Rockville Hill (Solano County, California)

I have a couple of wine events in the Bay Area this weekend and thought it would be a good opportunity to do a little hiking in some new areas. As I will be staying the last couple of nights in Fairfield, I decided to start there and see what hikes the local area had to offer. Searching the web, I discovered Rockville Hill Regional Park and it looked like a good fit for my somewhat tight schedule.

Rising early Saturday morning, I arrived at the trail head, which is only a few minutes West of my hotel in Fairfield, just before 7:00 AM. Its beautifully lush here with a nice cool morning fog. All of the El Nino inspired precipitation that California has gotten so far this winter has reinvigorated the landscape, and it shows a rich green color in all directions.

I hit the trail with only a vague idea of where I'm going and a basic map of the park in my phone, but as it is near large urban areas, I'm not too worried about getting lost. The trails are well maintained and as I reach a small pond, I start trying to determine which of the branches of the trail to take. This park has a spider web network of interconnected trails and as I learn throughout my visit, they are not all marked very well. I head in a generally western direction and take a side trail up a steep hill. Above my head, I can here the sizzle of power lines . . . not very nature-like.

The twisted trees on these hilltops are really spectacular and while without their leaves, I can't really determine the species, a little research indicates that most of them are probably blue oaks.

Moving on, I again try to figure out the trail and head for what I believe is Fern Falls. The trail to the bottom of the falls is fairly rugged, but doable. Unfortunately, the falls is dry at present, though lush with ferns and other vegetation. It's getting close to my time to head back to the jeep and I continue to struggle to find my way on these confusingly marked trails, which differ quite a bit from the published map. On the way, I see a sign for Sunrise Cave and look up a steep hill to see a small hole in the rocks above. Time or not, I can't pass up a cave and so, I make my way up the steep rocky hillside to discover a pair of small openings, both of which are just large enough for a person to curl up inside of, but not much more to them than that.

Back on the trail, I make my way through a really cool little gulch that has bare rock with colorful trees growing out of it and a lush grassy hillside above. Really, really beautiful. I arrive back at the jeep in plenty of time to make grab a shower and make it to my event, but this was definitely a great way to start the morning with just shy of 4 miles covered.