WEEKLY WALKER

By Tom Davids

A Loop Hike through the Diablo Range

Henry W. Coe State Park

"Distance changes utterly when you take the world on foot. A mile becomes a long way, two miles literally considerable, ten miles whopping, fifty miles at the very limits of conception. The world, you realize, is enormous in a way that only you and a small community of fellow hikers know. Planetary scale is your little secret." - Bill Bryson, "A Walk in the Woods"

Directions: South on Highway 101 to Morgan Hill. East on East Dunne Avenue for 13 miles to park headquarters.

Grade: Strenuous, elevation gain of 3,300 feet.

Distance: 15 miles, loop trip.

Time: 10 hours. (We took three days, two nights for a backpack trip.)

Special Conditions: No water on the trail. Watch for poison oak, rattlesnakes, and ticks; on multi-use trails, for bicycles also. Take plenty of water. Purify all backcountry water. Be prepared for steep trails. Permit required for backcountry backpacking. No dogs on trails. For park and trail information, call Henry W. Coe State Park (408) 779-2728.

This is not your neighborhood park. Henry W. Coe State Park is the largest state park in Northern California with almost 81,000 acres. It offers a choice of more than 250 miles of trails and dirt ranch roads. Backpack sites are plentiful and located from three-quarter mile to more than 20 miles from headquarters. In the spring the hills are green, and more than 650 different kinds of flowering plants can be identified. Car camping is available, and a well-stocked and -staffed visitors' center/museum offers a good selection of nature and local interest books, maps, and refreshing cold drinks. The museum was created from Coe family heirlooms. The old barn is open to inspection, as are old tools, wagons, and other farm implements.

My grandson Sam--now age 11--and I had visited this park in September 1998, when I took him for his first backpack experience, a short overnight trip to Frog Lake.

This year Sam and I decided to push beyond Frog Lake--after all, the park does include 81,000 acres--and extend our backpack adventure to two nights. We started our hike on a Friday afternoon and finished Sunday morning with overnight stops at Skeels' Meadow and Poverty Flat. However, a strong hiker can cover the loop in an eight- to ten-hour day. Keep in mind that these trails are steep with a combined elevation gain of 3,300 feet. Of course, what goes up must come down, and for some of us, that's the hardest part.

We started hiking at the Corral Trail, across the entrance road from the headquarters, and continued over the next three-quarter-mile on a mostly level track in and out of a major ravine. A bench at the trailside marks the approaching junction with Flat Frog Trail.

The vastness of this wilderness area is then apparent, with endless views to the east and south. Flat Frog Trail winds laterally along a steep slope, alternating between dry forest oak and pine and grassland. The interesting, long-needled (8 to 12 inches) gray pine is just that: gray pine. It can be recognized by its pale, bluish gray-green color. The tree produces one of the largest and heaviest cones of any American pine. You will see them hanging high in the tree or lying on the ground.

The most interesting "tree" along this trail--and you will see it throughout this hike--is the "big berry manzanita." Large as a tree (25 feet), it is actually a shrub because of its multiple trunk. Notice its smooth reddish-brown trunk and freshly peeled branches. The manzanita produces small apple-like fruit in late summer.

Approaching Frog Lake, you will climb alongside Little Fork Coyote Creek and pass through a wet zone, where ferns grace the trailside landscape. Frog Lake was dammed many years ago, probably to water cattle. Now it's a pretty pond about half full of water plants. A campsite is located above the lake.

So far our hike had been easy--mostly level. Now the work began. We crossed the dam at the lake and began climbing uphill to Middle Ridge Trail. The single-track trail moved through the forested hillside, past a water trough fed by an uphill stream, through grassland, then intersected with Middle Ridge Trail. We turned left and ambled along the ridge a short distance to the intersection with Hobbs Road. This is a ranch road that also serves private property adjacent to the park, so vehicles pass from time to time.

From the junction at 2,840 feet elevation, the drop is steady to 1,580 feet at Middle Fork Coyote Creek. It seems contrary to nature, but my old knees prefer uphill to down. As I was deliberately placing one foot in front of the next, Sam was actually skipping downhill. But he kindly stopped from time to time to make sure that I wasn't too far behind (or he too far ahead).

It is a nice walk through mixed forest on the north side of Middle Ridge. After the first switchback, we passed Deer Horn Spring Camp. Water from the spring is not dependable during the summer. Near campsite number 2, we noticed footings of the old "Widow Hobb's" homestead cabin. An apricot tree grows nearby. A new and improved outhouse is near the road.

We continued to the next junction and peeled off to Skeels' Meadow. Park publications say that Skeel was a pioneer ranch family that operated a hotel in Morgan Hill and provided an early town marshall. Two campsites are in a meadow near the creek. We spent a pleasant night, Sam and me, under the full moon. After a reasonably comfortable night, I awoke feeling the need to scratch my stomach. A quick inspection revealed nothing, but the itch continued.

Looking more closely, I discovered a tick deeply embedded in my navel--the one place I had not inspected the night before. Now the challenge was to bend over far enough to peer into it and extract with finality the critter inside. In the best of condition, I have limited range bending forward, but after a night on the ground, my mobility was even less. The solution, of course, was to have Sam take the tweezers (fortunately, part of my Swiss Army knife) and pluck out the critter. Sam was not the least bit interested in this form of "minor surgery," so I picked away as best I could. Eventually I retrieved the hindquarters, but the head, of course, stayed in. Infection and swelling followed, and the matter of cinching a belly strap over the area was problematic--but life in the backcountry is not without risk or discomfort. The whole matter was resolved on Monday with a visit to the doctor's office. The moral of the story is check ALL of your body parts before the sun goes down, or the day following may produce an unexpected surprise. Back to the hike.

The trail from Middle Fork Coyote Creek up to Blue Ridge Road is a killer--1,500-foot elevation gain. Much of it is through grassland with periodic shady forest areas. The views are spectacular. At the junction, turn right on Blue Ridge Road and hike along the ridge for the next three miles. Along the way is Mount Sizer at 3,216-foot elevation. We were told that from Mount Sizer you can see Half Dome on a clear day.

From Mount Sizer, the trail elevation drops 700 feet to the intersection with Jackass Trail. Turn right, and continue down on this single, exposed, and somewhat overgrown trail another 700 feet to Poverty Flat Road. Turn right, and in a mile you are at Poverty Flat, a nice open meadow with several campsites and Coyote Creek running by. We saw our second wild turkey there, but no wild boar despite evidence of their rototilling habit.

We enjoyed cooling off in the creek, and we spent the night at Poverty Flat, named for an impoverished homesteader who resisted selling his property to Henry Coe. The next morning we crossed the creek and continued up Poverty Flat Road. Here the elevation gain was 1,200 feet, but over a longer and more leisurely distance. At the ridge top Poverty intersects with Forest Trail, a 1.1-mile trail along the northeastern slope of pine Ridge. This is the park's "nature trail," with 28 post numbered stops describing trees, shrubs, and plants common throughout the park. Pick up a booklet at the start of the trail, and learn a bit more about what you have seen along the way. The trail gains another 400 feet to the intersection with Flat Frog Trail and Corral Trail. Reverse your hike over Corral Trail, and soon you're back at headquarters.

Visit Henry W. Coe State Park before mid-June when the major summer heat sets in. Otherwise, come anytime of the year for a serious wilderness hiking experience.

Your comments and hiking suggestions are always welcome.

E-mail to: trekertom@aol.com.

Footnote: Check out the Weekly Walker Web site at www.weeklywalker.com.