One of the highlights about the northern California wine country that you never seem to hear of for some reason on the many wine country tours coming out of San Francisco tour companies is the fact that there is a faithful geyser there in addition to the myriad of wineries.
When one hears the reference of “Old Faithful” the first thing that comes to mind is the natural geyser in Wyoming, Yellowstone. But just because that’s the dominant image in people’s minds doesn’t make it exclusive. In-fact, there are three geysers on earth which spout off with routine: Yellowstone, New Zealand, and Napa Valley.
The lesser known of the two geysers in the United States resides in the town of Calistoga at the north end of Napa Valley which is about an hour’s drive north from San Francisco’s Golden Gate Bridge through the wine country of Sonoma County and Napa County. The Calistoga geyser erupts roughly every thirty minutes, shooting water and steam into the air upward of one hundred feet. What’s possibly more impressive than the height is that the shows will last five minutes on average and the show is never the same; between the height, volume, duration, sounds, and modulations of the eruption, you’ll get a different show every time. The next time you sign up with one of the San Francisco tour companies’ Napa Valley wine tours, ask if they will be stopping at the Calistoga geyser in order to offset your wine tour with something special.
