North America
Introduction to Napa Valley
By David Thompson
Jan 15, 2008, 22:17

Napa Valley is anchored by Mount St. Helena in the north and the town of Napa in the south. In between you find the towns of Calistoga, St. Helena, Rutherford, Oakville, and Yountville. These are all tourist towns and are spread out throughout the valley along highway 29 (which is the main road through Napa Valley on the west side of the valley).

Mustard, Napa Valley

On the east side of the valley you have the Silverado trail and in between these two roads is where the majority of the Napa Valley Wineries are located.

Each town in Napa Valley has their own unique shops and art galleries and all are surrounded by wineries. Calistoga is famous for its hot springs, massages and mud baths and is gateway to the Old Faithful Geyser and the Petrified Forest. There are also a few glider rental companies based in and around Calistoga. St. Helena has excellent restaurants, boutique shopping, and the scrumptious food at the Culinary Institute of America at Greystone. The town of Napa is the largest of all these towns and is home to Copia, the American Center for Wine, Food and the Arts.

If you think there are a lot of wineries in Sonoma County wait until you visit Napa Valley. Many of the wineries are quite fancy, large, and historical. Some provide extensive tours of their winery and caves and others provide reserve room tastings.

Napa Valley has been featured in several movies - the most notable include A Walk in the Clouds, Parent Trap and Apocalypse Now. Read on for more information about Napa Valley attractions and of course wine tasting - because no trip to Napa Valley is complete without visiting some of the wineries.

Copia Wine Center

Copia Wine Center is located at 500 First Street in downtown Napa right next to the Napa River. This center is predominately for Wine, Food and Garden related events. A $5 admission per person gets you into the center - a wine and food tasting station are located within its walls. A good size auditorium is available and there are often speeches and demonstrations by well-known chefs and winemakers. A museum is located upstairs. An expensive gift shop selling wines and other boutique items is available inside as well as a small cafe.

Don't miss the outside garden, especially in the Spring and Summer months. Its huge and many edible plants and herbs grow here including a number of delicious berry plants. For more information visit: www.copia.org

The St. Helena Marketplace is a very nice shopping center between the towns of Calistoga and St. Helena. This shopping center is right next to Highway 29. Here you can browse through fancy clothing stores and explore the Shona African Sculputure Gallery. This gallery displays wonderful sculptures created by the Shona peoples, a tribe from Zimbabwe, Africa. Visit our section on Sonoma, for more information about their other gallery in Sonoma and also their beautiful Shona gardens. There is also a small store here, picnic tables and bathrooms. For more information visit: www.napavalley.com

Old Faithful Geyser

Old Faithful Geyser is located north of Calistoga right next to Tubbs Lane and just before you get to Chateau Montelena Winery. Address - 1299 Tubbs Lane - PHONE: 707-942-6463. This geyser erupts regularly every approximately 30 minutes. If you are driving by at the appropriate time you can actually see the eruption from the road - although the lower part of the eruption is blocked from view by tall bamboo. This geyser has been featured in National Geographic. Sometimes before earthquakes the geyser may vary its eruption pattern. More info visit: www.oldfaithfulgeyser.com

Petrified Forest

The Petrified Forest is not actually in Napa Valley but is worth visiting and is close enough to Calistoga that we list it here. It is located about 15 minutes north West of Calistoga at 4100 Petrified Forest Road. From Calistoga take Highway 128 north for about 1 mile and then turn left at the gas station onto Petrified Forest Road.

This forest is contains very good examples of petrified redwood trees - some are quite large. You can take a self guided tour. Also visit their gift shop for rocks and minerals. Sometimes they have sales. For more info visit: www.petrifiedforest.org

Photo to the right: Petrified Forest Visitor's Center taken from the main parking lot

Mt. St. Helena. Consider a hike or bike ride to the top of Mt. St. Helena. The top of this mountain anchors the northern end of the Napa Valley and on a clear day you can see Mt. Lassen's snow covered peaks far to the north, and on an extremely clear day, if you have excellent eye site you can even see Mt. Shasta, although having binoculars will significantly increase your odds of this rare sight.

