henry coe state park milky way
The park expanded considerably in the early 1980s with the purchase of adjacent properties to the east and south (the Gill-Mustang and Coit ranches, respectively), bringing the size to 67,000 acres (27,000 ha)). The latter consists of a traditional outdoor barbecue with live music and a celebration of the hairy arachnids which inhabit the park, the gentle tarantulas commonly seen in the fall there when males are wandering about looking for the burrows of females in order to mate with them. Many sources of water are found within the park, including seasonal springs and watercourses and old ponds built by the cattle ranchers. The sweltering summer temperatures in Henry Coe State Park have become reasonable. By Mark Bristol. Location: In northern California, Henry W. Coe State Park is off US Route 101, 20 miles southeast of San Jose and 60 miles northeast of Monterey. Common reptiles include western pond turtle, western fence lizard, northern alligator lizard, western skink, coast horned lizard, Pacific gopher snake, California kingsnake, western rattlesnake, ringneck snake, and western aquatic garter snake. The ranch's road network was greatly expanded during this time. At that time the wildflowers are enough reason to hike 80% of the way to the falls, and the other top bay area waterfalls are well past the best time to visit, or can wait until summer. The most common danger faced by visitors is exhaustion from attempting to hike or ride too many steep trails in too little time, or with too little water or food. Town. Day 3: Mississippi Lake to HQ, via Poverty Flat → Bikepacking Henry Coe State Park. Native trees which dominate the park include valley oak (Quercus lobata), blue oak (Q. douglasii), coast live oak (Q. agrifolia), canyon live oak (Q. chrysolepis), interior live oak (Q. wislizenii), gray pine (Pinus sabiniana), ponderosa pine (P. ponderosa), pacific madrone (Arbutus menziesii), California laurel (Umbellularia californica), California buckeye (Aesculus californica), white alder (Alnus rhombifolia), California juniper (Juniperus californica), blue elderberry (Sambucus mexicana) and California sycamore (Platanus racemosa). Then the road got pretty winding as I traveled slowly and cautiously on E Dunne Ave from Morgan Hill to the Coe Ranch Visitor Center. Even though the park is less than 30 minutes from San Jose, it is true wilderness. It is not unusual for as much as half of park visitors on a given day to be mountain bicyclists, though this is normally closer to 30%. Named the Lick Fire after it was first spotted by nearby Lick Observatory, the fire grew to 27,000 acres (11,000 ha) by the evening of September 6, and ultimately burned 47,760 acres (19,330 ha) by the time it was contained on September 11. Trip Overview: ~24 mile out and back backpacking trip from the Henry Coe State Park Headquarters to Mississippi Lake and back. By Mark Bristol. This stands out as by far the most impressive mid or late April hike in the bay area (at least in wet years). US. It was the home of Henry Willard Coe, Jr. and his family from 1905 until his death in 1943. State/Province/Region. The terrain of the park is rugged, varied, and beautiful, with lofty ridges and steep canyons. The park is still growing. Prominent ridges and peaks in the park, from west to east and north to south, include Pine Ridge, Middle Ridge, Blue Ridge (with Mount Sizer the highest point), Rock House Ridge, Bear Mountain, Bear Mountain Peak, Robison Mountain (not Robinson Mountain as it is too often misspelled), Rooster Comb, Palassou Ridge, Mahoney Ridge (and Mahoney Meadows), Willow Ridge, Pacheco Ridge, Mustang Peak, Walsh Peak, Willson Field Hill, Wasno Ridge, Burra Burra Peak, Willson Peak, Rock Springs Peak, and Phegley Ridge. Most likely, the pines are relicts of a broader distribution during cooler climates. Milky Way From Henry Coe State Park . See real-time park photos from Instagram, get information and directions, and make reservations. So awesome! The lowest point in the park is at the Bell Station access point in the southeast; this is only a little above 300 feet (91 m) in elevation. The creeks are all seasonal; none of them flow year-round, though all have holes in which water may be found during all seasons. The Hunting Hollow access is best for casual walkers and bikers, as the 3-mile (4.8 km) valley trail is level, without any steep hills to traverse. After heavy rainfall, the creeks can become impassable, raging torrents, though usually they are not difficult to ford if one does not mind getting wet or (in winter and early spring) cold. I carved out 3 days and 2 nights in the family schedule. Additional adjacent lands were added, and for many years, the park's size stood at 13,000 acres (5,300 ha). Large parts of the park are covered in chaparral and oak woodlands. Henry Coe State Park, iPhone 7+, Filmic Pro 6, Feiyu G4 Pro. Besides several historic ranch buildings, there is a visitor center that features exhibits about the old ranch life, a small bookstore, and a registration/information desk. So awesome! [15] The closures were ultimately avoided by cutting hours and maintenance system-wide. It is the best out of all of the state parks to visit for stargazing not only because of the lack of light pollution, but also because it is open 24 hours a day all year round. Duration: 2-4 days Difficulty: strenuous Distance, elevation gain/loss: one way to Mississippi Lake: 13.3 miles, +2100/-2900 feet Trailhead: Park Headquarters, at the end of East Dunne Avenue Permits/fees: Backpacking permit and parking fees required; register at visitor center when open or self-register for Mississippi Lake and possibly Los Cruzeros and/or Willow Ridge When the climate warmed, the only places the trees could survive were up on the high cooler ridges and shady slopes where they grow today. [16], Learn how and when to remove this template message, California Department of Parks and Recreation, California Department of Parks & Recreation, California interior chaparral and woodlands, statewide special election of May 19, 2009, "California State Park System Statistical Report: Fiscal Year 2009/10", "Bandits, Brentwood, and