Mount St. Helena
Aerial views of the wine country
While perhaps not the most exciting ride, the long, smooth, and stable grade was well suited
to a hardtail.
Mount St. Helena
has long been one of those places I've been meaning to check out ever since we visited the
Calistoga Geyser, so I figured I should get it out of the way before the Turner arrives.
So far, elevation-wise, this has been the highest peak we've ridden in the
Bay Area. It offered some of the best views of the Napa Valley as we rode to the peak and more excellent views to the
north and east standing on the top.
Photos
Click to expand
Cruising through the vinyards toward the northern reaches of the Napa Valley just beyond Calistoga.
This is along the Oakdate cutoff, but scenery gets better along the Silverado Trail.
It was too fast and winding to snap a picture there, however.
Here we were caught up in some traffic and were diverted by the police from 29, not sure why, but it all worked out.
This is a few months ago at Old Faithful geyser in Calistoga. Here is the steaming
vent with Mt. St. Helena in the background. The southern peak is most visible, the northern peak is obscurred by the palm.
There she goes! That's right-- "Old Faithful."
It's one of three geysers in the world that fires off on a repeated,
predictable interval, and one of the others on is in Yellowstone.
Usually it goes off every 45 minutes, but back then with the heavy rains it was going off every six.
Back to the present, here's some nice Autumn colors beginning to develop at the trailhead around 2000 feet up the slopes.
Like the Old Railroad grade going up Mount Tam,
the ride initially climbs through coniferous forests along the east face before reaching expansive chaparall
in the higher elevations.
I think this is a little past midway up the climb.
This is looking toward the hilly regions eastward with a volcanic formation in the foreground.
You can see the fireroad down below winding up the hillside.
It was a pretty hazy day.
We started around 4:30-- did it really take us 4 hours to get to the summit?!?
Nahhhh, it's still very light out. Strange what autoexposure will to.
This is the tower on the north peak.
Some volcanic rock formations at the peak, and a hazy view of the ridge extending north.
Heading back down, the sun is getting fairly low. Here is looking over the Napa Valley.
Shots in the distance didn't really come through because it was too hazy.
However even with the haze it was all quite spectacular,
and if you're into "wine country" sort of stuff this is definately a place to check out either on foot or bike.
(b. August 18, 2002)
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This is a few months ago at Old Faithful geyser in Calistoga. Here is the steaming
vent with Mt. St. Helena in the background. The southern peak is most visible, the northern peak is obscurred by the palm.
There she goes! That's right-- "Old Faithful."
It's one of three geysers in the world that fires off on a repeated,
predictable interval, and one of the others on is in Yellowstone.
Usually it goes off every 45 minutes, but back then with the heavy rains it was going off every six.
Back to the present, here's some nice Autumn colors beginning to develop at the trailhead around 2000 feet up the slopes.
Like the Old Railroad grade going up Mount Tam,
the ride initially climbs through coniferous forests along the east face before reaching expansive chaparall
in the higher elevations.
I think this is a little past midway up the climb.
This is looking toward the hilly regions eastward with a volcanic formation in the foreground.
You can see the fireroad down below winding up the hillside.
It was a pretty hazy day.
We started around 4:30-- did it really take us 4 hours to get to the summit?!?
Nahhhh, it's still very light out. Strange what autoexposure will to.
This is the tower on the north peak.
Some volcanic rock formations at the peak, and a hazy view of the ridge extending north.
Heading back down, the sun is getting fairly low. Here is looking over the Napa Valley.