For its first six years as a public park, Suscol Headwaters was the place you reached only after hiking all the way through another park. Since Oct. 24, 2026, it has had its own southern entrance, an unpaved lot at 1700 North Kelly Road near Jameson Canyon. The Napa County Regional Park and Open Space District dedicated about five miles of Bay Area Ridge Trail leading into the park's southern section two days before the lot opened.
The new lot changes the shape of the outing. The 709-acre ridge park used to sit at the end of a long climb from Imola Avenue. Now you can start from the south, the views begin within the first stretch of trail, and you can walk the whole ridge one way between two trailheads. The constraint for a November visit is the clock at the far end.
Six years of arriving from the north
The land was once Kirkland Ranch. When the District began assembling the park in 2015, the Napa Valley Register identified Suscol Mountain Vineyards as the seller. It described the property as lying beyond Jamieson Ranch Vineyard and the Napa water-treatment plant, near Jameson Canyon and Highway 12. It also reported that the land could eventually link Skyline Park to Jameson Canyon.
It took more than a decade for that link to open on the ground. The District bought the first 411 acres in 2015 for $900,000 and the remaining 298 acres in 2017 for $2.6 million. The Register's coverage of the new lot explains why the second purchase cost so much more: parts of that land had vineyard approvals. Part of the money came from Caltrans, which had to make up for red-legged frog habitat lost when Highway 12 was widened to four lanes through Jameson Canyon between Napa and Cordelia.
The park opened in 2020, but only through Skyline Wilderness Park. In 2020 the Register described a hike of roughly four miles each way from Skyline to the lookout. Visitors from the south end of the county had to drive north to Imola Avenue first, then hike back south.
Two entrances, side by side
The District has set the two entrances up with the same trail rules and the same day-use fee. The real differences are hours and facilities.
| North Kelly Road lot | Via Skyline Wilderness Park | |
|---|---|---|
| Address | 1700 North Kelly Rd., Napa | Skyline's main entrance on Imola Ave. |
| Hours | Sunrise to sunset | 7 a.m. to 5 p.m. fall and winter; 7 a.m. to 7 p.m. spring and summer |
| Vehicle fee | $6 per car | $6 per car |
| Walk-in or bike-in | Not listed | $3 at the main and River to Ridge entrances |
| Annual pass | Skyline annual passes accepted; display on dashboard | Skyline annual pass |
| Restroom | Portable restroom | Restrooms |
| Drinking water | None | Potable water |
| Parking | About 24 cars, including two ADA spaces, plus room for up to four horse trailers | Skyline's main lot |
| How you enter Suscol | Access trail climbs the ridge from a short service-road walk | Through a gate in the Napa Solano Ridge Trail at the top of Skyline |
Some rules are the same no matter where you start. Dogs are not allowed on trails. Hunting and shooting are prohibited. Visitors are asked to stay on official trails and inside the District boundary signs, since the park borders private land.
The location of the North Kelly lot matters. Barry Christian, who sits on the District's board of directors, told the Napa Valley Register that the lot is 3.4 miles from American Canyon City Hall and 7.3 miles from Napa City Hall, so "it will serve the two most populous cities in Napa County." County Supervisor Belia Ramos, speaking at the same rainy Oct. 22 ceremony, told the paper the lot is "eight minutes from my house."
The view comes early from the south
From Skyline, the views come after a long approach. From North Kelly Road, they come almost right away. The District's park page says the access trail starts with a short walk up a service road and then climbs a ridge that "will immediately get you views out over southern Napa County." According to the Register, you can see the Napa-Sonoma wetlands and San Pablo Bay before you get very far up the access trail.
That makes a short out-and-back from North Kelly worthwhile even if you never reach the main park. If you do keep going, the District puts the access trail at about 3.5 miles before it enters the main part of Suscol Headwaters. The park's high point sits at about 1,500 feet. The Register says you can see the Bay Area in one direction and parts of the Central Valley in the other from up there. The District describes the park's promontories as covering everything from Mount St. Helena in the north to San Francisco in the south.
Much of the trail network inside the park was built recently. Suscol Ridge is the main trail through the park. The District's updated map, revised Oct. 24, also shows Chance the Cowboy, Zane, Buckaroo, Perdida, Little Bend, Big Bend and Lookout. A June 2026 District report counted 6.9 miles of new natural-surface, multi-use trail, including Buckaroo, Little Bend, Big Bend and much of Suscol Ridge. They were paid for with a $1.2 million grant from the California Department of Parks and Recreation. When the District announced that grant in 2022, it named Proposition 68 as the source and said the money would cover multi-use trails and a more accessible parking lot. The new trails and the North Kelly lot are the result. Every trail is open to hikers, mountain bikers and equestrians.
The 11-mile traverse and the 5 p.m. deadline
The longest outing the new entrance makes possible is a one-way traverse of the ridge. "This trail extends 11 miles to Skyline Wilderness Park," Kirsten Tobey, executive director of the Bay Area Ridge Trail, said at the dedication, as reported by the Register. With two cars, you can walk or ride the ridge from end to end without doubling back.
In November, the hours in the table above decide how that day goes. The North Kelly lot follows the sun. Skyline keeps fall and winter hours of 7 a.m. to 5 p.m. If you're planning a traverse between now and spring:
- Leave a car at Skyline first. Its 7 a.m. opening is the earliest you can stage the shuttle, and its 5 p.m. closing is the deadline at that end.
- Start at North Kelly Road and end at Skyline. You'll be finishing where the potable water and restrooms are.
- Carry all your water from the start. The North Kelly lot has a portable restroom and no drinking water, and the District calls the Skyline route a lengthy round trip that requires water and a map.
- Pay once per car. The $6 fee applies at each lot, and a Skyline annual pass covers both.
- Print the Oct. 24 map. The District's Suscol Headwaters page links the updated trail map, and Skyline's own map shows the gate into Suscol in its bottom right corner.
The District also keeps a park and trail status page. On Oct. 30 it said that every park not listed there was open for normal use, and Suscol Headwaters was not listed.
Where the ridge goes from here
The North Kelly opening extends the Ridge Trail south, but the Napa–Solano line is still unfinished. The Bay Area Ridge Trail Council's 2026 Napa–Solano Border Route Study lists a connection from Skyline to Lynch Canyon Open Space as a remaining gap. It recommends trail adjustments at Newell Open Space in American Canyon and names the Napa Valley Vine Trail as an interim link connecting Skyline, Suscol Headwaters and Newell. Those are planning recommendations, and the trail along the ridge ends at North Kelly Road for now.
The park will also change with the seasons. The District says its open grasslands give way to oak and bay laurel woodland. In spring the hillsides fill with common fiddleneck, sky lupine, purple owl's clover and California poppy. Suscol Creek supports a steelhead population listed as threatened. Walking the North Kelly access trail in winter gives you something to compare against when the same slopes bloom in spring.
We'd love to hear how your first walk up from North Kelly Road went. When you're ready to talk about the views at home, the Kathleen Leonard Team is here. Request a private Wine Country consultation.
