Featured hike
Mile:
0.0: Begin on a trail starting at the edge of the parking lot, beneath a big coast live oak. Follow the trail uphill, ending at a picnic area and junction.
0.1: Turn right onto a wide road.
0.15: Turn left onto Lake Marie Road.
0.4: Junction with road to the right leading to Buckeye and Skyline trails; continue straight on Lake Marie Road.
1.3: Four quick junctions, with Bayleaf (right), 2 to Manzanita (left), then Passini (right). Continue on Lake Marie Road.
2.0: Just past a muddy seep beneath a wall of rock on the right, Lake Marie Road rises, and an unsigned but obvious trail departs to the left. Follow this connector trail downhill, and when it climbs to kiss Lake Marie Road goodbye one last time, stay to the left again.
2.25: Junction with path at edge of spillway. Turn left.
2.3: Junction. Turn right onto Chaparral Trail.
2.8: Junction with path to Rim Rock. Turn right.
3.2: Junction with connector to Lake Marie Trail. Continue straight on Skyline Trail.
3.4: Junction with connector to Lake Marie Trail. Continue straight on Skyline Trail.
3.5: Junction with Buckeye Trail. Bear right.
3.9: Fork. Stay to the right.
4.1: Turn right onto Passini Road briefly, then veer off to the left, onto the signed continuation of the Buckeye Trail.
4.45: Buckeye Trail follows a stone fence, then merges into an unsigned path from the left, connecting to Skyline Trail. Stay to the right, pass through a break in the fence into a grassy meadow, then reach a fork with a trail leading left to Skyline Trail. Veer right and descend a few yards to yet another junction, a roughly elongated X-shaped interchange with Bayleaf Trail. Turn left, then bear right, remaining on Buckeye Trail.
5.6: Buckeye Trail ends. Turn right.
5.7: Junction, again, with Lake Marie Road. Turn right and retrace your steps back to the trailhead.
6.1 Back at the parking lot.
Getting there:
From I-80 in Solano County, exit 33 onto CA 37. Drive west on CA 37 2.5 miles to the junction with CA 29. Turn right and drive north on CA 29 7.5 miles, then stay to the right at the junction with CA 221 (signed towards downtown Napa and Lake Berryessa). Drive north on CA 221 (signed as the Napa-Vallejo Highway) 3 miles, then turn right onto Imola Avenue. Drive east 2.3 miles, then turn right into the park.
GPS coordinates* for trailhead:
Latitude
Longitude
(* based on Google Earth data, shown as degrees, minutes, seconds)
Read about this hike in more detail and view photos at http://www.bahiker.com/northbayhikes/skylinewild.html
© 2020 Jane Huber/Bay Area Hiker