Petrified Forest, Calistoga

This is a must see place with the biggest petrified trees in the world. The 20 minute easy hikes takes you up into the forest and across ancient ash flows that look like concrete. Throughout the hike are many different petrified trees. For more intrepid folks, there is another 20 minute loop to the meadow. This is a private family owned park with an affordable admittance fee. They committed to supporting & sharing this natural wonder. There are nice clean restrooms, picnic tables, and a gift shop with cold drinks. There were naturalists available that could answer our questions. They were very knowledgeable! After our hike we enjoyed a cold soda under the shade of a 600+ year old Oak tree. An extra bonus: we were able to bring our leashed dog. Wear sturdy shoes - the trail is good and wide, but has lots of stones. I regretted wearing sandals. It was 95° the day we were there. There is plenty of shade on the trail and several well placed benches if you need a rest.

Absolutely loved coming here, wasn't expecting much, but it delivered much more than I imagined. The hike was very leasurely and enjoyable. The self guided tour was awesome and we saw a lot of very interesting things. Would highly recommend this for any local or visiter as well. Lots of very cool geology to enjoy.