Mapping north segment of the Napa Valley Vine Trail
By Austin Explorer on 3/15/2021
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Distance: 5.43 Miles Duration: 1 hour, 55 minutes
Since it has just rained earlier in the weekend we wanted to avoid any trails that might end up in a muddy quagmire. We had hiked another portion of this trail before and figured it was time to repay it a visit to what it was like elsewhere. We parked on the street right off of Vallejo, very close to the spot where the trail picks up.
The trail north of the center of Napa is mostly straight as an arrow. Just starting off from Vallejo the trail follows the rail right of way through the back of numerous businesses, some still in extistence and some not. A few of the places seemed ideal for loading and offloading directly from railcars that used to pass through.
Yes, this is an industrial area and thus is far from scenic in a tradtional hiking sense. Still, the first half mile plus from Vallejo is interesting due to a number of murals and art installations along the way. They add a bit of color, literally and figuratively, to the hike and gives the visitors something to comment on along the way.
When the trail crosses Lincoln the area turns residential. In this case that's unfortunate since it means an end to the art that had accompanied us this far. One thing that does not change is the straight paved path.
When the trail nears Redwood it snakes away from the rail line for a moment and dumps the walker onto Solano Ave. Once you cross Redwood on Solano the trail will once again abut the rails. We're not sure why the trail couldn't follow the line more closely leading up to Redwood, but nearby fencing with "private property" signs seems to indicate a land dispute.
The trail then parallels both Solano Ave and the traintracks and continues to do so for some miles ahead. With the clouds getting darker and rain visible in the distance we decided to turnaround at Trower Avenue and double back to our trailhead.