineyards are within either walking or cycling distance. Just make sure to plan your tasting experiences responsibly, and know you can call Uber or Lyft if needed.

Best Time to Visit

Thanks to the valley’s comparatively mild weather, “Napa’s great year-round,” says Capiel. Still, though, spring, summer, and fall tend to be the most comfortable times to visit.

The area surrounding the park gets particularly warm in the summer even by Napa Valley standards, with daytime temperatures routinely climbing into the 90s and low 100s. Fortunately, though, Bothe-Napa Valley State Park has an advantage. “It’s well-shaded, so it’s a place that would be perfectly fine in the summer,” Capiel says.

Many of the local vineyards host harvest events during fall, while in the spring, lush greenery carpets the surrounding hillsides (and there are fewer crowds to contend with on the roads and hiking trails). Winter is the rainy season, with temps that fall into the 30s and 40s at night, but you can still catch some sunny days here and there.

As for other timing to keep in mind, the park will of course be much less crowded on weekdays than on weekends. Try to come up between Monday and Friday to find quieter trails and have your best chance of snagging a first-come, first-served campsite.

How to Get There

Most visitors come by car, an easy, one-and-a-half-hour drive from both Sacramento and San Francisco. From Sacramento, you’ll take Interstate 80 West to Highway 12 West and ultimately connect to Highway 29 North, which leads directly to the park. From the Bay Area, hop on Interstate 80 East and connect directly to CA-29 North.

For a car-free visit, Route 10 of Napa Valley’s local public transit system, known as the Vine, goes straight to the park entrance. Alternatively, you can easily bike in from the Bay Area on the Napa Valley Vine Trail. The route starts from the Vallejo ferry terminal and makes its way north through American Canyon, Napa, Yountville, and St. Helena before reaching Bothe-Napa Valley State Park.

“The Vine Trail takes you straight to the park, which is really cool,” says Capiel, noting that it’s about a half-day ride from Vallejo. “It’s fun, beautiful, and generally flat, which is nice. And there are lots of places to stop for lunch along the way, so for people who want to go bikepacking, it’s perfect.”

A recent Napa County civil grand jury report placed the blame for St. Helena’s persistent water distribution system problems on city leadership, though city officials were quick to push back, noting that significant work to improve the systems has been completed or is planned.

A draft of a required formal response to the report goes further to spell out the city’s disagreements with the grand jury, which found that water discoloration issues persisted in St. Helena despite significant water rate increases and called on the city to assess the water system issues and develop a plan to fix them.

St. Helena’s water troubles surfaced again in July while the city was preparing its response to the grand jury, after a private tour bus collided with a fire hydrant, releasing a deluge of water and dislodging sediment that contributes to discolored water. That prompted the city to call on residents to use bottled water for drinking and other potable uses for three days.

In the spirit of acknowledging the city is still grappling with water issues, St. Helena City Council members on Tuesday, Aug. 11, called for several changes in the city’s response to the grand jury in order to better contextualize and soften its tone before they consider approving it on Aug. 25.

The council’s direction includes shifting the response to partially disagree with all seven findings of the report, released by the grand jury June 24, instead of fully disagreeing, adding sources to some factual information included in the response and adding an introductory letter explaining the city’s position.

At the meeting Tuesday, Jim McCann, interim city manager, said while staff did agree at times with the grand jury’s findings, they disagreed with “the meat” of the report’s individual findings and recommendations, four of five of which the city’s draft response says “requires further analysis.”

“This is not a cavalier response,” McCann said. “This is 18 pages that has taken some time to provide a lot of factual background.”

But Councilmember Michelle Deasy said partially disagreeing with the findings would more accurately reflect what’s in the report.

For example, the city agreed water customers “have experienced recurring taste, odor and color concerns over an extended period of time,” and “continued investigation, operational improvements, and capital improvements remain necessary.”

But the city disagreed with the same finding tying water rate increases to the continued customer water quality complaints, noting the rate increases weren’t solely focused on improving water quality or rehabilitating infrastructure and the increases reflected a “compounded increase from a base rate that was itself below full cost-recovery levels.”

Other council members said it’s important for the city to acknowledge failures while making sure to point out where the report was incorrect.

