Oat Hill Mine Road
Autumn in the Wine Country
Rumor had it the leaves were changing in the rows of vinyards to the north.
So it seemed an opportune time to check out the Oat Hill Mine,
which once served as a quarry for Mercury Ore.
The mine shafts are located at the base of the volcanic formations on the hilltops overlooking Calistoga, which
I'm assuming are from the same eruption that produced Mount St. Helena
since they are all part of a contiguous ridge.
The precarious road winding along the sides of steep hillsides, where ore was once carried down daily, still has
the indentations of old wagon wheels in the lava flows.
Today only water is taken from these hills with the source for Calisota water located nearby,
and the Oat Hill Mine "Road" appears unmaintained since it's days as a mining route.
It is well-known for technical challenge on particularly rugged singletrack.
Photos
Click to expand
Vinyards along the Silverado Trail. It's not a trail, but a highway from Napa to Calistoga along the eastern
side of the valley.
Wait, I gotta stop the truck and snap a couple pictures here.
It seems that different varieties of grape leaves turned different colors at different rates.
The first vinyard had a wide mix of colors even on the same vine, wheras the one across the street the vines were
a fairly uniform yellow.
"Hey Bill, you know that sun sets early now?" Yeah, yeah.
Looks like some potentially fine riding to the west across those vinyards.
Up close it looks like we have some fresh growth from the recent rains.
"C'mon Bill, alright already, when are we going to get to the frigging trail?!?" Sorry Kenny.
See? We're almost there. Here's the view of Oat Hill from the Silverado trail.
The trailhead is maybe a mile to the north, and the second shot is of Calistoga from the beginning of the trail.
Climbing higher up along toward volcanic outcroppings.
Here, along the historic trail, you can see the wagon wheel track erosions in the lava flows.
Views of the Napa valley from high above. The first shot is south toward San Francisco Bay, and the second is looking
northward.
One last look at the colorful vinyards on the valley floor.
Here's about where we should have turned around. Finally at some volcanic formations along the ridgetop.
The sun is starting to hang pretty low at this point.
On the first shot, just beneath that ridge in the distance, we could just make out the mine tunnel openings.
Although the pictures here show wide trail, the majority of the way is singletrack.
Okay, here's the rest of the story: we pressed on up the trail to see if we could check out the mines. It got so bad
we hid our
bikes and hiked it, but it was still slow going along the increasingly ragged lava flows.
We got to what I think is the miners camp, a flat area in a saddle
along the ridge with some stones strewn about, but there was no trail to the mines. Determined, we tried to find
our way out to them anyway, but it was just getting too dark, so we rode back along the lava flows in the fleeting dusk.
The rest of the way was a march down the boulder-strewn trail,
with light only from the half-moon on a mercifully clear night.
It was a very slow going, feeling our way forward, along what should have been a wild and fun downhill
ride.
(b. November 11, 2002; Veteran's Day)
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It seems that different varieties of grape leaves turned different colors at different rates.
The first vinyard had a wide mix of colors even on the same vine, wheras the one across the street the vines were
a fairly uniform yellow.
"Hey Bill, you know that sun sets early now?" Yeah, yeah.
Looks like some potentially fine riding to the west across those vinyards.
Up close it looks like we have some fresh growth from the recent rains.
"C'mon Bill, alright already, when are we going to get to the frigging trail?!?" Sorry Kenny.
See? We're almost there. Here's the view of Oat Hill from the Silverado trail.
The trailhead is maybe a mile to the north, and the second shot is of Calistoga from the beginning of the trail.
Climbing higher up along toward volcanic outcroppings.
Here, along the historic trail, you can see the wagon wheel track erosions in the lava flows.
Views of the Napa valley from high above. The first shot is south toward San Francisco Bay, and the second is looking
northward.
One last look at the colorful vinyards on the valley floor.
Here's about where we should have turned around. Finally at some volcanic formations along the ridgetop.
The sun is starting to hang pretty low at this point.
On the first shot, just beneath that ridge in the distance, we could just make out the mine tunnel openings.