Robert Louis Stevenson State Park is 5,272 acres and contains awesome views of Napa, Sonoma, and Lake County from the summit of Mount St. Helena, the highest peak in the California Wine Country. Parking can be found in a dirt lot just off Highway 29 and the park is marked with signs. On clear days, the Pacific ocean, the Sierra Nevada mountains, Mount Shasta, and Mount Lassen are also visible. This mostly undeveloped park is home to the area where Stevenson and his bride spent their honeymoon in an abandoned bunkhouse of the Silverado Mine. A marble memorial marks the site of the bunkhouse. Stevenson’s stay in 1880 inspired the writer’s travel memoir The Silverado Squatters, and Mount St. Helena is thought to be a portrait of Spyglass Hill in Treasure Island.
Hiking and biking are the main activities and the trails to the north climb to the summit of Mount St. Helena, while the trail to the south lead hikers to Table Rock, the volcanic cliffs of the Palisades, and a connection to the Oat Hill Mine Trail and the outskirts of the City of Calistoga.
As the park is large, hikers and bikers can find a variety of nature to explore. On Mount St. Helena the trail leads through Douglas fir, live oak, madrones, tanbark oak, and manzanita trees. On the Palisades, the trail leads through grassy hillsides, oak groves, and chaparral with amazing volcanic rock formations to explore. The Napa County Regional Park and Open Space District is expected to assume management of the park in 2016.