Road, Mt. St. Helena

The 10 mile round trip trail leads from the summit of the road that connects Napa Valley to Middletown & Clearlake (highway 29). There is a dirt parking lot on the opposite side of the road from the trailhead. A very small dirt parking area on the same side of the road as the trail is available but will only accommodate several cars at one time. Be *very* careful crossing this road if you have to - cars whiz up and down both sides very fast, and there on the north bound side, you don't have much room to see the cars before they appear. Pedestrian friendly signs really should be posted on both sides of this road, but as of press time there are none.

The trail leads up the side of the mountain via switchbacks and is single track for approximately 1 mile until you reach a dirt road. It is a good hike - and an even better bike ride. Parts of this single track are a bit rocky when you get close to the dirt road. One note of historical significance is this single track trail passes the home site of Robert Louis Stevenson - he lived here for a summer or two and wrote a book from this site. There is nothing left of his stone house except a flat area and a weathered info plaque marking the spot.

Once you reach the dirt road from this trail, take a left - the road hugs the side of Mt. St. Helena affording one excellent views of the northern part of Napa Valley on a clear day. The road will switch back several times, passing a popular climbing wall. Small pretty quartz crystals can be found on the side of this road if you know where to look. The trail finally crests and reaches a saddle - if you go to the left you will reach the lower summit - if you continue straight you will reach the true summit in about 1 mile.

Good views of the northern landscape from the top here. On a clear day you can make out the Sierra Nevada range in the distance, and then looking in a southerly direction you will see Mt. Diablo. There is a watch tower here; usually no one is inside. There are two levels on the main tower - the metal ladder used to stretch to the ground so you used to be able to climb up. Now the ladder is cut off high above the ground in order to prevent people from climbing up into the tower.

Be sure to bring plenty of water and possibly sunscreen on this hike. Aside from the first mile of single track which is covered by trees, you will be hiking on an exposed road to the sun.

There is a hike on the other side of the road from the Mt. St. Helena trailhead that meanders along the eastern ridge over to Table rock. This is a several mile hike along a dirt road.

Natural Spring. As you drive towards Lake County on the back side of Mt. St. Helena heading north on 128, there is a small spring with a metal pipe sticking out on the west side (left side) of the road (There is no parking on the northbound side of the road - parking space allows for maybe 3-4 cars max on the left side). This spring provides great natural tasting water and is Free! Consider stopping here and filling up your water bottles - the locals absolutely do this although sometimes you have to wait in line as it can be a popular stop.

Knights Valley. An absolutely beautiful ride, especially in the heart of Spring, is to drive to Knights Valley - which is the vineyard covered valley immediately north of Napa Valley. It is about 5 or 6 miles north of Calistoga - take Highway 28 north from Calistoga. There are several small wineries in this valley, but this author's highlight is the road that leads up to the trout fish farm on the east side (Ida Clayton Road). This is very narrow & windy in places, essentially a one lane road that winds up the sides of the mountains for 7 miles. It provides great views of Knights Valley and some of the other topography in the distance. At about mile 5 you will reach the top of the grade and for approximately 2 miles wind along the side of the ridge until you reach the dirt road leading down to the fish farm. This farm serves up fresh trout which you catch yourself with provided fishing poles and bait, but is closed much of the year. If you continue on the paved one lane road past the dirt road that leads down to the fish farm eventually this road becomes dirt for a mile or two, until reaching pavement again. Once you reach the pavement again, it will wind down the mountains and you will come out in Lake County on highway 29, just several miles from Middletown and a mile or two from the Indian Casino. Note that Ida Clayton Road becomes Western Mine Road as you approach highway 29 on the Lake County side. At certain times of the year parts of this one lane road can be closed by snow - but not every year. It just depends on how cold a particular winter is.

Wine, wine barrel

Wine Tasting - the core of this article is about Napa Wine Tasting. For all winery details please visit our exhaustive Napa Winery List: www.thenapawineproject.com


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