Six of the nine vehicles that service the 2.2 miles of paved road at Napa Bothe State Park.Governor Arne is having a tantrum. A really, really big tantrum. Angry that the voters rejected his budget proposals soundly, he has started to make cuts to California's spending. The result is barbaric. I've already commented on how this will affect California's (somewhat decent) mental health system. One of the other items to be cut is the closure of, at the least, 48 State Parks and 16 State Beaches.
Today I decided to visit one of those State Parks that are to be shut down. I am well familiar with Napa Bothe State Park, as for years I visited this one often--sometimes daily. Some Fifty pounds ago, I used to love to run the trails. Today I walked my favorite one.
On my way to the trailhead, I counted nine nearly new, state park vehicles. This for a park that has exactly 2.2 miles of paved road. This also accounts for why I have never seen a Ranger on a hiking trail there (despite my probable hundreds of visits). Liquidate the trucks, buy the Rangers some boots--and I think we could save this State Park from the guillotine.
The trail is lovely. Shaded, it meanders up Ritchey Creek which runs water in all four seasons. This is one of the few public places in the Napa Valley where you can walk a path and actually see Redwoods. Not ancient Redwoods (they were mostly cut, or didn't mature to ancientness). These Redwoods do remain majestic enough and there is nothing more magical than sitting in a fairy circle of Redwoods. Try it sometime.
Napa Bothe State Park is the best, most inexpensive way, to lodge in the Napa Valley. Located halfway between St. Helena and Calistoga--it is nearly walkable to both towns. I've stayed there. Clean hot showers and decent camp sites for fifteen dollars.
I had a wonderful hour and a half hike up Ritchey creek. I had the place to myself.
Should this Park be closed may I propose something? These are our parks. You cannot close them; they belong to us. Visit them anyway. Hike into the park and enjoy the trails, even if the park closes. Hike in with tents and stay at the campsites. You can't squat in what is already yours!
You cannot close a People's Park! A better course of action would be to greatly reduce the hardware that these parks require. No State Park requires 9 vehicles. Return the Park's to their primitive state if need be (all in all, that would be an improvement anyway)...but for heaven's sake: Don't Close Them!
Today I decided to visit one of those State Parks that are to be shut down. I am well familiar with Napa Bothe State Park, as for years I visited this one often--sometimes daily. Some Fifty pounds ago, I used to love to run the trails. Today I walked my favorite one.
On my way to the trailhead, I counted nine nearly new, state park vehicles. This for a park that has exactly 2.2 miles of paved road. This also accounts for why I have never seen a Ranger on a hiking trail there (despite my probable hundreds of visits). Liquidate the trucks, buy the Rangers some boots--and I think we could save this State Park from the guillotine.
The trail is lovely. Shaded, it meanders up Ritchey Creek which runs water in all four seasons. This is one of the few public places in the Napa Valley where you can walk a path and actually see Redwoods. Not ancient Redwoods (they were mostly cut, or didn't mature to ancientness). These Redwoods do remain majestic enough and there is nothing more magical than sitting in a fairy circle of Redwoods. Try it sometime.
Napa Bothe State Park is the best, most inexpensive way, to lodge in the Napa Valley. Located halfway between St. Helena and Calistoga--it is nearly walkable to both towns. I've stayed there. Clean hot showers and decent camp sites for fifteen dollars.
I had a wonderful hour and a half hike up Ritchey creek. I had the place to myself.
Should this Park be closed may I propose something? These are our parks. You cannot close them; they belong to us. Visit them anyway. Hike into the park and enjoy the trails, even if the park closes. Hike in with tents and stay at the campsites. You can't squat in what is already yours!
You cannot close a People's Park! A better course of action would be to greatly reduce the hardware that these parks require. No State Park requires 9 vehicles. Return the Park's to their primitive state if need be (all in all, that would be an improvement anyway)...but for heaven's sake: Don't Close Them!
2 comments:
I've read about this and wondered exactly what closing a park would entail other than no longer providing services--building a big fence around it? still paying people but now to make sure no one enters?
I think it was done or discussed here a couple years back too, but not to CA's extent.
How about putting together a local non-profit to maintain the park?
My ride today was an errand run to town. I'm a bit tired -- maybe I need to take a short ride a few days a week. So I decided to not ride in town, which gave me the instructive juxtaposition of riding 4 miles, then driving our van in town to do errands, and then riding 4 miles back. I like the riding better. I would have done my errands in town in the same time, but with less getting in and out and locking and such, plus it would have been cooler.
On bike:
8.38 miles
52:14
9.63 mph average
27.69 mph max
In the hardware store, I bought the fittings to re-plumb our solar shower. I sort of half remembered that I'd have to haul it across the island on my bike. Took a bit of doing to get the 10-foot piece of 3/4 inch PVC on the bike, but I did it -- see photos on my blog.
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