Besides wine tasting, another activity you can do is travel some of the scenic roads. With several small mountain ranges, rivers, and an ocean, there are numerous spectacular car cruises in the area. These listed below are all two-lane roads, so you may have to be patient with the tourists. :)
Highway 128
The road enters Napa County at its eastern border with Yolo County, then up through the Vaca Mtn range, into Napa Valley, then Knight's Valley and Alexander Valley in Sonoma. The road continues north into Mendocino County where it winds through Anderson Valley, into a redwood forest, then ends at the Pacific. Highway 128 is an amazing ride, although it can be a very long one, so you might want to pick one segment.
In Napa and Sonoma you'll pass reservoirs, go through mountains, a couple small towns, see lots of vineyards, and many wineries. The road even has its own web page.
 |
| Click on map to enlarge |
Oakville Grade / Trinity Rd
This road is called Oakville on the Napa side and Trinity on the Sonoma side. It's quite windy and the switchbacks on Trinity road are not for the fainthearted. Long ago (before Google maps!) a limo driver came into the Sonoma Valley winery where I was working. He was pale and sweaty as he'd just taken his guests over this road. It is, however, lots of fun in a Miata!
Oakville Grade runs west from Highway 29 near the town of Oakville in Napa. At the other end, you're dropped onto Highway 12 in Sonoma Valley. There's a section of road that's down to one lane on the Napa side. At least I believe it's still out, as it had been closed for about a decade. I prefer driving from the Sonoma Valley side into Napa as you are going up the switchbacks instead of down, and the drop into Napa Valley offers a great view.
It's really about seven miles across, as the crow flies, but somehow it seems much longer.
 |
| Click on map to enlarge |
Spring Mountain Rd / Calistoga Rd
Calistoga Road connects the town of Calistoga in Napa Valley to Santa Rosa in Sonoma County. I used to commute this route for a few years and while it's a nice drive I recommend taking Spring Mountain Road out of St Helena in Napa. It connects to Calistoga Rd is more fun, though it's windier and narrower. Most of the drive is through forested areas with some vineyards. On the Sonoma County side you connect via Highway 12 in eastern Santa Rosa. In St. Helena you can connect up via Madrona Road off of Highway 29.
 |
| Click on map to enlarge |
In Napa County there are numerous secondary roads that go up into the mountains on both sides of the valley. Deer Park and Howell Mountain Roads go into Pope Valley. Another is Chiles-Pope Valley Road that connects to Highway 128. Mt Veeder Road runs from the town of Napa up to Oakville Grade.
In Sonoma the most famous road is the Pacific Coast Highway, or Calif State Route 1, that travels from the coast in Marin County to the south up to Mendocino County in the north. Most of the road offers views of beaches, rocky cliffs, and the ocean. For the adventurous, there is West Dry Creek Road (several wineries here), Coleman Valley Road, Mays Canyon, Meyers Grade/Ft. Ross Roads, and, if you're really adventurous, Skaggs Springs Rd.
No comments:
Post a Comment