Henry Coe State Park
Hike Review
We hiked the Corral Trail, Fish Trail, Middle Ridge Trail, Poverty Flat Road, Mahoney Meadows Road, The Narrows Trail, Mile Trail, Madrone Soda Springs Trail, Manzanita Point Road, and Springs Trail.
All the trails (besides The Narrow Trail) were single track dirt trails that were well decently shaded with lots of vegetation. The negative of the vegetation was that there were lots of prickly plants and poison oak everywhere.
All the roads were dusty fire roads with little shade. Although they provided no shade, the views from most of these roads were amazing.
The Narrow Trail is one with with very little actual established trails. Rather, the trail meanders through and across the East Fork Coyote Creek. Sometimes you’re walking on pebbles on a dried out part of the creek; sometimes it’s a knee-deep water crossing; sometimes it’s an ankle-deep water crossing; with all the varieties between.
There were many mosquitos in the shaded areas next to the creek.
We heard and saw so many types of animals: doves, quails, a duck, squirrels, vultures, a turkey, garter snakes, and a rattle snake.
Because we hiked along various creeks, there was almost a constant source of water that we could filter as we hiked along.
The swimming hole at China Hole was even better than when I visited here a few years ago (https://www.theweeklycamper.com/hiking/henry-coe-state-park-mt-sizer). The water was flowing, so the swimming hole was clearer with lots of fish in the water. Surprisingly, no one was swimming there, which meant that Steve and I had the swimming hole all to ourselves.
What I Learned
While I was able to keep my body temperature in check, I did end up overheating just a bit while hiking up the Madrone Soda Springs Trail. Steve had to slow down a bit for me, but I was able to resume the regular hiking pace once we hit the Manzanita Point Road.
Steve doesn’t overheat easy, instead he gets cold easy. Which meant that he hiked at a great pace throughout the day, even when it got hot, but he only swam at China Hole for just a bit.
I learned so many of the traits and sounds of various birds that we saw and heard as Steve taught me a masterclass on hunting while hiking.
I was so sure that I knew what a poison oak leaf looked like that I ended up touching one. I didn’t get a rash, but I really ought to be more careful in the future.
The mosquito season is here and I think it’s going to be extra bad this year with so much water being available. I definitely should get to spraying permethrin on my clothes soon.
My Bedrock 3D Adventure Sandals were awesome. They gripped well, was comfortable for my feet, and performed well in water. I was very glad to have brought them.
Friends
I was very lucky to have Steve accompany me on this trail. He made this entire hike seem so much shorter than it actually was and our conversations flowed as constantly as the creeks that we saw today. I also really appreciated how he kept up with me on the hike (and actually would have hiked faster than me when I overheated), which I thought was awesome.
We met various interesting people on the hike. There was a Stanford backpacking guide who was trying to get her bloody nose under control. There were two female backpackers who had hiked to Los Cruzeros Camp, but didn’t want to hike the narrows back as they didn’t want to get wet. There were bike packers who swore that they would not camp at Henry Coe in the future as they hated the steep grades on trails. There was a backpacking couple who hiked in their bathing suits. There was a backpacking couple who had wanted to hike to Mississippi Lake, but they doubted they could make it as the going was slow. There was a backpacking couple who serenaded each other with songs from the Little Mermaid. Everyone was very friendly.
What Happened?
13.4 miles, 7 hrs 56 mins, 3278 ft of ascent
Steve and I met up at my apartment and we groggily made our way to Henry Coe State Park. Once we got there however, we were awake and ready for a day of hiking.
We chatted about various topics such as hunting, foods, work, women, etc. though out the whole day. And we weren’t just talking for talking sakes. I was engaged and it made the hardest parts of the trail that much easier.
The best part about having Steve there was that I learned so much about animals and plants. He’s even more attentive than I am, so it was great to learn to focus and appreciate even more on the various sounds we heard. He then would educate me on those animals, which I tried to retain as best as I could.
Actually, scratch that, the best part was just having a good friend spend the day with me doing what I love the most. Sharing this park and trail with him was special and I loved it.
After the hike, we were hoping to get ourselves ice cream at the visitor center, but they didn’t have anything frozen, so I settled for a delicious can of coke. It didn’t hit the spot as well as I wanted to, which means that I’ll have to get myself a Cherry Garcia somewhere else.