Robert Louis Stevenson spent his honeymoon in 1880 in an abandoned bunkhouse on the slopes of Mount St. Helena, and the state park named for him covers much of the mountain above Calistoga. The summit trail climbs about 600 metres over 10 kilometres, with panoramic views on clear days stretching to the Sierra Nevada and the Pacific. The hike is strenuous and largely exposed; start early to avoid the midday heat.
A stone monument marks the approximate site of the old bunkhouse where Stevenson lived while writing parts of what became The Silverado Squatters, his account of life in the California mining country. The park is undeveloped — no visitor centre, no facilities — which keeps the crowds thin and the atmosphere genuinely wild.