While the draft response might appear defensive, Mayor Paul Dohring said, it was more focused on spelling out the facts. The jury report, he added, was unfair to staff and council members who have worked hard to address the city’s water issues.

“In my view this grand jury went off the road, they got lost in the woods without a trained scout and with a very dim flashlight,” Dohring said. “So we are obligated to correct the record because other folks 20 years from now will look at this and go, ‘wow, that was a mess.’”

You can reach Staff Writer Edward Booth at 707-521-5281 or [email protected].

The author and poet Robert Louis Stevenson spent only a couple months in the Bay Area’s wine country back in 1880 — but that visit resulted in schools, a park, museums named for him.

And now, a bronze sculpture will also bear witness to the writer’s visit. Saint Helena resident Eric Hanson and sculptor Garr Ugalde plan to unveil a new bench and sculpture of the writer, his wife and dog on November 7 in front of its new home outside the Calistoga Depot, the same train station Stevenson traveled through on his honeymoon.

“We found that Robert Louis Stevenson, his wife Fanny, and his dog Chuchu came into this exact spot where I’m standing here, May of 1880,” said Hanson, standing in front of a historic train car in front of the depot.

The Scottish author spent a couple years in California between 1879 and 1880, vying for the affections of his future wife.

During the couple’s trip to the wine country they stayed in an abandoned bunkhouse at the Silverado Mine on Mount St. Helena.

It inspired his travel memoir, the Silverado Squatters. Among the many sites named for Stevenson in wine country was Robert Louis Stevenson Middle School in St. Helena, directly across the street from Hanson’s home.

“Kids would be out there sitting on my split rail fence which really wasn’t that strong,” Hanson said.

Hanson got the idea to save his fence by putting a bench in front of it where school kids could sit. But then the idea began to percolate — he got the idea to add a sculpture of Robert Louis Stevenson as an educational nod to the school.

The idea ruminated in his head for seven years until during a New Years Eve party, he struck up a conversation with Ugalde who happened to be a sculptor.

“I asked him about how long have you been thinking about this project? And he said seven years,” Ugalde remembered. “I said ‘well then what are you waiting for?’”

The pair came up with renderings of the bench and sculpture and tried to find a place in St. Helena to place it.

But after meetings with the parks department and other groups went nowhere, they decided to see if nearby Calistoga might be interested.

A planning commissioner suggested they seek a private site to avoid a lot of red tape.

They pitched the idea to Michael Madden, owner of the Calistoga Depot which he transformed into a restaurant and bar. He immediately gave the project a green light.

“This idea of having a monument of he and his wife and dog with luggage getting on the train,” Madden said. “The exact train that they themselves had gotten on to get up here back in those days — it seems like a perfect tie-in.”

Hanson and Ugalde raised money for the project through private donations and grants.

The sculpture, which Ugalde designed, is currently getting fabricated by a team of artists at American Fine Art Foundry in Burbank.

It envisions Stevenson sitting on a bench with a notebook in hand, while his new bride Fanny Vendergrift Osbourne stands over him, as the couple’s dog Chuchu looks up.

Hanson hopes the sculpture will become a portal of curiosity for visitors who encounter it.

“It’s a spot on the bench where people can sit and have an Instagram moment,” Hanson said. “And become part of history instead of just observe it from afar.”

While the initial sculpture was to only feature Stevenson, Hanson and Uglade said their research about Fanny and her impact on the writer’s life suggested her omission would’ve cut out a key chapter of the story.

“His wife was a really a driving force in his life,” Ugalde said. “She would get the first reads of everything he wrote, she was his first editor and she was actually the one that convinced him to start writing fiction.”

The sculpture will sit in front of an original set of railcars — the actual ones the writer rode when he made the trek to Calistoga.

While the town’s original population of 500 has since grown to 5000, Hanson said it still retains the same character as it did when Stevenson visited.

“It just enhances the story of Calistoga and the reason Robert Louis Stevenson came here back in the 1880s is still here today,” Hanson said. “We still have the hot springs here, the mineral baths and we still have the wine and we still have the same landscape.”

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Air quality in St. Helena

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7 stations from 7 contributors

19

US AQI?

Good

Main pollutant:

PM2.5

3.5 µg/m³

11°

0 km/h

97 %

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PM2.5 concentration currently meets the WHO annual PM2.5 guideline.

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