Last week I talked about our visit to the Bale Grist Mill in St Helena. An added bonus adventure is to hike the 2.4 mile round trip starting from the Bothe-Napa Valley State Park.
We began this hike by stopping at the visitor center at Bothe Park. The nature exhibit, history, and 3D map of the area are informative. The center has a little shop where they sell ice cream and popsicles. If you need something to fend off ticks, they have that too. They also have a Native American plant garden next to the building. But our agenda was already tight, so we skipped the garden.
We parked the car in a shady spot on a loop near the cemetery. The cemetery is the final resting place for some of the original settlers in Napa Valley. To go on the grist mill loop, start on the right towards the cemetery loop and hang right. A little while in, I wished I had studied the 3-D map. The hike was surprisingly steep and narrow. We came from the direction of Napa and had passed the mill. So walking up when the goal was near the street seemed counterintuitive. Since the mill is water-powered, it needs to have water flow from an elevated reservoir. So once you are near the resevoir, you will hike down towards the mill.
We picked a hot day, but the weather can differ, so be sure to check ahead. But for us, the heat led to another bonus adventure. Once you return to the visitor center at Bothe Park, you can buy tickets to the swimming pool at the visitor center! The $5 per person was a great price for cooling down.
Information
The Bothe-Napa Valley State Park is open daily from 8 am to sunset. The entrance fee to the park is $10 per vehicle. The swimming pool is only open Saturdays and Sundays from 1 pm to 5 pm, during the summer season.