The GF and I hit up the Henry Coe Backcountry Weekend this year, an annual event where they allow some vehicular access to the eastern end of Henry Coe State Park so folks can access and hike in the Henry Coe State Wilderness. This eastern area would normally take at least a couple of backpacking days over relatively challenging terrain from park headquarters (western edge) to reach. You don't get a true solitary wilderness necessarily (depends on how far out you go, and how popular your destination is with other attendees), but it's still a good opportunity to experience what the little visited eastern zone has to offer. It's especially nice to take other folks who wouldn't normally commit to that much of a backpacking trip if you had to leave from headquarters or the other entrance, which is still on the eastern end of the park. They open it up to relatively dispersed and low-impact car camping, backpacking, horse camping, and mountain bikers in certain areas, but my GF had a work thing today so we weren't able to backpack or camp.
We've had little rainfall this year, so it was pretty arid, and boy was it hot. Since we were only day hiking and had to be out before gates closed for the night, we used fire roads a bit to expedite reaching our destination (a lake I haven't seen yet, reported to be quite nice)... those were some long exposed stretches. Even though most roads in the eastern end aren't as crazily graded as those in the western end of the park, the return trip in particular turned into a hot slog towards the end. My GF and I probably drank at least 4 liters each, and were still a little parched upon reaching our vehicle. I don't think it broke 90s (not sure), but damn, I can only imagine the folks who hike in deserts regularly.
Anyway, onto the pics:
Sun rising on our way in.
I'm too lazy right now to really look up flowers I don't know, sorry
I think this is a Dandelion? Maybe Common Groundsel? I'm still horrible at plant ID.
Heading out. Destination: Jackrabbit Lake.
Lupine.
Thistle.
Last year we visited another lake up over this ridge.
Shaka, brah.
Indian Paintbrush, I think?
Dry creek beds were the norm. No flow, only pools. Still green on the margins.
Tadpoles!
Backup water sources.
Some were pretty good, in the morning anyway.
Caught sunning.
Less fortunate horned buddy.
Some cool layers.
Loved the green belt in the bed.
Jackrabbit Lake!
One back corner.
Great panorama shot my GF took while I threw up a lean to.
Situated us across from this lovely oak.
We had a chill lunch break. There were a few backcountry fishermen who had come in the day before or same day as us; they kept pulling out bass after bass. It seemed like 1/2 casts landed a fish. Catch and release except the daily 5. They looked on the small side, but the fisherman were obviously still having a blast. As we devoured lunch, we watched the many dragonflies, red-winged blackbirds, and bass jumping for meals. The bullfrogs also harangued us occasionally.
One of the cooler dragonflies.
After a while, it was time we had better head back. Filtered some water (ugh, pond water aftertaste...), packed up and began trekking back.
Had great views south/southeast on our drive out, with the late day sunlight.
Wish we could have camped out or stayed longer, but it was still a great day. The heat, water logistics, and time constraint kept us from doing a more strenuous loop (only about 1.5mi over the 13, but more elevation change) I wanted to do. It would have been pushing it to do the longer full loop AND have time to relax and soak up the lake for a couple of hours as we did - the GFs absolute requirement for this trip
. Not to mention the paucity of water sources along that route. It would have taken us up and along a ridge and up to nearby Mustang Peak before coming back down. But, it's on my list for another time :thumbup: Anyway, I hope you guys enjoyed the pics!
Anyone got plans for the weekend?
