Napa Valley, California
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Recreation and Outdoors in the Napa Valley |
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Napa Valley, California
|
Recreation and Outdoors in the Napa Valley |
The Napa River is one of the largest Central Coast Range Rivers draining 426 sq. miles on its 50 mile journey from Mt. St. Helena to the San Pablo Bay. The last 17 miles of this journey, from Trancas St. in Napa to Vallejo, are an estuary system. In summer, the salinity at Trancas may be 10%, in winter, it is freshwater.
The Napa River and its 47 tributaries serve as a linear wilderness running through the heart of an intensely farmed and partially urbanized valley. At one time, a dense canopy of riparian habitat dominated by cottonwoods and willows lined the river's upper reaches. For the most part, the gallery forest bordering the riparian zone is gone and the remaining vegetation exists only in the channel. Friends of the Napa River is working to restore the riparian habitat.
Wildlife Along the River
The endangered Chinook Salmon and steelheads spawn in the Napa River and in its many tributaries. The steelhead run has been reduced from historical levels of 6000 adults to a few hundred fish. Nonetheless, the river still supports an active recreational fishery. We find bluegill, black bass in the upper river; and striped bass, sturgeon and many non-game species such as the endangered splittail, yellowfin globy and silversides in the lower river.
Bird species dependent on the river include mallards, green-winged teals. mergansers, wood ducks, herons, egrets, kingfishers, rails and grebes as well as the endangered Clapper Rail.
Mink muskrat, raccoons, deer, gray fox and bobcat also live in the riparian habitat
River Trails
Napa River Watershed
The area that drains into the Napa River contains 250 miles of streams and covers over 270,000 acres at the north end of the San Francisco/San Pablo Bay. It runs approximately 40 miles north to south and 15 miles east to west at its widest point. About forty thousand acres are vineyards, and 102,000 acres are range and grazing lands. Only 3% of the area is urbanized. Between 1992 and 1997 vineyard land in the watershed expanded approximately 2.1% annually. An additional 17,000 acres had to be replanted in the 1990's due to phylloxera.
Planning officials expect Pope Valley, the hillside areas of American Canyon, Jameson Canyon, and the western side of the Napa Valley to be the primary vineyard expansion areas in the future. They anticipate that over 4,000 acres will be planted in the next 10 years, primarily on hillsides, since there is very little acreage left unplanted on the valley floor.
There are currently 134,500 acres of Napa River watershed land in protected status in public or quasi-public ownership. This includes over 50,000 acres protected through fee title or conservation easement by the Napa County Land Trust. There are nearly 20,000 acres of the watershed under hardened pavement or rooftops, and over 6,500 acres of valley floor wetlands have been drained and filled since the 1800's.
The result is that Steelhead Trout runs that once surpassed 6000 adults have been reduced to several hundred. A Silver Salmon run that once numbered up to 2,000 adults is now extinct. Stream channel and floodplain modification has resulted in the discharge of more water at high velocities, producing increased bank erosion, sedimentation and downstream flooding.
In 1987 the Napa River was listed as "impaired" by the State Water Quality Control Board under the authority of the federal Clean Water Act. As we mentioned early, Friends of the Napa River and other agencies are working hard to restore the river to full health.
(Information courtesy of Friends of the Napa River, www.friendsofthenapariver.org).
Silverado Archers
Silverado Archery Club
www.ncfaa.com/skyline/archery.htm
Silverado Archery Club is located on 25 acres within the boundary of Skyline Wilderness Park in Napa. The club is NFAA charted with three separate NFAA marked yardage ranges, each range having 14 permanent targets as well as an area for 14 unmarked distance targets utilizing McKenzie 3-D's.
The club hosts a number of tournaments each year for target archers and hunters, including a 16 week un-marked distance series (open to the public) on Thursday evenings from April through July for hunters in preparation for the hunting season. Their facilities are open to the public on the second Sunday of each month.
For bicycle routes and shops, see our Biking page.
Boating is available on the Napa River and at Lake Berryessa.
Lake Berryessa
Rentals of fishing boats, ski boats, patio boats, houseboats, and jet skis.
Napa River
Napa River Adventures
Cruises on the Napa River on comfortable 11-passenger launches.
Disc Golf Course
Skyline Wilderness Park
707.252.0481
www.ncfaa.com/skyline/disc_golf.htm
A short but technical course. 18 holes with dirt tees and disc-catcher baskets. Framed signs at the tee show alternate pin placements. Can be easily played in two hours. Discs (like Frisbees) are available at the kiosk as you enter Skyline Park. Entrance to the park is $4 per vehicle.
What's disc golf? Buy Disc Golf: All You Need to Know About the Game You Want to Play
Napa Family Fun and Fitness Center
The Zone
1525 Imola Avenue
Napa, CA 94558
707.257.6046
Gymnastics, martial arts, climbing wall, party rooms, bounce house and more at the former site of Vallerga's Market.
