When you want something more than wine in Napa: Skyline Wilderness Park.
We enjoyed a perfect day in Napa. Lovely blue skies, 75 degree weather, and a lovely hike for an hour to Lake Marie (Lake Marie Road). It starts in a parking lot, veers around an RV park, and then climbs into the hillsides filled with oak trees, long grasses, and beautiful flowers all over the place. There we found a bench at the lake, a place to eat lunch, drink some wine, and to enjoy the afternoon. Then we made the trek back with some really spectacular views of Napa Valley; all the while proclaiming: “Oh my! And we get to live here.” It is a five minute drive from The Inn On First and it is called Skyline Wilderness Park. For a $5.00 day-use fee you have access to picnic grounds and some really wonderful trails in the hills around the city of Napa. Due to poison oak we stayed with the Lake Marie Road trail, which is pretty much a straight shot to Lake Marie. There are picnic areas along the trail, as well as picnic tables or benches (okay, only 2) for you to enjoy the view of the lake, the egrets, the hawks, the ducks, the blue herons, etc. For a Saturday afternoon, when the valley floor is crawling with people and cars and wine-tasting, this was a perfect day in the park and a picnic lunch where there were few people along the trail, and we only saw one other couple at the lake. When they left we were alone for a good 30 minutes before anyone else showed up. Wow! What a perfect day, and right here within city limits.