Backpacking at Henry Coe

This was the second backpacking trip of the Sierra Club backpacking class that Lori and I are taking. It was the extreme opposite of the last trip: we had a hot and dry weekend at Henry Coe State Park. But we still had fun!

We gathered at park headquarters, and speedy Gonzales (Mike Zensius) led the charge towards China Hole for a lovely dip in the heat of midday. We then tip-toed through a narrow use trail while being barraged by poison oak (are there any Bay Area trails without it?) to arrive at our campground at Poverty Flat where we had lessons in purifying water and working with a map and compass.

We hit the trail early the next morning to beat the forecasted 100-degree heat. First we pushed an elevator button to rise precipitously out of the canyon. Except the elevator didn't work and we had to use our feet. After taking a break at Manzanita Point campground among the largest manzanita bushes—trees!—I've ever seen, we soldiered on to the park headquarters for a well-deserved cold drink.

After enjoying the captions below, you can view larger versions of the photos by clicking on them. You can see even larger versions of the photos by viewing the slideshow in full screen (F11). You can also view the photos on a map, or download the GPS tracks for the hike out or the the hike back.

Julia, Sue, Sandy, Elizabeth, Deb, and Tiffany joke around before the hike

Herding cats at the park headquarters

Cats. Herded.
Front row: PJ Schmidtknecht-Goodlette, Tiffany Tang, Elizabeth Scott, Dan Nelson, Lori Heyman, Howard Gebb, Julia Pickford, Sue Pickford, Sushi Kim, Naveen Paulkandasamy,
Back row: Jo Ann Cobb, Carlos Paredes, Jennifer Chapman, Mike Kiefer, Dave Ellis, Johnny Cooper, Craig Maynard, Bill Wohler, Deb Walkup, Dave McFarland, Sandy Johan, Carrie Nelson, Steve Stearns, Venkat Kanchapadu
Photo by Mike Zensius