Completed: April 30, 2023 | Elevation: 1,170′ | Trail: Coyote Peak Trail Loop | Distance: 4.7 miles (from parking lot), 3.0 miles (from campground)
Considering that yesterday we had spent the better part of 8 hours hiking 15 miles to bag all 3 peaks in Robert Louis Stevenson State Park (Mt. Saint Helena’s Peaks and Table Rock), we both woke up this morning feeling relatively unscathed and ready to hike our fourth and final peak of the weekend: Coyote Peak.
Since we were already camping in Bothe-Napa Valley State Park, we saved this hike for the morning, right before we needed to check-out. After a hearty breakfast of blueberry pancakes and sausages, we did a quick clean-up and packed up most of our things before walking to the trailhead near the walk-in campsites.
At the first junction we stayed left and headed down towards Ritchey Canyon Trail. It was a really lovely walk running parallel to Ritchey Creek, with redwood trees on both sides. It was a gradual incline, nothing too strenuous.
What should have been a short hike for us took a bit longer because we missed our turn off for South Fork Trail and ended up on a connector to Spring Trail that then got us onto South Fork Trail and back on track to Coyote Peak.
There was a short steep section to the summit, the trail winding its way through the trees, before abruptly ending. Unfortunately, the angle that might have afforded us good views of the valley was blocked by trees.
With nothing else to see up here, we turned around and hustled our way back to camp, continuing right at the junction to take Coyote Peak Trail down to Redwood Trail, before crossing the creek and meeting up with Ritchey Creek Trail again.
With this hike we finished a third of our Nifty Ninety list with still two-thirds of the year left. It seemed like we just might be on pace to tackle the full list before the end of year. Wohoo!
Follow our progress bagging the Bay Area’s Nifty Ninety here.
Coda
This was a really pleasant hike, most of it in the shade and alongside redwood trees down by the creek. For the most part it’s a gradual uphill and a gentle downhill. We managed to complete it in two hours, despite our unplanned detour. Next time I’d like to hike the Redwood Trail, which runs on the other side of the creek parallel to Ritchey Creek Trail.