Completed: August 12, 2023 | Elevation: 2,819′ | Trail: n/a | Distance: n/a
Mount Vaca, a 1.5 hour drive northeast of San Francisco, is located near the city of Vacaville. It’s the highest point in Solano County and like Mount Diablo in Contra Costa County, the top can be reached via car, or a very long hike.
Once we exited Highway 80, the remainder of the drive to Mount Vaca became more interesting. As we left Vacaville farther behind us, Pleasant Valley Road, which paralleled the foothills, led us toward more rural lands. We turned onto Mix Canyon Road, a narrow, winding dirt road that went up the eastern flank of the mountain.
We reached a Y-junction and saw an open gate on the left. I had come across a few blogs that suggested this was the trailhead but it looked like it was possible to continue driving beyond the gate, so we did. We drove past several towers until we reached the top and pulled up alongside a large tower with a 20 emblazoned on it. The place was a bit of a dump with graffiti and garbage strewn about, however, if you look past that there are amazing views.
It was over 90 degrees outside so we didn’t linger. On the way down, we came across a woman hiking up the road. Not sure how she was managing it!
When we reached Pleasant Valley Road, we turned left to continue our drive north towards Clear Lake. We were headed for Mendocino National Forest to a dispersed camping area where we would be spending one night.
Follow our progress bagging the Bay Area’s Nifty Ninety here.