Napa County offers fishing at Lake Berryessa and its surrounding streams, and on the Napa River. Here's the place to find all the information you need, including what's biting, where, and what on
Sweeney's Sport Store
River Park Shopping Center
1537 Imola Avenue West
Napa CA 94559
707.255.5544
Open 7 days a week. Sweeney's is the place for fishing tackle and information. Free flycasting classes every Saturday morning at 9 a.m.
Lake Berryessa Resorts
Offer everything you need from lodging to boats to tackle, and the very latest information on fishing the lake. Spanish Flat Resort provides a current Berryessa fishing report at: www.spanishflatresort.com/fishing.php
State of California Department of Fish and Game
7329 Silverado Trail
Yountville CA 94599
707.944.5500
Napa Valley Fly Fishermen
PO Box 2373
Napa CA 94558
www.napavalleyflyfishermen.com
Geocaching (pronounced "GEO-cashing") combines the high-technology of Global Positioning System (GPS) satellites and the low-technology of walking around on the ground. Geocachers hide a "cache" somewhere in a publicly-accessible area (perhaps a park, forest, beach area) and then use an electronic GPS unit to determine the precise location of the cache in latitude and longitude. That location is posted on the Web, and others can then hunt for the cache, using the provided coordinates. The cache may contain some sort of object, but will always contain a logbook, in which the finder will note his or her discovery of the cache.
Geocachers have, naturally, discovered the Napa Valley and there are caches hidden throughout the area. Use the following web site to get their coordinates.
Geocaching
The primary web site for geocachers. It gives information about the hobby of geocaching, provides discussion forums, and lists cache locations all over (currently more than 180 countries) the world.
What's geocaching? Before you geocache in the Napa Valley, buy The Complete Idiot's Guide to Geocaching.
Need a GPS unit?
REI has everything you'll need for geocaching.
Aetna Springs Golf Course
9 holes (Pope Valley)
1600 Aetna Springs Road
Pope Valley, CA 94567
707.965.2115
[Reportedly currently closed and scheduled to re-open as a private club] 9-hole, par 70. Beautiful setting. Reputedly the oldest golf course west of the Mississippi.
Chardonnay Golf Club
27 holes (Napa)
2555 Jamieson Canyon Road (Highway 12 between Highway 29 and Highway I-80)
PO Box 3779
Napa CA 94558
707.257.1900
27 holes through 130 acres of Chardonnay and Merlot vineyards, lakes and creeks.
Eagle Vines Golf Club
18 holes (Napa)
580 South Kelly Road
PO Box 2398
Napa CA 94558
707.257.4470
18-hole, par 72. Open to the public. 7,283 yards - six sets of tees including two ladies'.
Meadowood Resort
9 holes (St. Helena)
900 Meadowood Lane
St. Helena CA 94574
707.963.3646 800.458.8080
9-hole, par 31. 2,014 yards. A walking course.
Mt. St. Helena Golf Course
9 holes (Calistoga)
P.O. Box 344
Calistoga CA 94515
707.942.9966
9-holes, par 34. Men - 2,759 yards. Women - par 35 - 2,650 yards. Public course located at Napa County Fairgrounds.
Napa Golf Course
18 holes (Napa)
2295 Streblow Drive
Napa CA 94558
707.255.4333
18-hole, par 72. 6,730 yards Public golf course located in Kennedy Park off Highway 221 at the south end of Napa. Reasonable fees, uncrowded. Discounts for residents of Napa city and county.
Napa Valley Country Club
18 holes (Napa)
3385 Hagen Road
Napa, 94558
Golf Shop 707.252.1114. Business Office 707.252.1111.
Private course. Members and guests only. Reciprocal with other private clubs. Guest Fees - $90, includes cart. 18-holes. 5,285/6,148 yards - par 72. Three tees.
Silverado Resort
36 holes (Napa)
1600 Atlas Peak Road
Napa CA 94558
707.257.5460
South Course - 6,500 yards par 72. North Course - 6,700 yards par 72. Designed by Robert Trent Jones, Jr.
Vintner's Golf Club
9 holes (Yountville)
7901 Solano Avenue
Yountville, CA 94599
707.944.1992
9-hole, par 34. 4,258/5,573 yards. Three sets of tees. Located just off Highway 29 at the Veterans Home.
Buy Great Day Hikes in and Around Napa Valley
There is some beautiful country in the Napa Valley, but most of it is privately owned. There are only a few places where members of the public can hike whenever they wish.
However, there are several organizations that schedule hikes throughout the year on private lands. Anyone can go on these hikes, as long as they reserve a space.
Because Napa is one of the nine San Francisco Bay Area counties, it is also part of two Bay Area-wide hiking projects: the Ridge Trail and the San Francisco Bay Trail, also called the "Wetlands Trail".