the Wild Frontier", http://coepark.net/pineridgeassociation/planning-your-visit/visitor-centers-and-park-entrances/dowdy-ranch-visitor-center, "Parks department inks agreement to keep Coe Park open", "Henry Coe on governor's list of parks to close", "State parks to stay open, but with cuts in hours, staffing", The Pine Ridge Association at Henry W. Coe State Park, Ira F. Brilliant Center for Beethoven Studies, Mountain View Center for the Performing Arts, Rosie the Riveter/World War II Home Front, California State Mining and Mineral Museum, Santa Rosa and San Jacinto Mountains National Monument, University of California Natural Reserve System, Sweeney Granite Mountains Desert Research Center, https://en.wikipedia.org/w/index.php?title=Henry_W._Coe_State_Park&oldid=998662123, Articles needing additional references from July 2008, All articles needing additional references, Wikipedia articles with WORLDCATID identifiers, Creative Commons Attribution-ShareAlike License, This page was last edited on 6 January 2021, at 12:47. For more information, please call the park at (408) 779-2728. [7] All areas affected by the fire were re-opened to unrestricted public access on February 16, 2008. Milky Way From Henry Coe State Park. 'Til next time, stay safe everyone... (Pic taken Wednesday, July 22, 2020; 10:21 p.m.), By: 54WilliamGJusto54 (weather enthusiast). More remote trails are often just old jeep roads overgrown to a single-track width; others were created solely by repeated use, especially by equestrians. All surface water in the park should be filtered before drinking to remove harmful organisms. [2], Prior to its use as ranch land, the Diablo Range backcountry now covered by Henry W. Coe State Park was traversed by La Vereda del Monte, a trail between Point of Timber on the Sacramento River Delta and Cantua Creek in the San Joaquin Valley. Quite a few people were also here out camping and enjoying the clear, starry skies. Graded in DaVinci Resolve 12.5. CA. The state has replaced the many crude pit toilets with clean well-maintained toilet structures known by the volunteers as "Taj MaPotties". Frank Coit had purchased 10,000 acres of Santa Clara County land in 1950. Day 2: Bear Mountain and Mississippi Lake. Other prominent shrubs and wildflowers include chamise (Adenostoma fasciculatum), toyon (Heteromeles arbutifolia), coyote brush (Baccharis pilularis), California sagebrush (Artemisia californica), eastwood manzanita (Arctostaphylos glandulosa), yerba santa (Eriodictyon californicum), buckbrush (Ceanothus cuneatus), California gooseberry (Ribes californicum), fuchsia-flowered gooseberry (Ribes speciosum), yellow mariposa lily (Calochortus luteus)[8] and Mountain Mahogany (Cercocarpus betuloides). Most visitors at Coe Park hike or mountain bike on the numerous trails within the park. Unlike many other Bay Area parks, there are no large stands of non-native trees or shrubs. When open, parking is available at Dowdy Ranch visitor center, including overnight. The lowest point in the main body of the park is the place where the North Fork of Pacheco Creek flows out, at about 710 feet (220 m) elevation, also in the southeast corner. As the summer progresses it will be higher in the sky earlier. When Henry Jr. died in 1943, Sada’s brother Henry inherited the ranch. Indeed, many currently available state road maps still show the park in its 13,000 acre configuration. I even heard a fellow photographer nearby shooting the Milky Way (and possibly NEOWISE) as well. By Mark Bristol. Cañada de la Dormida independently reaches Pacheco Creek outside of the park boundaries. Note: Henry W. Coe State Park is often confused with Henry Cowell State Park, which has no trail camping. There is a horse camp at Coe Headquarters, but is limited to a single parking space behind the old ranch house. This was during my spontaneous stargazing outing at Henry W. Coe State Park, located on the Diablo Range, near the city of Morgan Hill, CA... *My outing in summary: I left to head to the park just … There are forested ridge-tops and slopes interspersed with chaparral and grasslands, with some creeks supporting distinct riparian vegetation. Additionally, there are many ticks of several different species (though Lyme disease is rare in the area), as well as a few venomous rattlesnakes. Henry W. Coe has several different entrances, and various parts of the park can be accessed via roads off of US-101, CA-152 and CA-130. Country. Henry Coe State Park, California - Feb 28th 2017 Time lapseNote: at 3 seconds there's a shooting star. Henry W. Coe Park is the largest state park in northern California, with over 87,000 acres (135 square miles) of wild open spaces and about 250 miles of trails. gray pine is also almost ubiquitous throughout, but curiously, is absent in much of the far southwestern portion, perhaps because of the influence of summer fog, rare elsewhere. The North Fork Pacheco Creek also originates within the park, and it is fed by Mississippi Creek. These were often made with insufficient forethought and often suffer moderate to severe erosion problems, or may be overgrown and difficult to follow much of the year. I even stopped for the views along the road and the sunset was just stunning as if I was seeing it from an airplane. Visitors must leave by Sunday evening or stay until the following Saturday opening. The second major addition to Henry W. Coe State Park, the Coit Ranch, was acquired in 1980. Henry W. Coe State Park (known simply as Henry Coe or Coe Park) is a state park of California, USA, preserving a vast tract of the Diablo Range.The park is located closest to the city of Morgan Hill, and is located in both Santa Clara and Stanislaus counties. Morgan Hill. Spring is the most popular time to visit the park, with its moderate weather, green hillsides dotted with colorful wildflowers, and flowing creeks. The northern part of the park, including the Orestimba Wilderness, was swept by a massive wildfire starting on September 3, 2007. Milky Way From Henry Coe State Park Once common, but now extinct in the region, were the California grizzly bear and California condor. 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