Henry Coe State Park
Directions: From 101 at Morgan Hill, take the East Dunne Avenue exit going east. Eventually East Dunne will come to a fork at the Holiday Lake Estates. Take the right fork and follow it for about 10 miles into the hills and you will come to the park headquarters. The park is open 24/7.
Parking fee: $5.00
Bizarre tree along Hobbs Road
Hiking up Hobbs Road
View to the right along Hobbs Road
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Looking across to the Short Cut up that hill
Hobbs Road pit stop
Looking back down the Short Cut
At the top at 2:43 PM
Bench at the top of the Short Cut
Mount Sizer trail marker
Looking Down off Blue Ridge Road
On old snag down off the road
Heading Down Blue Ridge Road towards Poverty Flat Road
On Poverty Flat Road
Sign to Poverty Flat
Manzanita Point Road
Looking back down Manzanita Point Road
Tree off Manzanita Point Road
Another tree off Manzanita Point Road
Fields of Golden Grass
More fields of golden grass
Back at Park Headquarters
On Saturday, Jun 9, 2007, I to Henry Coe for a solo hike up to Mount Sizer via the Short Cut.
The route: Park Headquarters > Monument trail > Hobbs road > Blue ridge road > Poverty Flat Road > Manzanita Point Road > Corral Trail > End.
GPS Stats
Distance hiked: 15.8 miles
Total ascent: 4460 ft
Trailhead Elevation: 2662 ft
Max Elevation: 3200 ft
Moving time: ? hrs ? min
Moving Average: ? mph
Overall average: ? mph
Time stopped: ? hrs ? min
Personal stats
Dates Hiked:
9-Jun-2007
Start time: ~ 10:45 AM
Weather: Clear and sunny. Temperatures were in the mid 70’s for most of the hike and in the low 80’s down at Poverty Flat.
Water consumed: 4.5 liters
plus 600 ml Gatorade
Finish time: ~ 7:30 PM
Total time: ~ 8 hours 45 min
Beauty: Except for some green up on top of Mount Sizer, most of the tall grass in Coe had turned golden brown. The way the sun glistened on the fields of golden grass by Manzanita Point Road at the end of the day was simply gorgeous!
Wildlife seen: Besides lizards and birds, just 1 deer, the biggest one I had ever seen at Coe as I was hiking up the Short Cut.
Difficulty: This hike was strenuous for the distance and also the climb up the Hobbs Road “Short Cut” to Mount Sizer which climbs about 1500 ft in 1.25 miles for an average 22% grade. Though not as bad as the Short Cut, hiking up Poverty Flat Road at the end of the day just added to it.
The previous weekend I joined with the Stanford Outing Club for an easy hike across the Golden Gate Bridge but for this particular weekend I wanted something tougher. Knowing how tough the hike is up the Short Cut I thought I would go for it again, especially since there were stretches of Hobbs Road that I had never been on. In addition, I was curious about the section of the Blue Ridge Road after the Jackass Trail cutoff, and so that settled it for me and off I went.
Before taking off from the Park Headquarters though, I took the time to talk to three different Rangers (I love Park Rangers!) about my planned hike and the expected temperatures in the park, given the month of June. They all agreed that my hike was doable, that I had enough water (6 liters) and that over all, I was well equipped for it and that I should go have fun. And I did.
The hike up the Monument Trail was as expected since I had hiked it a number of times before. And I had hiked the section of Hobbs Road from the Monument Trail down to Frog Lake Trail. I had never been on the section of Hobbs Road though from the Frog Lake Trail to the Middle Ridge Trail. Hobbs Road does an easy enough climb through that section as Coe goes and passes by the Frog Lake campsite (and outhouse) and a rather bizarre tree with rings around it.
Eventually I hit the junction with the Middle Ridge Trail and then Hobbs Road headed downhill, rather steeply. I made a pit stop at the outhouse on the way down and hit bottom at 1:00 PM and headed up the Short Cut immediately. The temperature wasn’t bad at this point but the road is inclined into the sun and so with the effort and the sun, I did almost all of my sweating here.
And I think I was less fit for this attempt as I had to stop and rest more and it took me 1 hour and 45 minutes to climb this mile and a quarter stretch of road and I hit the top at 2:43 PM. At that point I broke out my sandwich and ate lunch as I hiked along Blue Ridge Road. I wanted to get back to Park Headquarters before dark and so I didn’t stop.
It was very nice on top though with a cool breeze and spots of green grass. If I didn’t have a long hike in front of me, I would have taken a break to enjoy it.
Otherwise, I made good time and made it down to the junction with Poverty Flat Road, seeing some more parts of Coe I had never been too. I gave up a lot of elevation in the hike down to Poverty Flat Road and then had to regain about 200 ft of it before finally looping around and descending down to Poverty Flat around 5 PM.
I took another bathroom break there, finished off my Gatorade and headed on up Poverty Flat Road. I dreaded that climb given how weak and tired I felt but surprised myself and made it up quicker than I thought. It still took me about an hour but before I knew it, I was up on Manzanita Point Road where I felt that the hike was in the bag.
The highlight of the hike from that point was the way the late afternoon sun glistened of the tall fields of golden grass. It was absolutely beautiful. I wish I had my SLR and tripod with my as I could have used up a roll of film on it. Just gorgeous!
But I continued on and finished in time to join in for an 8:00 PM program in the visitor Center back at Park HQ given by Winslow, a near 30 year park volunteer. He talked about the plants and wildlife of Henry Coe including the history of how it became a State Park. It was great stuff top cap off a tough but satisfying hike.
National Geographic TOPO! software website:
