Small rough park on the western edge of Napa

Coppertone and I decided to hike today instead of tomorrow because Jan. 1 is for college football.  Last week we hiked at nearby Alston Park and this was our backup at that time.  When arriving at the parking area we were a bit surprised to find the parking lot full and lines of cars parked along Browns Valley Road on both sides of the road.  The park just isn't that big, but it seems to have drawn quite a crowd on this day.

According to signs posted near the entrances, a mountain lion has been spotted in the park.  Despite Coppertone wanting to catch a glimpse of a "kitty", we spied only birds and the dogs accompanying visitors.

We hiked up the main path to the summit and then picked off the park's perimeter along its property lines.  There remain a number of additional trails within that circle to be mapped and explored.

This park turned out to be much rougher than expected, particularly the trails other than the main thoroughfare that leads the majority of people to the park summit.  The main trail is a difficulty level of 3, which is what I rated this hike.  A few segments here could earn a difficulty rating of 4 due to steepness.

We were a bit surprised to find a small burn area not far from the trailhead in the Eucalyptus grove behind the house close to the trailhead.  Though it may have occured around the same time as the devastating North Bay fires in October, it doesn't really look like it was part of the larger named fires around the area.