This was my second day on a short tour of some Bay-Area county highpoints. Yesterday I had made the long drive north from my brother's place in Southern California, and had managed to visit Carpenter Hill, the measly Sacramento county highpoint. I spent the evening with family friends in nearby Davis.

Today's plan was to visit Mount Vaca ("Mount Cow") in Solano County, and later, Cobb Mountain in Sonoma County. The day started nicely, and from Davis I worked my way toward Fairfield with some patches of fog. From here I took a mix of local roads toward Mix Canyon Road, a total of seven miles from the freeway. This area is rural and very pretty.

Mix Canyon Road winds steadily up toward the spine of the range, which are covered in communications towers. Hence, the road itself is in excellent shape, paved nearly all the way to the top. At first it meanders through some homesteads, but after a certain point, there are no more homes, and the road narrows and steepens for the last push toward the top. Down low the flora consists of large trees including grand oaks, but higher up it's more the usual coastal-California woody chapparal, but the views were very lovely. The pavement ended near a large Y-junction just below the main ridge, and I parked in a clearing off the road.

The hike to Mt. Vaca's top takes the left fork of the Y-junction, which is usually gated to vehicles although the gate was open when I showed up. I did pass a worker in the area, but I didn't want to chance having the gate shut behind me if I drove in. So I walked it. The "trail" is just a service road to the top, just under a mile one-way with about 250 feet of gain. Numerous facilites line the road. The summit, as it is, is gained following a spur road past a shut gate toward a fairly big tower. As I made this final short hike, the clouds and fog really began to come in and unfortunately I had no views at the top, just steely gray from the fog. The true summit has long since been bulldozed and carted off. The current highest point appears to be a mound of dirt between the two facilities on the top, just outside the fencing. I basically stepped here and there and returned to my truck, a round trip time about 45 minutes.

The rest of the day was spent attacking the Sonoma County highpoint, Cobb Mountain, with access from Lake County, about 80 miles of driving from Mt. Vaca. I made the summit of Cobb Mountain just fine amid fog and stiff winds, but finding the highpoint of Sonoma County, which is just a bump on a ridge emanating west from the summit, was difficult in the thick fog. I made 3 tries but each time got confounded and had to turn back. With daylight dwindling and the weather deteriorating, I accepted defeat and hiked back to my truck (I succeeded in May, 2003).