Every Trail Tells a Story
Bothe-Napa Valley State Park
Hike a fern-lined redwood canyon just minutes from world-famous wineries.
Climb to Coyote Peak for panoramic views of the Valley and Mt. St. Helena.
Cool, shady, and quiet-an antidote to the bustle (and tasting fees) of Napa Valley.
Bothe-Napa Valley State Park is a curious place in the California park system: it sits in the middle of one of the world’s most famous wine regions, surrounded by tasting rooms, Michelin-starred restaurants, and vineyards that fetch staggering sums for a single acre. And yet within minutes of stepping onto its trails, you leave all that behind. The chatter of the valley falls away, replaced by the sound of Ritchey Creek tumbling over rocks beneath a canopy of redwoods and Douglas fir. Here, Napa shows a different face-cool, green, quiet.
Many first-time visitors arrive almost by accident. They’ve toured Beringer or Charles Krug, maybe enjoyed a long lunch in St. Helena, and find themselves in need of a shady place to walk off the Cabernet. What begins as a casual detour often becomes a favorite refuge. Locals return in summer when temperatures in the valley hit the 90s, because Bothe stays surprisingly cool in the shelter of Ritchey Canyon.
The land has its own layered story, much like the vineyards down the road. In the 1800s, it belonged to Dr. Charles Hitchcock of San Francisco, who built a country retreat named “Lonely.” Reinhold Bothe, a German immigrant, later acquired part of the estate and opened Paradise Park, a rustic resort with cabins, a swimming pool, and a dance floor. In the 1930s, Paradise Park was the place to be on a summer weekend. After World War II it faded, and in 1960 the state acquired the land for a park. The cabins, pool, and dance floor are long gone, but if you poke around the woods, you may catch traces of that earlier life.
Today, the main attraction is Ritchey Canyon, a three-mile-long, fern-lined corridor of second-growth redwoods. These trees sprang from the roots of giants felled in the 1850s, when the first settlers of Napa Valley were building homes and towns. The redwoods have grown back beautifully, accompanied by bay, maple, and madrone. Look close to the forest floor and you may see trillium in spring, redwood orchids tucked in shady corners, and sword ferns standing like green sentinels along the creek.
Bothe-Napa may not have the soaring cathedral groves of Big Basin or Humboldt, but that’s almost the point: this is a redwood forest at human scale. The paths are quieter, the crowds thinner, and the experience more personal. And when you stand on Coyote Peak looking out over vineyards and oak hills, you’re reminded that wild California still has a foothold in the very heart of wine country.
Bothe-Napa Valley State Park is located at 3801 St. Helena Hwy N (Highway 29), Calistoga, CA 94515. Enter the park, drive 0.25 mile past the entry kiosk, and park near the Ritchey Canyon trailhead.
From the trailhead, join Ritchey Canyon Trail, a shady path beneath maple, oak, madrone, and the first of the redwoods. The trail parallels the creek and campground road, crosses a paved lane, and enters the canyon proper, where ferns, bay laurel, and wild grape thrive in the cool understory.
At 0.9 mile, pass the junction with Redwood Trail, then continue through mixed forest. A mile and a half in, you’ll pass the Vineyard Trail junction-stay with Ritchey Canyon, the heart of this hike. At a small concrete bridge, cross Ritchey Creek and swing onto South Fork Trail, which hugs the south fork of the creek for a shaded half mile.
Bear left onto Coyote Peak Trail and begin climbing out of the redwoods. As you ascend, the vegetation shifts: fir and redwood give way to madrone, oak, and finally chaparral. From the 0.1-mile spur to Coyote Peak’s rocky summit, take in fine views of Napa Valley and, on a clear day, Mt. St. Helena rising to the north.
Descend on Coyote Peak Trail, re-entering the redwoods before joining Redwood Trail for an easy creekside meander. At the four-mile mark, Redwood Trail meets Ritchey Canyon Trail; follow it back to the trailhead.