|   Coe ride report | daev
May 1, 2002 11:46 AM | | I was going to include the word "epic" in the title, but for anyone who has spent much time in Henry Coe State park (near Gilroy CA) already knows "epic" is implied for any type of extended ride... Also, there was very little singletrack during this trip, but that would only have been a distraction from enjoying the incredible views. Now for the sad part - I only had my video camera which does not take acceptable stills, but it was all we had, so I loaded some images to help with the descriptions below.
Paul talked me into doing this ride with him to Mississippi Lake Sat, one of the more remote places in the park I might add guaranteed to have solitude and seclusion since it's at least an 11 mile hike (from HQ we started even farther away at the Gilroy entrance) with 5500' cumulative elevation. And he insists on showing me the wrecking ball' ok, whatever. I've heard of it before, this big round metal thing in the middle of nowhere. I think I remember hearing it was used for clearing areas for grazing (when the park was a ranch) by tying a long chain to the ball and the other end to a bulldozer. or something like that...
The first thing we encounter are about a 6-10 pigs in the middle of Coit road only a couple of miles into our ride. They are only about 20 yards away so we stop and I watch Paul chase them into the brush I'm keeping my distance with Ed's story from last week freshly in my mind, or at least I make sure Paul will be their primary target before they notice me.
Blurry pic of pig in the brush
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As the adults run off, there are about 4-5 piglets running back and forth while this coyote all but nabs one. He kept looking at us, then the piglets, then finally he backed off a few yards while still licking his chops and scheming of a way to get dinner.
Wiley awaits.
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We continue on, noticing other pigs on the hills around us in several places - they certainly seem to be thriving well out there for a non-native species.
Brown spots are pigs
We pass Coit Lake, then make a quick stop to see the landing strip at Hoover Lake, which is no longer used since the ranch was changed to a park. Paul insists it was covered with beautiful flowers only a few weeks ago yeah, I believe you.. let's go or we're never going to get there..
Paul searching for flowers
In order to get to the wrecking ball, we have to ride Willow Ridge, which is referred to as the "roller coaster" and not because it has fun short drops and hills like riding a real roller coaster, but because it has these series of long steep descents (with ruts in the middle so you can't get too much speed), followed by even longer and steeper climbs (reaching the size of a real roller coaster), one after another, after another, after another. Neither of us felt much desire to whoop with glee as we struggled to ride it.
Paul going up
After one of the steeper descents, Paul decides to stop while I'm pedaling furiously, trying to get enough momentum in order to not have to hike up the next hill. Slightly annoyed I turn around and see if he's had a mechanical or something serious and he points to this big rusting piece of iron in the middle of a small clearing. So this must be the wrecking ball he keeps talking about. Hardly worth stopping for (why stare at a rusting piece of man-made metal when there was all these fantastic views around us), but |
| rest of report... | daev
May 1, 2002 11:51 AM | | ...but he was so excited to show it to me, I decide to play along and I even took a couple of pictures just so we could finally get going again. It seems we were always stopping for something or another along the way, but I secretly knew Paul needed the rests so I just learned to enjoy the views and take some video while he gasped and tried to recover enough to ride again.
Paul
Me
Finally we were getting close to our destination Mississippi Lake. Ah, to experience the sense of remoteness and solitude only found at Coe after such a long arduous ride in. But on the way in we see a large group of hikers who doen't look like they are very experienced and certainly they aren't carrying enough for a 20+ mile hike into such a remote area. We had only seen one other group of 3 bikers the whole trip so far. We got to the lake and there were all sorts of people hikers, horses, bikes, tents, coolers, kids, people fishing in float-tubes, etc. As we stared in bewilderment, we finally had to get off the road just so people could pass by. Come to find out, this was the backcountry weekend the one weekend of the year people are permitted to drive in and camp (after a short 4mile hike) D'OH! People are selected from a lottery in order to participate. Since Mississippi Lake is the largest in the park (and it supposedly has fish in it), most people feel the need to come out here. Also, I'm pretty sure all the larger lakes in Coe are man-made, but that's probably a good thing since it gets so hot and dry in the summer.
We eat power bars, ride a lap around the lake, eat more power bars, I notice my rear cassette is loose, I take the wheel off and try to get it tight using an allen wrench and a screw driver, after jamming my knuckles into the cogs I give up, I put my wheel back on while bleeding everywhere, then finally we set off again back towards our point of origin.
Only this time, determined to find singletrack (and to avoid the nasty roller-coaster section), we head off down Pacheco ridge and explore Canteen Springs trail (once a road but now overgrown to the width of a trail).
View from Canteen Springs
After an uninteresting descent straight to the bottom of the canyon, we manage to find our way back to the main road that takes us to Pacheco camp (again, more campers scattered about). After too many stops to remember, we finally get near the vechicle 7.5 hours later. Earlier we had discussed doing the fun singletrack down Grapevine trail, but we both pedaled right past the turn-off in a daze all we could think of was getting off our bikes as quickly as possible.
I haven't determined our mileage yet (25-35 maybe?) or elevation (6000?), but all in all, it was a very satisfying ride great weather (stayed rather cool), great scenery, great company, and a great place to be on a Saturday. Thanks Paul for dragging me along... Can't wait to go show the wrecking ball to someone!. :-) |
| Coe | Zaphod
May 1, 2002 7:49 PM | | Always an adventure. Great write up. Only a few more weeks before Coe becomes an E-Z Bake. I've mixed up a fair number of rides there but have yet to actually get to Mississippi Lake. If I don't get out there soon, it'll have to wait until fall.
Zaphod |
| Nice animal pics. | Fast Eddy
May 1, 2002 12:31 PM | | I forgot all about the backcountry weekend. Bummer to trudge all the way out there and find a bunch of people.
Either of you going to make it up to Skeggs on Friday? |
| RE: Nice animal pics. | daev
May 1, 2002 12:53 PM | | Wasn't really that much of a bummer - most the people were really friendly. One guy was really interested in where we saw the horny toad with you last time. Friday's starting to not look good for me, maybe Sat... |
| Read your email. | Paul J
May 1, 2002 1:00 PM | | |
| No email from you so far??? nm | Fast Eddy
May 1, 2002 3:23 PM | | |
| Mmm - bacon! | Biking Viking
May 1, 2002 1:16 PM | | I've actually had wild boar in a restaurant in Poland. Excellent meat - pork with a gamey flavor.
We should poach one of those suckers and bring it in for the BBQ on Friday night.
BV |
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