{{Short description|Mountain in California, United States}} {{About|the mountain in California|the volcano in the state of Washington|Mount St. Helens}} {{Use American English|date=February 2026}} {{Use mdy dates|date=January 2025}} {{Infobox mountain | name = Mount Saint Helena | image = File:Mount Saint Helena, viewed from Napa Valley.JPG | image_caption = Mount Saint Helena, viewed from northern Napa Valley | elevation_ft = 4342 | elevation_ref = {{NAVD88}}<ref name="ngs">{{cite ngs |id=JT2703 |name=Mount Helena |access-date=2009-08-14}}</ref> | prominence_ft = 1823 | prominence_ref = <ref name="pb">{{cite peakbagger |pid=1182 |name=Mount Saint Helena, California |access-date=2009-08-14}}</ref> | listing = California county high points 44th | location = Sonoma County, California, U.S. | range = Mayacamas Mountains | map = USA California Northern | label_position = right | map_size = 220 | coordinates = {{coord|38.669340858|-122.633487528|region:US-CA_source:NGS|format=dms|display=inline,title}} | coordinates_ref = <ref name="ngs"/> | topo = USGS Mount Saint Helena | type = | age = | first_ascent = | easiest_route = Hiking trail<ref name="greenbelt"/> }} '''Mount Saint Helena''' (Wappo: '''Kanamota''', "Human Mountain")<ref>{{Cite web | title = Wappo Language | work = Wappo Indians of Napa County | access-date = 2012-08-15 | url = http://score.rims.k12.ca.us/activity/wappo/pages/language.html | archive-url = https://web.archive.org/web/20120208151926/http://score.rims.k12.ca.us/activity/wappo/pages/language.html | archive-date = 2012-02-08 | url-status = dead }}</ref> is a peak in the Mayacamas Mountains with flanks in Napa, Sonoma, and Lake counties of California. Composed of uplifted volcanic rocks from the Clear Lake Volcanic Field, it is one of the few mountains in the San Francisco Bay Area to receive any snowfall during the winter.
The mountain has five peaks, arranged in a rough "M" shape. Its highest point, North Peak, is in Sonoma County. The second-tallest, immediately east of the main summit, is the highest point in Napa County.<ref name="pb2">{{cite peakbagger |pid=1183 |name=Mount Saint Helena-East Peak, California |access-date=2009-12-24}}</ref> The headwaters of the Napa River arise on the southeast slope of Mount Saint Helena.<ref name="gnis">{{cite gnis |id=255110 |name=Napa River |access-date=2009-08-14}}</ref><ref>{{cite news |url=http://napavalleyregister.com/news/local/article_9b4beba8-3a28-11df-83ca-001cc4c002e0.html |title=A search for Napa River's start runs through the heart of the valley |author= Kevin Courtney |publisher=Napa Valley Publishing |date=March 28, 2010 |work=Napa Valley Register }}</ref>
==History== left|210px|thumb|Replicas of a plaque left by Russians on Mount Saint Helena
Mount Saint Helena has had an explosive history of pyroclastic flows that resulted in California's Petrified Forest.
Mount Saint Helena, originally named Kanamota ("Human Mountain") by the Wappo, and later Mount Mayacamas by Spanish colonists, was renamed by a Russian survey party who ascended the peak in 1841. They left a copper plate on the summit inscribed with the date of their visit and the name of Princess Helena de Gagarin, wife of Alexander G. Rotchev, the commanding officer of Fort Ross.<ref>{{cite book |last1=Robert |first1=Thompson |title=Historical and descriptive sketch of Sonoma County, California |date=1877 |publisher=L.H. Everts & Co |pages=12 |url=https://archive.org/details/historicaldescri00thom |access-date=14 April 2026}}</ref><ref>{{cite web | url = http://www.calarchives4u.com/history/humboldt/hum1915-ch11.txt | archive-url = https://web.archive.org/web/20110110061230/http://www.calarchives4u.com/history/humboldt/hum1915-ch11.txt | url-status = usurped | archive-date = January 10, 2011 | title = Humboldt County, CA History | publisher = California Genealogy and History Archives | access-date = 2009-08-14 }}</ref><ref>{{cite web | url = http://www.calarchives4u.com/history/history-napa.htm | title = Napa County History | publisher = California Genealogy and History Archives | access-date = 2009-08-14 | url-status = usurped | archiveurl = https://web.archive.org/web/20090327123036/http://www.calarchives4u.com/history/history-napa.htm | archivedate = 2009-03-27 }}</ref>
The peak is accessible by hiking trails leading from Robert Louis Stevenson State Park.<ref name="greenbelt"/> The trails are approximately {{convert|6|mi|km}} long.
Scottish writer Robert Louis Stevenson and his wife Fanny Vandegrift Osbourne spent the summer of 1880 honeymooning in an abandoned mining camp on Mount Saint Helena. Stevenson's book ''The Silverado Squatters'' describes his experiences while living there.<ref name="greenbelt">{{cite web | url = http://www.greenbelt.org/getinvolved/wondersandwanders/sthelena/index.html | title = Mount St. Helena, Robert Louis Stevenson State Park | publisher = Greenbelt Alliance | access-date = 2009-08-14 | url-status = dead | archiveurl = https://web.archive.org/web/20100705142740/http://www.greenbelt.org/getinvolved/wondersandwanders/sthelena/index.html | archive-date = 2010-07-05 }}</ref> A state park was named after him near here.
===Representation in other media=== The mount is described by Ambrose Bierce in his ghost story ''The Death of Halpin Frayser''. Ursula K. Le Guin's novel ''Always Coming Home'' is about a post-apocalyptic society that considers Mount Saint Helena sacred.
<gallery widths="200" heights="200"> File:Mount Saint Helena (2007-10-08).JPG|Mount Saint Helena File:Mount Saint Helena 2.JPG|Another view of the mountain File:Monument on the site of Robert Louis Stevenson's cabin in Robert Louis Stevenson State Park.JPG|Robert Louis Stevenson monument in Robert Louis Stevenson State Park </gallery> {{Clear|left}}
==Views from the summit== {{Wide image|Top of Mount Saint Helena.jpg|800px|Panorama from top of Mount Saint Helena||center}} <gallery heights="150" mode="packed"> File:Calistoga from mt st helena.jpg|Calistoga viewed from Mount Saint Helena File:Northern Napa Valley viewed from Mount Saint Helena.JPG|Northern Napa Valley viewed from Mount Saint Helena File:View from Mount Saint Helena, California 2.JPG|A view from the mountain File:View from Mount Saint Helena 5.JPG|Another view File:View from Mount Saint Helena.JPG|Another view File:MtStHelenaTreeFrame.jpg|View after 2017 fire File:MtStHelenaSnow.jpg|Snow view </gallery>
==See also== {{Portal|San Francisco Bay Area}} * List of summits of the San Francisco Bay Area
==References== {{Reflist}}
==External links== * {{Commons category-inline |Mount Saint Helena}} * {{cite summitpost |id=150521 |name=Mount Saint Helena}}
{{Mayacamas Mountains}} {{California history}} {{Authority control}}
{{DEFAULTSORT:Saint Helena, Mount}} Category:Mayacamas Mountains Category:Mountains of Lake County, California Category:Mountains of Napa County, California Category:Mountains of Sonoma County, California Category:Mountains of the San Francisco Bay Area Category:Mountains of Northern California