Health and nature were on the agenda Saturday in American Canyon.

While a group of hikers walked at a healthy clip to the Napa River, residents stopped by the community center to get their blood pressure checked and receive free blood sugar checks and massages.

The two-dozen who followed Open Space Committee member Barry Christian on an hour-plus hike from Benton Way to the river walked a route that may one day become a section of an American Canyon-Napa trail. A study is scheduled to be completed this summer, according to American Canyon and Open Space District.

They walked along houses on Wetlands Edge, past man-made wetlands near the  wastewater treatment plant and on levees near Cargill salt ponds the California Fish and Game wants to restore into wetlands.

Christian wants the public to gain access to the river.

Eric and Dana Altman knew the river was there, but had not seen it.

“It’d be nice to have access out here,” said Eric Altman of American Canyon, as he watched the expanse of water.

Tony Norris, a member of the Napa County Regional Park and Open Space District board of directors from Napa, said the Napa-American Canyon trail will be a major component of the Bay Trail, referring to the network of trails around the Bay Area.

Napa Valley College, the city and Queen of the Valley Medical Center have coordinated efforts to put on the event for the past seven years.

Former City Manager Mark Joseph, who joined the hikers, explained Healthy People-Healthy Planet was created as a health fair and Earth Day event.

American Canyon’s first health fair and Earth Day events had not drawn many people, so the city merged the two.

The health fair drew about 800 people Saturday, said organizer De Sturdevant, a registered nurse at Napa Valley College. Fourty-two booths representing various organizations, including the college, the hospital and the city and the newly formed Napa County Regional Park and Open Space District, a group that works to create parks and trails in Napa County, set up tables at the Community Center building.

Nursing students took blood pressure from visitors before and after free back and hand massages.

The hike lowered Patty Ramos’ blood pressure significantly.

“I love it,” Ramos said.