Napa Valley and the Pacific

This Drive Comes From...

An image of the book National Geographic Driving Guide: CA, NV, and HI

National Geographic Driving Guide: California

For more National Geographic travel guides—from Europe to Antarctica and everywhere in between—visit National Geographic Books >>

Ahead of you lie many wonders of northern California—redwood forests, remote seashores, rural towns, and the wine country of the famous Sonoma and Napa Valleys—all within a reasonable drive from San Francisco. CONTINUED

- Sausalito
- Mount Tamalpais
- Point Reyes National Seashore
- Petaluma
- Jack London Historic State Park
- Calistoga
- St. Helena

(Continued From Top)

Sausalito
Beginning in San Francisco, cross the Golden Gate Bridge on US 101 north. On the otherside, take a quick detour to a 360-degree, bird’s-eye vantage of the bridge from Marin Headlands (Alexander Ave. exit, take animmediate left, following signs back to San Francisco. At the sign for Marin Headlands turn right, go uphill 0.3 mile [0.5 kilometer] and park).
Back on US 101, you soon reach a tunnel that seems to promise good things: Over the entrance, someone has painted a bright rainbow. Thisis the gateway to Marin County, the upscale residential area where the eighties’ “Me Generation” poured itself a glass of whitewine and soaked communally in a redwood hot tub.
Off US 101 just ahead, houses clinging to wooded hillsides above a yacht harbor give Sausalito (Visitor Center +1 415 332 0505) the look of aEuropean seacoast resort. Shop in turn-of-the-century buildings along Bridgeway; dine; or sample saloons where locals mix with tourists, boatbuffs, aging coquettes, bikers, and bohemians. Along the waterfront look for houseboats (Gate 5 and other locations). See theSan Francisco Bay Model and Visitors Center (Marinship Way. +1 415 332 3871. Call for schedule), a huge workingrendition of San Francisco Bay and its tides that condenses about 400 square miles [1,063 square kilometers] to 1.5 acres [0.6 hectare].

Continue on US 101, exiting onto California 1 just north of Marin City. In about 3 miles [4.8 kilometers] turn right onto Panoramic Highway, then left on Muir Woods Road. You’re heading for the area’s last virgin redwood forest, Muir Woods National Monument (+1 415 388 2595). Thousand-year-old trees soaring as high as 254 feet [77 meters] create a cathedral atmosphere, interrupted only by the squawk of Steller’s jays. Redwood Creek shelters crayfish, salmon, and steelhead trout. Six different trails, including one with interpretive signs, wander through this majestic sanctuary.

Mount Tamalpais
For the big picture, continue on Panoramic Highway, turn right on Pan Toll Road (follow sign), and ascend the east peak of Mount Tamalpais (Mt. Tamalpais S.P.+1 415 388 2070. Parking fee), where locals claim to have invented mountain biking. Along Mount Tam’s 200-plus miles [320-plus kilometers] of trails grow bouquets of spring wildflowers, including star lily, columbine, and Indian paintbrush. From the parking lot a quarter-mile [0.4-kilometer] path climbs to afire lookout at the 2,571-foot [783-meter] summit, with its inspiring panorama of the bay area and the Pacific Ocean. This place seems somehow closer to the sun.

Farther ahead, Panoramic Highway winds downhill among grassy slopes and stands of redwood, bay, and eucalyptus trees to Stinson Beach, popular for swimming and surfing. The village itself is a blink-and-you-missed-it place.
Heading north on California 1, look for egrets and waterfowl as you pass Bolinas Lagoon; on two island sanctuaries, harbor sealshave set up colonies. Next pop into Audubon Canyon Ranch (+1 415 868 9244.Mid-March–mid-July Sat.-Sun.), where egrets and herons nest in a 1,000-acre [404-hectare] reserve; some 115 bird species have been spotted.
The route passes eucalyptus trees and cows on its straight run through the Olema Valley—just another name for the San Andreas Fault. California1 follows this monumental fracture in the earth’s surface.

