Small rough park on the western edge of Napa

Going to the Sun Road?
Coppertone navigates a steep section of the trail up towards the Sun. Some sections of the trail proved to have a steep pitch.
User: Austin Explorer - 12/31/2017

Location: Westwood Hills Park

Rating: 3stars
Difficulty: 3stars  Solitude: 2stars
Miles Hiked: 3.63 Miles  Elapsed Time: 1 hour, 54 minutes

Comments:

Coppertone and I decided to hike today instead of tomorrow because Jan. 1 is for college football.  Last week we hiked at nearby Alston Park and this was our backup at that time.  When arriving at the parking area we were a bit surprised to find the parking lot full and lines of cars parked along Browns Valley Road on both sides of the road.  The park just isn't that big, but it seems to have drawn quite a crowd on this day.

According to signs posted near the entrances, a mountain lion has been spotted in the park.  Despite Coppertone wanting to catch a glimpse of a "kitty", we spied only birds and the dogs accompanying visitors.

We hiked up the main path to the summit and then picked off the park's perimeter along its property lines.  There remain a number of additional trails within that circle to be mapped and explored.

This park turned out to be much rougher than expected, particularly the trails other than the main thoroughfare that leads the majority of people to the park summit.  The main trail is a difficulty level of 3, which is what I rated this hike.  A few segments here could earn a difficulty rating of 4 due to steepness.

We were a bit surprised to find a small burn area not far from the trailhead in the Eucalyptus grove behind the house close to the trailhead.  Though it may have occured around the same time as the devastating North Bay fires in October, it doesn't really look like it was part of the larger named fires around the area.



Log Photos
Eucalyptus Grove
Crisscrossing Trails
Summit View
Two Valleys
Open canopy
Going to the Sun Road?
Side Trail
Another view
Recommended Item
Recommended Item Hiking California's Wine Country: A Guide to the Area's Greatest Hikes
Bubba Suess
List Price: $24.95 Your price: $21.74 Buy Now
Hiking California's Wine Country covers 67 hikes in the area for hikers of all abilities. Up-to-date trail information and miles and directions will be featured throughout, as well as sidebars on local culture, trivia, and wildlife. GPS coordinates are available for all trailheads.