The small beautiful town of Hopland is situated about two
hours (1 hour 45 minutes on a good day) north of San Francisco along the 101
Freeway. Hopland is about 40 to 45 minutes north of Santa Rosa in Mendocino
County. The 101 is a freeway the entire way from San Francisco until several
miles south of Hopland where it turns into a 2 lane road. The freeway ends
a few miles south of Hopland and becomes a two lane road through Hopland and
several miles to the north of Hopland. Picture the 101 in downtown LA, and
then picture the 101 through Hopland. The same road. Yes!!! Always a joke of
ours when we are here and are ready to drive somewhere, "better check to see
how busy the huge 101 is before leaving"!
The section between Squaw Rock to a few miles south of Hopland used to be
a very dangerous drive. Several times I saw accidents happen on this
stretch of roadway. However, now its a very nice 4-lane freeway - which has
really improved this section of roadway. There is also a nice rock shop right on the eastern side
of the road just south of Hopland. It is called the Pieta Creek River Bend
Rock Shop. They have many different specimens of
rocks on old wooden display cases outside of the store, as well as many nice
pieces inside.
<-- Going to Hopland? Use our flight, hotel, car finder.
Hopland makes a great day trip from Santa Rosa, or even a long day trip from
San Francisco. Its far enough away to be out of the influence of the Bay
Area. It is located among the California Coastal foothills, among gentle oak
covered rolling hills. Hopland is a rustic community located in a farming
area.
Although there are many wineries, however, this area does not have the
recognition that Napa and Sonoma County do. It is about 16 airline miles
from California's largest natural lake, Clear Lake. You can drive to Clear
Lake from Hopland in about a half hour on the extremely windy Highway 175.
The weather can vary dramatically between seasons in this part of the state.
There can be buckets of rain falling from the sky in the winter, while in
the summer temperatures are often over 100 degrees F.
The main sites and attractions we
recommend seeing while you
are in the Hopland Area are the Center of Town (lots of little wine
tasting venues), Real Good's Solar Living
Center, the Sho-Ka-Wah Casino, and Fetzer Vineyard.
This photo
above was taken near the
summit of Hopland road,
Highway 175 in mid march in the middle of a rare snowstorm!