Point Reyes National Seashore
The fault line is also traced on an interpretive trail at the Bear Valley Visitor Center of Point Reyes National Seashore (Bear Valley Rd. +1 415 663 1092), one of several trails that wind throughout the park. In one afternoon you can sample four life zones: forest(Douglas-firs, ferns, huckleberries), coastline (osprey feeding on fish), grasslands (hilltops and gullies), and coastal wetlands (marshes,lagoons). Life is rich: nearly half the bird species in North America have been seen here, from hawks to tufted puffins, and if you were toscoop up a handful of mud from a salt marsh, you might find 20,000 worms and other organisms—if that’s your idea of a good time. Because the peninsula juts into the Pacific, it’s a good place to observe migrating gray whales (Late Dec.–mid-March); the bestwhale-watching spot is the picturesque Point Reyes Lighthouse, though the place can be windy and cold.

Petaluma
Follow California 1 to the north end of Tomales Bay and turn inland on Tomales-Petaluma Road to Petaluma (Chamber of Commerce +1 707 769 0429).This town looks timelessly all-American, which explains why such movies as American Graffiti were filmed here. Downtown bythe Petaluma River stand beautifully restored commercial buildings with cast-iron facades; these Victorians date from the turn of the century,when the surrounding poultry region grew wealthy as the “world’s egg basket.” The Petaluma Historical Museum and Library(20 4th St. +1 707 778 4398. Thurs.-Mon.) displays local memorabilia in a 1906 Carnegie library that has California’s largest freestanding stained-glass dome. On a hilltop at the edge of town, Petaluma Adobe State Historic Park (3325 Adobe Rd. +1 707 762 4871. Adm. fee) preserves California’s biggest non-mission adobe structure, the two-story ranch house of Mexican generalMariano Vallejo. He began building this hacienda in 1836, mostly to fend off Russian fur traders. His quarters and workrooms are furnishedto reflect California’s Mexican period.
From Petaluma, drive east on California 116 and 121, then head north on California 12 to Sonoma(Visitors Bureau +1 707 996 1090), a town where history comes alive. In the plaza in 1846, rebellious American settlers andtrappers took Vallejo prisoner during the short-lived Bear Flag Revolt, in which they declared California an independent republic. On the plaza lies Sonoma State Historic Park (Spain St. between 2nd St. E. and 3rd St. W.+1 707 938 1519. Adm. fee), encompassing Mission San Francisco Solano (1823), which includes the last and most northerly of the 21 California missions; a barracks that housed Mexican and later American soldiers (now a museum); the wood-frame Toscano Hotel; and the adobe Blue Wing Inn of 1840, whose saloon was visited by Kit Carson and notorious bandit Joaquin Murietta. Half a mile (0.8 kilometers) west of the plaza stands Vallejo’s New England-style home, Lachryma Montis (Spain St. W. and 3rd St. W.).Sonoma, known as the birthplace of the California wine industry, was planted with Franciscan mission grapes in 1825; some of the original plot is incorporated into Sebastiani Vineyards (389 4th St. E. +1 707 938 5532 or 800 888 5532), which displays a large collection of carved wine casks. Premium winemaking began in 1857 at what is now the Buena Vista Carneros Winery (18000 Old Winery Rd. +1 707 938 1266), whose stone cellars are the oldest in the state.

Jack London Historic State Park
You’ll see grape arbors as you travel north through Sonoma Valley to Jack London State Historic Park (2400 London Ranch Rd., Glen Ellen. +1 707 938 5216. Adm. fee), the 835-acre [338-hectare] ranch of the popular author of The Call of the Wild. The House of Happy Walls, built by his widow in 1919, contains mementos, art objects collected in the South Pacific, and London’s typewriter. (Remarkably, even the author of 53 books got publishers’ rejection slips.) An earlier mansion called Wolf House burned mysteriously before the Londons moved in; its ruined walls and fireplaces are visible.
Ahead you’ll wind through some backcountry, following California 12 north to the outskirts of Santa Rosa. Turn right onto Calistoga Road; at theintersection with Petrified Forest Road, go right again. About 4 miles [6.4 kilometers] before Calistoga you reach the Petrified Forest(4100 Petrified Forest Rd. +1 707 942 6667. Adm. fee), a preserve of redwoods flattened by volcanic eruption some 3.4 millionyears ago and turned to stone. One trunk measures 108 feet [33 meters] long.

