26th April 2008
Henry W. Coe Backcountry allows people to explore the eastern section of the park easily. Last weekend of April is the only weekend this Bell’s Station gate on the eastside of the park is open for visitors. Also, we need to get the permit in advance by application for entering the park from this gate.
Wesley had permission for two vehicles. And six more hikers joined. It is once in a year opportunity and so I thought I too will join. It was a long drive to the Bell’s Station gate on highway 152 in Gilroy from Sunnyvale. From the highway we had to take Kaiser Aetna road, a dirt road, for about 8 miles and then Orestimba Creek road for about 4 miles to reach our trailhead at Orestimba Corral. The roadsides were lined with purple wildflowers.
The weather forecast for Saturday was 85 degrees F. I was not aware how that heat would feel in Henry Coe. We started our hike on Turkey pond (picture above) trail at 11:30AM. Our destination was Mississippi Lake. It was around 4 miles one way. If not the Bell’s Station gate, this lake can be accessed from the park’s main entrance at Morgan hill by hiking 10+ miles one way :)
Turkey Pond trail is steep uphill trail which is almost not visible. We scrambled through the bushes and some portion of charred glory. We were hiking through the section of the park where everything was charred as a result of Lick Wildfire in September 2007. It looked like Devil’s black garden.
While I was looking around the charred tree stumps, at the same time I felt the heat and I felt like I am being cooked. When we reached the top of that small hill I was in pretty bad shape. I realized I wasn’t in proper clothes for that kind of heat. After few long stops in the shade and now going through the fields of lupines and few other wildflowers I felt better. I wondered how did these delicate wildflowers survive that kind of heat !!? Later the trail merged with the County Line road, a fire road, and we walked under the hot Sun. By then we had climbed up a lot and the views from there were amazing. The arrow mark in the picture below shows the parking at the trailhead !!
After taking a left turn at Mississippi Dam road we were in a considerably cooler place. When we reached the Mississippi Lake it was cool and refreshing. Though we didn’t have the access to the water in the lake, the cool breeze was wonderful. It is really amazing to see a beautiful lake in the midst of that crazy furnace. By now all of us had a relieved feeling on our faces.
We had a leisurely lunch there. When I took out the banana which I had for my lunch, it was almost hot and felt almost cooked. In that terrain and after the hard hike, the sun-cooked banana didn’t taste good. I had a brief nap there while others were discussing on various topics. Then we decided to head back. No one was interested in getting back into the sun again.Then we went around the lake a bit ...
We walked much faster on the way back. After some food and good rest under the cool shades and the dampness of the lake had got us some energy. The fire road seemed very boring but, this guy entertained us for a while. Around 4ft rattle snake basking in the sun !!
Instead of continuing on the boring fire road we decided to make a partial loop by taking Alquist Trail to Orestimba Creek road. It was a narrow trail in the grasslands full of wildflowers. And most of it was all downhill. When we reached the Pacheco camp we saw few people sitting at the ranger station. May be someone was sick. As few of our hikers were exhausted of dehydration and so opted to take a shuttle for the last mile back to the parking.
Here is the exact trail details of this hike ... Orestimba Creek road->Turkey Pond Trail->County Line road->Mississippi Dam road->County Line road->Alquist Trail->Orestimba Creek road. It was total 8.5 miles hike. MAP.
Some more wildflowers :)
Royal Larkspur ...
Fairy Lantern ...
Narrowleaf Goldenbrush ...
Red Thistle ...
It was again a long slow drive on the dirt road. We had salad buffet at Fresh Choice on San Ysidro Ave in Gilroy. Cool fresh salad tasted so good. And then the long drive back home.
Now, I have an idea what heat stroke could be and how to be prepared for that. Oh! Every hike is an experience with the nature and aslo the people :)
