Henry Coe State Park
Soda Springs Hike
 
 
My plan for this hike was to first take the Corral Trail to the Springs Trail and then hook up to the Manzanita Point Road. The Madrone Soda Springs trail starts at Manzanita Point by one of the outhouses. From Madrone I expected to hike the Mile Trail to China Hole. Once I made it to China Hole, if it looked like I had time, I planned to take the Creekside Trail over to the Poverty Flat Road and then hike back to the Park Headquarters from Poverty Flat. The best laid plans as they say .... The first part of the hike started out OK except that I was engaged in conversation with an older woman I met up with on the trail. I lost maybe 5-10 minutes talking to her but I thoroughly enjoyed our conversation about hiking. While we were talking, a couple I met in the parking lot by my car passed us. They were backpacking it in to camp out at Poverty Flat. I eventually caught up with them on the trail and talked with them as we walked. Since they were walking slower and I had an ambitious hike planned I wished them a good time and hiked on ahead. After completing the Corral Trail and then the Springs Trail, I made it to the Manzanita Point campsites at about 2 PM. I used the first outhouse for a BRB, ate a gel shot, some jerky, drank some water and took off, making it to the Soda Springs Trail a few minutes later. The Soda Springs Trail starts descending fairly quickly and was an easy enough walk though I was a bit edgy about the possibility of coming upon a rattle snake unexpectedly in the tall brown grass next to the trail. I never did see one for the whole hike thank you very much. The Northern Pacific rattler is endemic to the area and according to my Audubon book on reptiles, it is a particularly jumpy snake, being excitable and aggressive. Anyway, I eventually made it down the Soda Springs Trail to Madrone and took some pictures and then started hiking the Mile Trail along the creek to China Hole. It was actually quite a pretty walk and everything was going according to plan until I came to a spot where a large tree was blocking the way. I wish now that I had taken a picture of the spot but I didn’t think to do so. Anyway, over on the left bank there was a clear trail heading straight up the hill that looked like people were using instead as a way around and so I took it. Like I said, the best laid plans ... The trail up the hill turned out to be very, very steep, so steep that I almost was not able to climb it. The loose dirt and rock and the lack of good footholds made it very difficult and if I didn’t have my trekking poles, I never would have made it. After climbing, I don’t know, maybe 50 feet elevation up this steep hill I made it to a narrow dirt trail running along the hillside. I expected it to descend back to the creek on the other side of the tree blocking the trail below but it never did. Instead it kept on climbing and became very narrow and very difficult to walk. I was so tired from the climb that every few steps I had to lean forward and rest my shoulders on the top of my trekking poles to catch my breath. And my heart was beating the whole time like nobody’s business from the exertion. I think now that I should have looked on the other bank by the creek for a way around the tree blocking the original trail. I suspect now that the trail I ended up on was nothing more than a deer trail. It took me through thick brush and under low hanging trees, and around some very steep mountainside. If I had slipped off the trail, I’m sure I would not have survived the fall. Because of the difficulty, I was spending more time resting slumped over my trekking poles than hiking and time very quickly slipped away. The direction I was going though, was headed for the China Hole Trail and I expected I would eventually meet up with it. And I finally did at 4PM, by which time it was too late and I was definitely too tired to continue with my original plan. So I headed on back up the China Hole Trail towards the Park Headquarters. Just after I made it to the China Hole trail a guy on a mountain bike came trucking up the trail and we talked briefly. I told him that I had bit off a bit more than I could chew with the hike and he offered me encouragement and told me to pace myself and then he disappeared on up the trail. I took his advice and hiked on back at an easy pace. I really could not have gone any faster even if I had to. I was beat, feeling weak and exhausted and it was all I could do just to take the next step and I still had perhaps another 1000 feet to climb. But I made it back to the Park Headquarters at 6PM and then after refreshing myself with Gatorade and cleaning up a little, a got in my car and headed back. And wouldn’t you know it, a few miles down the road I came upon what I believe was a western rattler coiled up in the middle of the road. I rolled down my car window to take a picture and even though I was safe in the car, the thing struck out at me! It was clearly a mean tempered snake. I took a few pictures of the snake (see at the bottom) and drove on home. But I have to tell you, that seeing that snake in the wild was a thrill. Until that moment, I have never seen one except in zoos. To see one in the wild was special. They may be potentially dangerous, but I would rather live in a world with them than a sterile world without such animals. I would love to see a mountain lion someday from a safe distance. While I don’t want the wrong kind of interaction with them, I do want to see them. If you see them, enjoy them and leave them alone to fulfill their place in nature. My final thought on this hike is that I don’t plan to ever hike this route again! Once was plenty enough for me. Well, at least until I find out the trail has been cleared! I might give it another try then. :-)
Madrone Soda Springs Tral head sign post
Start of the trail next to the outhouse
On the Madrone Soda Springs Trail
Descending into some trees
Passing through more trees
Fall colors in there!
Detour down around a fallen tree
Continuing on
Getting closer to Madrone
Almost there
Made it!  The sign points to Madrone.
Start of the Mile Trail to China Hole
The Mile Trail
Soda springs
Trees along the trail by Madrone
Walking along the Mile Trail
Scene along the Mile Trail
Madrone
Old stone cooler left from the old spa resort
The fall colors are starting to turn
Another scene on the Mile Trail
Old collapsed and broken building
Continuing on the Mile Trail
Still on the Mile Trail
The last picture on the Mile Trail before my detour
Back on the China Hole Trail, YAY!!!!!!!!
Looking back at the area where I hiked up to the China Hole Trail
Heading up the China Hole Trail
Back on the Manzanita Point Road
Another hill to climb!
The road ahead on the Manzanita Point Road
The setting sun through an oak tree
Deer!
And more deer!
A buck and a doe.
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Almost there!
Sunset from behind the Park Haeadquarters
Back at Park Headquarters
The western rattler
Another shot
Don’t come any closer!  I’ll bite you!
On Saturday October 21, 2006, I attempted to hike the Soda Springs Trail to China Hole
Directions: From 101 at Morgan Hill, take the East Dunne Avenue exit.  If you are heading South on 101, then turn left onto Dunne.  If you are heading North on 101, the turn right onto Dunne and head straight for the hills.   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 and there is a $5.00 parking fee.
 
Start time: 1:00 PM
Finish:  6:00 PM
Total time: 5 hours
 
Distance:  9 miles?
Max elevation:
Total Elevation change:
 
Temperature:  Low to mid 80’s
Water consumed:  3 liters plus 600 ml Gatorade
Difficulty:  9.0  (for my detour)
 
Beauty:  6.0 - 8.0  There are some pretty scenes along the Mile Trail
Wildlife seen:  lots of deer from the trail and a rattlesnake on the drive home.