Hightailed it out of SF after work on Wednesday night before the holiday and landed in Calistoga around 8:30pm.  Stayed at a cool little Inn and went out to eat and drink wine.  Drank a bunch of it, got up, had an awesome breakfast at the Inn and headed for the trailhead about 15 minutes outside of town.  Staying in Calistoga highly recommended, good food and drink, great live music.  Locals were setting up chairs for the 4th of July parade in the morning.

I hit the trail not that early, nice and shady for the switchbacks but then very much in the sun once you hit the fire road (2/3 of trail).  Great views, the valley looks so cool from up there.  There were some other people out on the trail but I was alone on the summit.

I went to the petrified forest in Calistoga later in the day, pretty cool because there is a great view of Mt. Saint Helena in the distance with a placard.  Hey!  I was just up there!