Product Details
Day Hikes Around Napa Valley

Day Hikes Around Napa Valley
By Robert Stone

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Product Description

Napa Valley is recognized as one of the premier wine growing regions in the world and a prime tourist destination 50 miles from San Francisco. The broad valley spreads alongside the lush Napa River oasis between two mountain ranges. Agricultural lands blend smoothly with a myriad of regional and state parks and thousands of acres of public greenspace.
Day Hikes Around Napa Valley provides the descriptions and directions to access the area’s hiking opportunities. Trails can be discovered throughout the valley, across mountain ranges, alongside bays and rivers, and through cool forests. Highlights include steep canyons, secluded redwood forests, the largest freshwater lake in California, a massive petrified forest, rugged rock formations, historical sites, protected wildlife habitats, and expansive ridgetop vistas to the Pacific and San Francisco. A wide range of hikes accommodates amateur to avid hikers, from urban strolls to panoramic peak trails. Also included is comprehensive trail access information for dog owners.
A companion guide is Day Hikes Around Sonoma County.

Product Details

  • Amazon Sales Rank: #527794 in Books
  • Published on: 2008-03-18
  • Original language: English
  • Number of items: 1
  • Binding: Paperback
  • 288 pages

Editorial Reviews

From the Back Cover

Napa Valley is a beautiful, verdant basin framed by mountain ranges running parallel to the wide valley bottom. Thousands of acres of public greenspace lie interspersed amongst the region's world-renown wineries. This comprehensive collection of 88 great day hikes provides access to the many trails though the valley, across mountain ranges, alongside bays and rivers, and through cool forests. A wide range of hikes accommodates amateau to avid hikers, from urban strolls to panoramic peak trails.

About the Author

Since 1991, Robert Stone has been writer, photographer, and publisher of Day Hike Books. He is a Los Angeles Times Best Selling Author, an award-winning author of Rocky Mountain Outdoor Writers and Photographers, and an award-winning author of the Outdoor Writers Association of California. Robert has hiked every trail in the Day Hike Book series. He resides summers in the Rocky Mountains of Montana and winters on the California Central Coast.

Excerpt. © Reprinted by permission. All rights reserved.

from Day Hikes Around Napa Valley... Table Rock–Palisades Trail: "The rugged Palisades are precipitous volcanic cliffs that stretch southeast from Mount Saint Helena (cover photo). The Palisades Trail, arguably among the best hikes in Napa County, begins by Table Rock and ends at Karl Holm’s homestead among old foundations, remnants of two stone houses, and a small apple orchard. En route, the trail skirts the base of the dramatic volcanic cliffs, passing awesome rocky outcroppings and cliffs on the sun-exposed slope. Peregrine falcons are frequently spotted from the trail." (followed by driving and hiking directions, map)

Customer Reviews

A Little Something Extra in Napa Valley and Nearby5
We all know why people visit Napa Valley. Indeed, you can take a train tour to avoid driving while getting a little too tipsy with all the samplings of California's finest wine. But Napa Valley is a very pretty place as well, with lots of historic features that deserve some exploration. So, if you are planning a visit to Napa Valley and plan to walk a little in addition to tempting your taste buds, consider this book by veteran hiker Robert Stone. It includes numerous, mostly short, walks in and around Napa Valley and will add to your trip.

Like most hiking guides Stone has authored in California, this one includes a heavy emphasis on short day excursions and includes small wildlife preserves, city parks, and other open space areas that are often overlooked in larger guidebooks. Some of these are fun to explore, but Stone is at his best describing the many hikes found in state parks in and around Napa Valley. Boothe Napa State Park and the nearby historic Bayle Grist Mill (one of the best preserved specimens on the west coast) almost merit an entire chapter of the book, and rightly so. Jack London State Historic Park in nearby Sonoma County is much larger than the typical historic park and Stone details no less than 12 hikes at this wonderful park alone. Annadel Park, Hood Mountain Regional Park, and Robert Louis Stevenson State Park are also featured prominently in this guidebook. Indeed, the latter includes what is probably the premier hike in this part of California, the climb to the summit of Mount Saint Helena. At over 4,000 feet, this is by far the highest point in the region and the view is spectacular. I visited there in December, and was taken with the 360 degree vista.

In all this is a good book to supplement any trip to Napa Valley that lasts more than a day or two. Indeed, I will be using it again on subsequent trips. Fair warning, like most Robert Stone books, this one has nice sketch maps, but no photos besides the covers. If you want to look at the Napa Valley before or after your trip, take some good photos yourself, or find another resource on Amazon.