March 2017
In early September, we continued our foray into the vast open space areas available in Solano County. This time it was Lynch Canyon Open Preserve in Solano County, just off Highway 80 between Vallejo and Fairfield, which has 1,039 acres of rolling grasslands and plenty of wildlife.
Popular with hikers, horseback riders, and cyclists, there are trails for everyone. The easiest trail (and the best for kids) merely skirts the preserve, but it’s a lovely one nonetheless.
There is a plethora of birds and mammals to see, and with the short grass a few trees, you have a good chance of actually seeing some. While I’m always lured by the prospect of seeing a jackrabbit, coyote, fox, or bobcat, alas, we didn’t see any mammals beyond the numerous ground squirrels that make easy meals for the hunters in this area.
Lynch Canyon is a cattle grazing ranch, and has been for thousands of years. Solano Land Trust now owns the land and continues to allow controlled grazing as a resource-management tool. The area was, like many other open spaces in Solano County, inhabited by the Patwin Suisunes.
Our Trail
From the parking lot, where you pay a day use fee of $6, we had lunch under the single shaded picnic table. This is a good place to get your bearings. Note that there are no restrooms on this trail and the Porta Potties are a big nasty no, so keep that in mind– there is one small outhouse style bathroom in the parking lot.
Go through the cattle gate and straight on Lynch Road. It curves around and then you’ll go right at the signs (following Lynch Road). You’ll pass a stand of what looks like cattle gate construction and go through another cattle gate.
Straight ahead is a copse that used to be an old walnut orchard. It is now home to owls–there are two owl boxes in the trees, but they clearly sit all through the branches and vomit pellets up and then drop them on the path below. Look in the leaves on the sides of the path for pellets; the best place to find them is directly under branches.
There are plenty of feathers to be found in the leaves, too. We found a lot of owl feathers. We think this could be a barn owl feather.
After the trees you come to a wide field with a single lovely lone tree in it.
This field is an excellent butterfly viewing place — and during our visit, the field was aflutter with pipevine swallowtails and monarchs. It was very exciting.
Just beyond the tree is Lynch Reservoir, which is a perfect place to turn around. This is a great trail length.
Animals
Alas, we really didn’t see a lot of raptors. We saw a red tail hawk, and we saw what we think is a golden eagle in flight, as its size was massive– much larger, we thought, than a red tail hawk. However, the pictures are so dark from underneath that it is very hard to tell, and comparisons with golden eagles in flight look just similar enough to other raptors that we aren’t sure.
Let’s go ahead and say it’s a golden eagle.
We saw:
- Western fence lizard
- Western bluebird
- Quail
- Red tail hawk
- Ducks
- Golden eagle
- Pipevine swallowtail butterfly
- Monarch butterfly
- Common Buckeye butterfly
- Cabbage White butterfly
Bottom line: Lynch Canyon is a terrific walking spot and very kid-friendly. Note that there are no dogs allowed on the trails.
More Information
- Solano Land Trust site (Check it for park closures)
- Lynch Canyon park map (PDF)
How to Get There
- From Highway 80 north between Vallejo and Fairfield, take the Hiddenbrooke exit. Follow signs for Lynch Cayon and turn into the road. You’ll go up a dirty road to the main parking lot.
