Spring Bay Area trip

[Ken Helwig]

there you go! We could wait for Cary too????

[Nate Meinzer]

Bob,

Is there an update/itinerary for the trip?

Is the lake we're traveling to big enough to take a swim in?

[Jay Wilkerson]

Hey Nate, almost all the lakes are all surrounded with willows and reeds with little are no access and the water should be very cold Mr Polar Bear.

[Robert Blean]

Nathan,

Itinerary remains as described in my posting "Dates & Location" on 02/01/2009 00:50:00 MST. That gets in the least steep way; we can discuss whether to come back the same way or to make more of a loop trip even though we end up descending a pretty steep trail.

I would just as soon get down there Fri afternoon, walk in 0.7 mile, and camp at the base of the Lyman Wilson Ridge trail for the night. (No camping is allowed within 1/2 mile of the trailhead.) I gather, however, that a majority prefer to arrive sometime Sat AM and start hiking late morning to noon. We can either all agree on a time to hike in together, or else agree to meet at Kelly lake. (Leaving earlier is much more likely to leave time for swimming in there.)

As to swimming, all I know is what I have read. There is a discussion of swimming at Coe at the following URL. This URL does not mention Kelly Lake. It says Coit Lake is the best lake for swimming (Coit Lake is 1.2 miles from Kelly Lake).
http://www.coestatepark.com/recreation_at_henry_w__coe_state_park.htm#swimming

This URL, however, says that you can swim at either Coit or Kelly Lake:
http://www.coepark.org/maps/dowdy/Dowdy_loop_hikes.pdf

Bottom line — a definite maybe — we'll have to see how nice the swimming is, and what the temperatures (water and air) are like. Claim is that the water will be swimmable, though, if we feel up to it.

— Bob

[Nate Meinzer]

I'm not worried about temperatures of the water….can't be worse than alpine lakes or the mountain streams and I like swimming in those as long as it's reasonably sunny and warm out.

Looking forward to it.

[Ken Helwig]

Bob, any word as who is all going???

[Robert Blean]

Just what is in this thread.

[Robert Blean]

It just occurred to me — for anyone using TOPO! to look at trails in Henry Coe — if you do not have Bill Levey's trail data for Henry Coe, I **strongly** recommend you get it.

— Bob

[cary bertoncini]

does the hunting hollow entrance provide permits/etc.? is it a staffed entrance?

do we need to coordinate this and/or how easy is it to do day of?

thanks – only been to coe once before & only via the main entrance

[Jay Wilkerson]

Carry it is a self registration entrance at Hunting Hollow–simple and easy!!!

[Ken Helwig]

Since the three of us are Saturday, should we all meet???

[Robert Blean]

Last weekend I was hiking in Joseph D. Grant park — the next one north in the same hills. Flowers were coming out, but clearly early in the season. Saw several kinds. Did not see any wild pigs, but did see where they have been rooting around under the oaks.

Wed in Ed Levin park, I saw more flowers. Still not up to the ridge, though. A couple of flocks of wild turkeys.

Yesterday (Sat) quite a few more flowers out. Some whole fields at the base. Not a lot, but some flowers up at ridge level. Again saw a couple of flocks of wild turkeys. Pretty impressive. Some displaying, plumage iridescent in the sun.

Looking forward to seeing what will be out at Coe.

— Bob

[Jay Wilkerson]

Hey Ken- I can meet you at Scotts Valley Diner-maybe Cary can leave his car at my house in Walnut Creek????

Cary what is your itinerary like on Saturday??

[cary bertoncini]

jay,

i probably won't know until close to day of as i have a lot of variables to play with (3 jobs, health, cats, wife's schedule, etc.) – we can maybe make a tentative arrangement, though

i'm going to see if i can get out of here either sometime friday or somewhat early on saturday, but i'm coming from sacramento, so the trailhead is over 2 hours away for me – close to 3 i think (i don't speed & couldn't if i wanted to anyway in my old rig – sometimes can't exceed 40 on uphills)

[Ken Helwig]

Scotts Valley Diner could work for me

[Jay Wilkerson]

Cary 3:00 is kinda-of a late start for me… If I read your email right.

Ken I will give you a call next week and we can pick a time
to get together. For some reson I thoght Scotts Valley was off the 101 hwy. My bad– Me stupid

-Jay

[cary bertoncini]

2-3 hours drive time i think

probably no later than noon for me to get there

hopefully earlier if fortuna's wheel is kind

[Ken Helwig]

no worries Jay, I thought that was a little off. I can meet up with you in Morgan Hill or Gilroy. Don't know of any places to have breakfast, but there is a In/Out Burger joint on Cochrane!!!!!!

[Nate Meinzer]

Okay, so I'm definitely on for the trip and bringing my friend Will. Is everyone coming decked out with their Bushbuddy and alcohol stove, etc.? Because if so, can I just bum hot water off someone else? Seemed like we had an excessive amount of cook stoves last time…..in return I'll let whoever wants use my titanium pot, which is not really mine, but Will's, as I prefer the Heineken one. (You catch that Jay?)

[Ken Helwig]

Let's move discussions about the trip at the end of the month back over to here???? Seems we are hi-jacking someone elses thread.
Nate, if you need to use my stove no big deal.

[Robert Blean]

To get this back into the proper thread, I am replying over here.

Jay,

Nice pictures — I did not know we had horny toads around here.

"Coit Lake has large flat area with a bench, restroom with paper–plenty of room for tents. I am easy–I am just happy to be backpacking in March… I am for the greater good of the group"

N.B. According to the park map, Kelly Lake also has an outhouse :)

Given Cary's concerns, your willingness to be flexible, and that we would rather not change the plan to exclude Cary, lets let Cary make the choice.

The route to both places is the same until just before Kelly Lake. The actual decision need not be made until here as long as we decide how to rendezvous.

Assuming we take the Wagon Road to the Crest Trail, the choices from the split point (Crest Tr / Kelly Lake Tr jct) are:

* Kelly Lake trail to the Kelly Lake Outhouse — 1.2 mi, 680' descent

* Crest Tr to Coit Rd and turn left to the Kelly Lake Outhouse — 1.6 mi, 680' descent — a little longer than choice #1, but visibly less steep down hill

* Crest Tr to Coit Rd and turn right to the Coit Lake Horse Camp (which is where I am assuming the referenced table is) — 1.4 mi, 480' descent — on the map, this looks like the least, and gentlest, down hill of all of the choices.

Cary … we do want you to come … those are the choices that I see. Comments?

— Bob

[Ken Helwig]

Bob that sounds great!

[cary bertoncini]

did i read that right

i hadn't looked at a map, just assumed more

if it's only .2 miles longer to one than the other, then i have no preference

if it's more than a mile more, i prefer the shorter :)

[Robert Blean]

Yes, you read that right — someone else can double-check me, but unless I misread something those are the facts.

Probably my fault — I never looked that closely at it before — Kelly Lake just looked closer. Besides, I was looking at TOPO!, not that park map, and so did not examine individual trail segment mileages. Just the overall mileage. Today I got the Coe Park map out and examined the exact segment mileages for the parts in question.

Given your past comments, you may also like the reduced / easier down hill.

Sounds like it is Coit Lake then. Cary is on board with it, and others prefer it.

— Bob

[Ken Helwig]

I am fine with whatever route we take. Carry whichever you pick is fine!

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