Walking and Hiking Napa Valley
From Napa Valley Car Free
Bay Area Ridge Trail
415.561.2595
The Ridge Trail is a 400-mile multiple-use trail connecting parks and preserved open spaces along the ridgelines surrounding California's San Francisco Bay.
In Napa County it currently passes through Skyline Wilderness Park heading east to Solano County. The trail segment west to Sonoma County is not yet in place.
Ridge Trail—Napa County Segment
Length is about 4.4 miles with an elevation change of about +900 feet.
Leave the picnic area near the Skyline Wilderness Park entrance and take gravelled Lake Marie Road, which crosses a causeway between two ponds, Lake Louise and Lake Camille. Lake Marie Road bends left (east), and in about 600 feet you turn right (southeast) off it onto Skyline Trail. In a few yards you pass the junction with Buckeye Trail.
Skyline Trail zigzags up a steep hill and soon enters oak and buckeye woods where the trail straightens, levels off a bit, and heads south. Pass the junction with Bayleaf Trail by staying right on Skyline Trail. Soon, pass the spur road which goes to the right through Passini Gate. Just beyond, you begin climbing to high grasslands. Traverse a steep hillside, pass the skeleton of a house in a small clearing, and continue to follow Skyline Trail on an old, rocky roadbed through oaks and firs. Pass the junction with Chaparral Trail on the left, following a creek on Skyline Trail. Cross to the south side of Marie Creek, draining into Lake Marie below. Soon you reach the locked boundary gate near the southeast corner of the park.
San Francisco Bay Trail
The Bay Trail is a planned recreational corridor that, when complete, will encircle San Francisco and San Pablo Bays with a continuous 400-mile network of bicycling and hiking trails. It will connect the shoreline of all nine Bay Area counties, link 47 cities, and cross the major toll bridges in the region.
To date, approximately 210 miles of the alignment—or slightly more than half the Bay Trail's ultimate length—has been completed. The Trail is frequently referred to as the "Wetlands Trail" since, unlike the Ridge Trail which travels along the mountain ridges encircling the bay, this trail passes through the shoreline/wetland areas.
When completed, the trail will enter Napa County from the west through the Carneros Region, go to the southern edge of the city of Napa at John F. Kennedy Park, and then proceed south to American Canyon and onto Vallejo.
Napa River Trail
Sorry. The City of Napa has removed information on the River Trail from its website.
View from the Napa River Trail
The City of Napa is also creating its own trail, running along the banks of the Napa River from Trancas Street at the northern end of town to John F. Kennedy Park at the southern end.
Currently, the segment from Trancas Street to Lincoln Avenue is in place (see photos), as is the area at Kennedy Park. The downtown restoration/flood control project will result in the completion of the other segments.
Napa County Hiking Trails
For detailed information on other trails, see these links:
Bale Grist Mill State Historic Park (St. Helena)
Bothé-Napa Valley State Park (Calistoga)
Berryessa Trails and Conservation (Lake Berryessa)
Includes trail and paddle guide, scheduled hikes, conservation projects.
Las Posadas State Forest (Angwin)
Napa River Ecological Reserve (Yountville)
Robert Louis Stevenson State Park (Calistoga)
Skyline Wilderness Park (Napa)
White Sulphur Springs Resort (St. Helena)
Scheduled Hikes
Land Trust of Napa County
707.252.3270
Offers scheduled hikes during the year throughout the valley. An opportunity to see creeks, waterfalls and views on private property.
Napa Sierra Club
www.redwood.sierraclub.org/napa
Offers scheduled hikes during the year throughout the valley.
Sunrise Stables
1098 Lodi Lane
St. Helena CA 94574
707.963.7783
A family-centered facility for horse lovers of all ages. Lessons, day camps, boarding.Triple Creek Horse Outfit
707.887.8700
www.triplecreekhorseoutfit.com
Guided horseback rides in Bothé-Napa State Park. Minimum age 8 years old. Seven days a week, April through October. Reservations required.
Skyline Wilderness Park
707.252.0481
www.ncfaa.com/skyline/horse_camping.htm
10 spacious horse camping sites, each accommodating two horse and two rigs, with water and picnic table. Bathrooms with showers within a short walking distance. Fifteen miles of trails through wooded forest, valleys and hilltops.
See full information in our Hot Air Ballooning section.
(See Boating)
Paintball Jungle (American Canyon)
Black Talon Tactical
PO Box 300
Napa CA 94559
707.256.1812 877.755.7676
Indoor shooting club and training facility.
Lake Berryessa Resorts
Lake Berryessa is one of the most popular places in Northern California for water skiing. All resorts provide boats and other equipment.
Willi's Water Ski Center
1434 Grayson Avenue
St. Helena CA 94574
707.963.4409
Willi Ellermeier operates a water ski school at Lake Berryessa with instruction for students ranging from beginner to tournament level
.