Oat Hill Mine Trail

Great hike

Came here after Bale Grist was closed (unannounced mind you) and glad we did! This was the most crucial part to the wife’s bday weekend getaway. Go to Napa for wineries? Hek no. Enjoy the beauty of the place from outdoors.
First of all, if you’re coming from the south take the Silverado Trail instead of 128. Much less traffic and many more views of perfectly landscaped vineyards. It’s like an appetizer to the scenic vistas from the trail.
Plenty of parking on the road and a decent amount of space to walk without getting side swiped by a car OR bike going 50mph.
We took the express trail to the top which was fun. I think that was our favorite feature. If all you want is a short hike with a beautiful view it’s possible here. When you reach the fork in the trail just go up!
On the way back we explored a bit more. Heard some bird sounds this yuppie hadn’t heard before and saw some huge vulture looking birds further into the park. Really cool seeing those things soar around.
Lots of places to picnic throughout the hike although there were a fair number of ant farms. Dogs are welcome and get this: you don’t even have to pick up the poop! The signage at the front tells you to just leave it. Finally! A place of nature that really welcomes acts of nature.
There were no instructions for human waste though. You’ll have to figure that one out on your own. ;-)

Fairly easy trail my wife and I almost finished it. Try going early in the morning (7:00am) I felt it was easier than going in the evening (4:00pm) trees throughout the trail give you shade but there is some open spots where you’ll be hit by the sun.

This is a great trail with beautiful views. I highly recommend a hike here. We did about 4 miles up and then back and it wasn’t anything too exhausting. It is all pretty much up hill at a steady and constant incline. But definitely worth it.

Gorgeous hike that we did while at Indian Springs. Recommended.

Review for Oat Hill Mine Trail right off Lincoln Ave in Calistoga. I think it connects to a much longer trail as part of the Robert Louis Stevenson Park but this is just a review of Oat Hill Mine Trail. After eating and drinking so much in this area it was great to take a hike. easy– moderate. I walked about 2 miles in each direction. The first mile had really great views of the vineyards below. Some parking available, no mile markers but the trail was in good shape. This may provide additional resources for people interested in this trail–

Oat hill mine is definitely a destination hike. I have been up and down this trail more times than I can remember, and it really doesn’t get old to me. As you ascent up the hill it seems as if you are stepping into different states. During this hike you will see some really neat things, such as grooves in the rocks from wagon wheels, large bluffs like I have only seen in Nebraska, old apple trees with delicious fruit, a old homesite (great place to stop for lunch) a large rock formation that some call a cave and cascading water runoff if it has recently rained. Definitely a great hike /​ride.

One of the best, if not the best hiking trails around Calistoga. It feels so accomplishing when you finally get to the top.

nice trail. a bit rocky.
enough other hikers that it’s not spookily lonely and not too crowded. nicely shaded too

Oat Hill Mine Road is the perfect place to bring your full suspension mountain bike. This trail will work you on climbs and exhilarate you on the descend! On top of that, the scenery is breath taking while overlooking the many vineyards in the valley.
The climbs starts off with hard pack single and double track then before you know it, the trail becomes very uneven and rocky which makes the climb very challenging. Our group climbed about 5 – 6 miles then turned around and headed back down the same way. There was at least another 3.9 miles to reach the summit if we wanted to get more climbing in.
The descend was very technical and I had a blast on my All Mountain bike. I would strongly recommend that you be at least an intermediate level rider, a strong climber, and have a decent full suspension mountain bike or else it will be a long day of torment on your body.
Be cautious and courteous of hikers when making your descend. You can catch a lot of speed here so you wouldn’t want to hurt anyone.

I’ve been going up this trail both hiking and biking since I was a kid. Back in elementary school we did a hike up here while getting ready for our trip to Yosemite. After that I brought my mountain mike up here more times than I can remember.
This trail would be awesome for hauling ass downhill if it wasn’t for all the people going up hill, especially hikers. You have to go fairly slow so you can stop in time to avoid other people on the trail. You have that with every trail though so no real knock on this one, just dreaming of what it would be like to have it closed off to all uphill traffic for a bit and be able to really open it up going down.
Several very steep shortcuts that you can take on the downhill journey but you do so at your own risk and some are quite steep and you can easily fly right over your handlebars. Remember to keep on the back brake and lean back a little and that should keep you vertical but not going over.
Overall this is the best place to ride in the area if you want to get off the high-​traffic roads for a bit.

Oat Hill Mine Road is a mountain bike trail that starts right at the intersection of Highway 29 and Silverado Trail, just outside Calistoga’s retail strip. The trail is an old wagon trail that was once used to bring supplies up to miners. The ride is about 3 hours long (up and back), climbing about 2000 feet in elevation over some very rocky terrain. Very «technical» as MTB folks like to say (ad nauseum).
I sort of went on a whim while staying at the Solage hotel a couple hundred feet away, and it turned out to be a blast. Almost no one else was there, and I could cool my heels back in the pool once I was done. Enjoy!