View of the highway and the lake from the loop trail.
Stebbins Cold Canyon is a UC Davis Nature Reserve located near the outlet of Lake Berryessa; if you're coming from Davis and you get as far as the Monticello Dam at the Lake, you've gone too far. It's about a 30 minute drive. There is a small dirt parking lot on the right side of the road shortly after you pass Canyon Creek Resort. The trailhead is across the street (where there are a few additional parking spaces). The road is curvy and cars sometimes drive fast, so cross carefully.
Cold Canyon is a popular place to hike and explore because it has some amazing views and is an all-around nice place to get back to nature. It contains the closest hiking trails to Davis with any significant elevation. Dogs are not allowed on the reserve itself, but there are adjoining trails on BLM (Bureau of Land Management) land where dogs are allowed, on leash. See the Yolo hiker website linked above for details.
Frequent visitors to Cold Canyon may wish to consider donating to the nonprofit organization Tuleyome, which is seeking to buy land at the headwaters of the canyon that would permit the building of additional hiking trails.
See the website above for a listing of presentations and guided hikes in the reserve and along the loop trail. For more detailed information about this reserve, find the book by Correigh Greene and Mikaela Huntzinger, called The Natural History of Stebbins Cold Canyon Reserve.
Warning: Poison Oak is rampant in the canyon. It's avoidable if you know what you're looking for, but it's everywhere. And I mean everywhere.
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Read a story and see photos about the UC Davis Nature Outings in Stebbins Cold Canyon Reserve in Davis Life Magazine.
Legend
Mysterious Grate
If you follow the trail through the valley (there are trails that go into the hills) it eventually ends at the homestead. There are rumors of covered shafts that connect to a system of caves. Just before reaching the homestead, one will go through a clearing. On the left, the slope was landscaped decades ago. There are mysterious mounds with grates. These could be the shafts that lead to the caves.
Pictures
Scenery
Spring time bloom
Fungus
Birds paint the rocks along the ridgetops.
One building foundation remaining from the homestead
Trails
Eating lunch on the ridge
Walking the top of the ridge
The lower trail
Berryessa From the Ridge
More Information
Comments:
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I have hiked up into the region numerous times, but do not know anything much about the specific area. Though i was an undergraduate in Geology and a caver and I know the general region pretty well as i did my senior thesis nearby. Most of that area is known as the knoxville formations, a sandstone/siltsone formation. It is extremely brittle and fractured, as you witness right by the dam. Most of caves of California are found in limestone formations, which i do not believe are found in that area. I would guess that chance of caves is almost nil. —BrianSolecki
2007-04-05 22:24:22 Amazingly gorgeous canyon hike (although a little tricky to find the beginning of the trail at first). I took the Homestead Trail- which, in total, is about 2 miles round-trip. Some parts of the hike were a little steeper than I had expected, but not overly difficult by any means. I definitely plan on coming out again for another hike. —StacieTownsend
2007-09-06 23:04:46 This place has ticks (duh)! Watch out because they fall from above... I found a big one in my friend's hair. —DanielWorthington
The tick certainly could have fallen from above, but they're also well known to walk up a body until they find a nice spot to rest after they've landed on someone that's brushed against a branch or something. —WesHardaker
2008-11-30 16:20:35 I found some little scorpions under an old railroad tie just off of the Homestead trail once, so hikers be advised! There are definitely abundant ticks, but I've heard that they don't carry Lyme disease...something to do with feeding on the Fence Swifts (those blue-bellied lizards) and the lizard blood killing the Lyme's in the ticks themselves? Can anybody confirm or deny that? Once, late in the spring, I saw a trout trapped in a pool way, way up the canyon. It was weeks after the creek had started to break up and ceased to flow. The trout was still jumping for flies. Amazing. Cold Canyon is one of the prettiest and most underrated/hidden nature spots in the area. Bring a camera. —K.C.STAUBACH
2009-08-21 01:24:20 Stebbins is awesome, but if you're planning on doing the Loop Trail make sure you're prepared. When they say strenuous they really mean it. I would also advise against doing it backwards. Start at the trailhead with the sign that says UC Davis on it. If you start at the other end you have to climb about a 900 foot elevation gain in the first hour, whereas if you go the other way the elevation gain is a lot more gradual. —jsogul
