Henry Coe March Trip

Cary is right — it was a great trip.

Great weather, too. It's nice to have such a large wild are so close by our urban area — once you get much into it you can stand on a ridge an see no sign of man. One thing that trip established — even though Coe has a fearsome reputation for steep up-and-down travel, you can make a much more moderate trip if you string together staying as much on the ridges as you can. I'd even recommend filling your water containers late afternoon and then dry-camping up on a ridge — Nate and I did so Friday night; and night up there was just spectacular. Full hemispherical sky dome overhead.

If you recall from the start of this thread, one of the goals was to time the trip to catch good Spring wildflowers. I would say we did that — there was quite a bit of variety, and good quantity. One small white wildflower was so abundant that some hillsides looked as if they were covered with a heavy frost. One bush with white flowers was so fragrant that you could not help noticing the fragrance even tens of feet away (if you were downwind) — not to mention hiking the trail when that bush lined both sides of the trail. Vivid orange California poppy were mixed in with other flowers, making a striking, and very nice, contrast. Also some very large areas of pretty solid poppies — wow!

On the way out today, a deer stopped about 20 feet away from me, and looked me over very thoroughly — long enough that I was beginning to get a bit nervous wondering whether there was something wrong with the deer — before it bounded away. I have never has such a close-up view of a wild deer.

And Cary has the sharpest eyes for seeing the fauna — including snakes, lizards, turtles and other things that the rest of us missed. Among other things, he's the one that spotted the bobcat.

Cary, thanks for your earlier compliment. Glad the route worked out well.

–MV

Glad you guys had a good time. Sorry I was unable to make it. Most of the time work does not coincide with my free time. Oh well. Would love to see more pics guys!!!

Next Rancheria?????

Did any of you fish at Coit lake or notice if any one else was having any fishing success?

I caught a few bass at coit a month ago. I've had good luck fishing at every lake I've been to inside Henry Coe: Coit, Kelly, Mississippi and a few others whose names I forget at the moment.

the crappie were very active & i saw some bass, too

hardest part would be access – probably best to fish from a float tube or some such, as there are a lot of cattails & assorted other foliage around the lake

Here are some photos of the Coe trip….

Friday Night ridge-top campsite had a pretty amazing view…not a cloud in the sky:

Bob and Cary along Lyman Ridge Trail:

Cary harassing a snake:

And the highlight…the bobcat:

Hunting Hollow Trailhead

Hunting Hollow Trailhead

Oaks

Ridge Trail

I had excellent time-it was nice to meet Nathan, Bob and cary!!!!!

I really need to get myself out there.

Thanks for posting up all the photos.

What were the conditions like at night?

How cold?

Rain/moisture issues to deal with?

Love this time of the year when the hills are so green.

Would be hell to do Henry Coe in the summer time when it is all hot, dry and brown.

-Tony

It was warm at 7:30 a.m…..very little condensation/moisture issues, and it never really got cold. On the hike back, it was very hot, and the breeze was a relief. I'm sure there's a good month left before it gets miserable…..let me know if you want to hit up Rooster's comb as I've been thinking about getting out there before June.

Lets talk about that at Rancheria this weekend.

I'd really like to figure out how to have a nice bi-level Northern Coe trip after the Rancheria trip, but have not so much as looked into it on a map yet.

— Bob

Tony,

I just got home after spending five days backpacking/packrafting Henry Coe 4/14 – 4/18. Tuesday night (4/14) at 2,400' we had a snow storm with 45 mph winds hit at about 8 PM and below freezing temps that night. By contrast on Saturday in was in the 80s.

The pack rafts allowed us to ignore the tulle weeds and other brush that prevents fishing access most spots in the backcountry reservoirs and ponds. The fishing was excellent for bass and black crappie. We had all you can eat fish dinners each night.

They have trapped allot of the wild pigs out of the park but the rest of wildlife is plentiful and easy to spot.

Next weekend is the backcountry weekend and they allow 300 cars / 1,000 people to drive in via the Bell Station entrance. This is not a good time to find tranquility. The weekend after that is your best bet before the weather turns uncomfortably warm.

What lake did you fish at Richard? Whats your 007 Secret? I have fished twice over the years and did not even get nibble or snag!

Jay,

We focused on fishing Coit Lake. The 007 secret is taking in a packraft to achieve full access to the lake perimeter. Most of the lake’s edges are covered with tulles and they prevent shore access.

We averaged a large mouth bass for every two casts. They were so plentiful they were stunted in growth. The average size was only about 8". They were hitting colored spinners cast into the edge of the tulles.

The black crappies averaged 14" in length and were hitting mooched jigs. The crappies were at the edge of deep water drop offs when the sun was shining on the lake surface and then would move into the shallow parts of the lake in the early morning and late afternoon.

Richard's dead on about shore access, but it's not so bad without a boat. Generally each lake has a couple of spots that are accessible from shore. I've fished coit, kelly, mississippi, paradise, and some little pond a couple of miles from HQ. I use mepps spinners, raypalas and power bait. I typically get a fish about 1 in every 5-10 casts. My trick is to fish early mornings and evenings. Midday I can hardly catch a thing even when the fish are staring at me.

Thanks Richard and Nia for the great fishing information–I will be better prepared next outing!!!

-Jay