Now you enter Napa Valley (Visitors Bureau +1 707 226 7459), a great cornucopiaof wine grapes spilling southward from 4,343-foot [1,324-meter] Mount St. Helena. The valley has ideal growing conditions, with a dry Mediterraneanclimate and rich, porous soils. Part agricultural belt and part trendy destination for wine buffs, Napa Valley produces many of California’sgreat vintages.

Along the valley’s main artery, California 29, lie many wineries—famous names like Charles Krug, Robert Mondavi, Beaulieu, and Beringer. You can tour them and taste premium varieties, notably Chardonnay, Cabernet Sauvignon, and Pinot Noir. Equally satisfying is the sight of spring mustard flowers on the valley floor; the surrounding mountains of the Coast Ranges; and the oaks, California bays, and blackberries that grow along the Napa River.

Calistoga
There’s always a hot time in the old town of Calistoga (Chamber of Commerce +1 707 942 6333). Its thermal springs have been drawing travelers since 1859, when California’s firstmillionaire, colorful Sam Brannan, opened a mineral spa for wealthy San Franciscans. The story goes that he intended to promote hisenterprise as the “Saratoga of California,” but at a banquet he imbibed a bit of the bubbly before his speech and the phrase came out “Calistoga of Sarafornia.” It’s easy to picture the resort through some remarkable dioramas, made by a Disney artist, at the Sharpsteen Museum (1311 Washington St. +1 707 942 5911), which also has an original furnished cottage.
People still visit Calistoga spas to soak in hot mineral water or in vats of volcanic mud, said to be therapeutic. You have your choice of manyspas around town, including Calistoga Spa Hot Springs (1006 Washington St. +1 707 942 6269. Fee).
Only three geysers in the world erupt on a handy schedule—in Yellowstone National Park, in New Zealand, and near Calistoga. Just outsidetown, the Old Faithful Geyser of California (1299 Tubbs Ln. +1 707 942 6463. Adm. fee) shoots a blast of water 60 to 80 feet [18 to 24 meters] high every 40 minutes on average. The water is 350ºF [177ºC], and the sulfur smells like rotten eggs.
Five miles [eight kilometers] south of Calistoga, stop by Bale Grist Mill State Historic Park (+1 707 942 4575. Adm. fee), whichpreserves the region’s oldest water-powered grain mill (1847) in a pleasant wooded setting.

St. Helena

Beringer Vineyards in St. Helena, Napa Valley

Photograph © Phil Schermeister

Onward to St. Helena (Chamber of Commerce +1 707 963 4456 or 800 799 6456), an increasingly upscale town where you might see field-workers in muddy pickup trucks parked next to urbanites in BMWs. The valley’s oldest wine producer is St. Helena’s Charles Krug Winery (2800 Main St. +1 707 967 2201), founded in 1861. At the nearby 1876 Beringer Vineyards (2000 Main St. +1 707 963 7115), tours visit tunnels a thousand feet [305 meters] long, dug by Chinese laborers and used to age wine. The vineyard’s star attraction is the Rhine House, a 17-room Germanic mansion rich with carved wood and gemlike stained-glass windows.
The widely traveled Scottish author Robert Louis Stevenson spent his honeymoon in a mining shack on Mount St. Helena in 1880. Chronicling his life, the collection at the Silverado Museum (1490 Library Ln. +1 707 963 3757. Closed Mon.; donation) ranges from the toy soldiers of his boyhood to handwritten pages and first editions of Treasure Island.
Leaving St. Helena, you’ll pass more wineries on the way south to Napa. Continue on California 29 to California 37, turning west along San PabloBay. Then go south on US 101.
You can get off in Mill Valley, a wooded enclave where self-development is a cottage industry. People seem to be constantlyreinventing themselves as massage therapists, free-range chicken farmers, or channelers of guides from the spirit world—veryMarin County. Continue to the Golden Gate, wrapping up the route in a neat loop.