Henry Coe State Park in Northern California: Hiking The Blue Ridge Zone

Last weekend I finished my first foray into Henry Coe State Park. It was a short trip into the Blue Ridge Zone, hence the name of the article. I consider it prep work for the longer trek that I'm planning for next week. After taking the winter off, it felt great to hit the trail again.

Let me preface this article by saying that Henry Coe State Park is immense. With 87,000 acres of terrain and over 400 miles of trails, it is the largest State Park in northern California. With fewer than 100,000 visitors annually, it's a great place to get into the back-country and enjoy some real isolation. It's convenient and accessible to Bay area outdoor enthusiasts, and less than an hour away from the hustle of South Bay.

I arrived at the park headquarters entrance around 11 AM on a Friday before a weekend that promised unseasonably sweltering weather. The park is divided into 12 back-country zones, each with its own unique topography. With some helpful advice from the friendly volunteer rangers, I decided to hike straight through the Western Zone on my way to the slightly less traveled Blue Ridge Zone. Unlike the easily accessible and correspondingly popular Western Zone, where camping is restricted to designated sites, trekkers can camp wherever they want in Blue Ridge. That's the kind of camping for me.

My 17 mile round trip started at the park headquarters, a retrofitted ranch house perched on a ridge with sweeping views deep into the heart of the park. I hiked along the pleasantly shaded Corral Trail to its intersection with the slightly more exposed Springs Trail. Springs Trail followed a gently descending contour that afforded glimpses down into Soda Springs water shed to the south before returning to Manzanita Point Road. I then followed Manzanita Point Road through the horse and group camps, stopping to eat lunch at a shaded park bench near the picturesque Bass Pond about 2.5 miles from HQ.

Shortly beyond Manzanita Point, the descent began in earnest. The single track China Hole Trail runs down the ridge through switchbacks cut into shadeless chaparral. I lost 1000 feet of elevation in two miles on my way to the scenic stone swimming hollows of China Hole. I was 5 miles into the trip at this point, and still in the Western Zone, but it was time to leave the trails behind for a spell.

The Narrows, a rocky 1 mile canyon carved by the east fork of Coyote Creek, has no maintained trail. But it's still the main thoroughfare between the designated campsites at China Hole and Los Cruceros. It's also a very agreeable spot of rock hopping, for the kid in all of us. After leaving Los Cruceros, I turned north along the Narrows Trail, finally crossing over into the Blue Ridge Zone 6.5 miles into the trip.

The Narrows Trail meanders along a wide and pleasant valley, crossing and recrossing the east fork of Coyote Creek. It's an idyllic stretch of trail, and features potential camp sites too numerous to count. Since I hadn't traveled far enough to settle down yet, I continued north. I found two deep and inviting swimming holes: one north of Arnold Horse Camp and one near the intersection of Little Long Canyon Road, and Bear Mountain Road. Unfortunately for me, I wasn't the first camper to think so. Each swimming hole had a solitary tent pitched nearby. I decided not to spoil their view by setting up mine when the rest of the evening and the whole of the Blue Ridge Zone was open to me.

After traveling a mile up both Bear Mountain and Little Long Canyon Roads to take in the scenery and some wildflowers, I had traveled about 9 miles for the day. I returned back down to the intersection of Blue Ridge Road, Rock House Ridge Trail, and the Narrows Trail. I turned my feet westward and began my climb Blue Ridge Road. 10 miles from where I started, I bushwhacked down into the aptly named Rock House Canyon and found a delightful campsite for the night, complete with my very own private swimming hole.

After dinner, I settled in for the night, content to let the chirp of the frogs and gurgle of the stream lull me to sleep. But before the stars came out I had a visitor. A white tale deer wandered down the creek, grazing his way to within 30 or 40 yards of where I lay awake in the grass, quietly watching. I didn't have my camera handy, so no photos for me unfortunately. I could see the young buck's antlers starting to grow in for the summer, still covered in velvet. After he trotted off into the meadow on the far side of the creek, I watched the stars come out overhead until sleep dragged my heavy eyelids closed.

You might think one close encounter would be enough for a short trip, but I woke the next morning to find a second deer grazing near my camp. This one was a doe, and like the buck from the previous night, she grazed along the edge of the stream to within 30 or 40 yards of me. She eventually trotted up into the meadow on her own and I got up to make breakfast. I headed up into the meadow between Rock House Ridge Trail and the stream myself to see what all the fuss was about. The scene was gorgeous, waves of golden grasses undulating in the morning breeze, dotted with stands of oak , and 360 degree views of the mountains all around. Not a bad way to start the day, no?

On my way back to the camp site I saw a flash of tan in the calf high grasses ahead. A hunting coyote dashed across the hillside below me and disappeared . Again, I was caught without my camera. I broke camp quickly and continued my climb back up toward the park headquarters. For the return trip, I followed Blue Ridge Road to Poverty Flat Road. Unlike the single track hiking trails I had taken on the way in, these routes are wider, jeep road, and aren't as well graded for foot traffic as they could be. There weren't as many switchbacks on the steep climbs, which resulted in shorted mileage. The jeep roads also were more exposed, and Saturday was definitely the hotter of the two days on this trip.

I climbed back up along Blue Ridge Road to the intersection with Poverty Flat Road at 11 miles. That was a climb from 1300 feet to 1800 feet in less than a mile. Unfortunately I lost all that by mile 13 in the rapid descent to the middle fork of Coyote Creek at the Poverty Flat Camp. The camp had 10-15 tents set up, from a single youth group judging by the looks of mutinous dissent I saw on the group of boys toiling their way up to Poverty Flat in front of a few tired looking pack parents. Poverty Flat Camp is located beside another great water feature in Coyote Creek, a deep pool of crystal clear water surrounded by craggy and charismatic boulders. I just hope the kids are able appreciate their good fortune after they return from their trip.

After leaving the camp, I continued along Poverty Flat road, climbing relentlessly from 1200 feet to 2200 feet at the intersection with the Forest Trail at mile 15. It was a sweat inducing, calf stretching, and mostly shadeless climb. If the climb didn't take your breath away, the scenery would. But it's not a trip for the faint of heart (or the out of shape).

The leg along the Forest Trail was a shady and pleasant stroll by comparison. This close to the headquarters, I was starting to run into day hikers again. One couple warned me that they had seen a big rattle snake lying in the trail ahead, and they had almost stepped on it. I spent the next half mile scanning the ground alertly and listening for the tell-tale buzz of rattles. But all I saw was a little fella sunning himself in the sand as the Forest Trail rejoined Manzanita Point Road just after mile 16. He didn't do anything more sinister than dart his tongue at me a few times. I continued along the wide, sunny jeep road for the last mile to return to the headquarters, stopping along the way to get some pictures of the Dove Lupine and California Poppy blooms dotting the hillside.It was a great, if short trip. For hiker's who really want to get away from it all without going far from the Bay, I can't recommend the jewel of a state park highly enough.