On Sunday, the forecast for Gilroy predicted a high of only 82, which struck me as an engraved invitation to stop in on Henry Coe State Park on the rare sub-100 day in August.
Naturally, it was at least 10 degrees hotter in the park, which gave me a perfect excuse to look for easy, shady miles and leave the leg-burners till winter and spring. One terrific find: the Ponderosa Trail, a spur from the trail that goes up to the Coe Memorial. It’s about nine-tenths of a mile, an easy loop once you make the 400-foot climb up from Coe HQ. It goes through a stand of Ponderosa pines and feels almost like hiking in the Sierra except for the lack of craggy peaks nearby.
The green and gold are a gorgeous combination this time of year, before the yellow turns to brown in September and October.
There is one nice dead tree.
And a nice live one nearby.
The ponderosa is a stately tree, to be sure.
On a clear day the the loop offers eye-popping views.
There’s even this lonesome picnic table to pause and soak it all in.
The rest of my pictures seemed unremarkable — mostly snags we’ve seen a dozen times before.
From the Coe Memorial I went down to Frog Lake, where I heard a distinct knocking sound on one of the large dead trees coming up out of the pond. Sure enough, there was a woodpecker pounding away. I’ve heard them before but it was the first time I’d actually seen a woodpecker at work. There’s a little path around the pond that’s worth checking out.
From there it was up to Middle Ridge Trail and back to the HQ via the Fish & Corral trails. This really is one of the better moderate hikes at Coe: almost all on single-tracks that take you through pretty much all the park has to offer, terrainwise, without infarction-inducing climbs up all those old gravel roads.
Is that from the park HQ east of Morgan Hill? I’ve got to consult my Coe map…I had no idea there was a ponderosa grove there. I always seem to find a trail that descends first, meaning I’m a wreck at day’s end after retracing my tracks. Now I have another excuse for at least one fall visit.
Yeah, it’s the HQ from East Dunne Avenue. Instead of going down the Corral Trail, you go back up the road and hang a right on that steep park road heading up to a park residence.
Might take some tricky navigation, it’s a 400 foot climb in a half-mile, and mostly narrow single-track.
Here is a thought. While the Monument Trail does have the tricky climb up single track, why not go the reverse route, Manzanita Point Road to Hobbs Road and then catch either the Ponderosa Trail or the Monument Trail off of Hobbs Road to that Ponderosa Trail Loop and return the same way? I have hiked there a couple of times and that spot is a nice one, even in the late afternoon. I think it is well worth a visit and has a different feel to me from standard Coe fare. Just a thought.