Bothe-Napa Valley State Park Reopens Ritchey Creek Redwood Trail and Clear-Span Footbridge Near Calistoga

Trail engineering crews with California State Parks Bay Area District and stewards from the Napa Valley State Parks Association reopened the full 4.2-mile Ritchey Creek and Redwood Trail loop at Bothe-Napa Valley State Park at 3801 St. Helena Highway (Highway 29) between St. Helena and Calistoga on Friday afternoon, christening a new seventy-five-foot clear-span pedestrian footbridge across Ritchey Creek. Reached at the peak of the canyon's late-October autumn foliage display—when golden bigleaf maples and crimson Douglas iris beds contrast against towering second-growth coastal redwoods—the bridge replaces a low-water seasonal timber crossing that washed out during heavy winter storms two years ago.

By spanning the entire creek channel from high bank to high bank on weathered Corten steel girders and sustainably harvested heartwood redwood decking without mid-stream support piers, the new bridge leaves the underlying gravel streambed completely unobstructed for native rainbow trout and Pacific giant salamanders. Riggers used a high-line skyline cable winch to lower the bridge stringers into place without driving heavy excavators into the sensitive fern understory.

Along the 1.6-mile approach trail from the day-use picnic grove and historic Pioneer Cemetery, California Conservation Corps crews also rebuilt fourteen stone water bars, cleared encroaching French broom, and resurfaced the lower half-mile creekside path to meet accessible trail grade guidelines. Four carved redwood benches and bilingual botanical plaques identifying tanoak, California bay laurel, and redwood sorrel were installed at canyon overlooks.

The $340,000 bridge and trail restoration was financed through a California State Parks Deferred Maintenance allocation paired with $85,000 raised by the Napa Valley State Parks Association during its annual Bale Grist Mill harvest dinner. Hikers and campers can check fall foliage trail conditions, yurts and campground availability, and Saturday water-wheel milling demonstrations at the adjacent Bale Grist Mill on the Napa Valley State Parks Association Portal.