I went out from Coe Headquarters and made a dry stealth camp about 1/2 mile from Cougar Trail above China Gap Saturday night.
Sunday AM i went down to China hole and walked along the narrows of the East Fork of Coyote creek.
There were many pools of water in coyote creek all skimmed over by a thin layer of ice.
Rock formations are really interesting in the narrows.
Climbed Willow ridge and found Willow Ridge Spring to be flowing at a single drop per second.. thankfully the spring tank was full and the water was quite clear despite the leaves and algea clinging to the side of the tank.
Willow Ridge was dry all the way to Coit lake but views of the snow capped sierra just barely visible in the east were quite a nice surprise.
I think there might be some bass in Coit lake as there were some huge splashes and kerplunks with no ducks in sight.
Kelly lake was also quite full but the surrounding cat tails make it difficult to access the water.. got some green floaties too, used polar pure on this stuff.
Made a really nice dry stealth camp up on peak 2657' along Coit road on Mahoney ridge.
Mahoney pond was quite low so i pushed on to Lost Spring for my next drink.
Lost spring was flowing at about 2 drops per second but like Willow, has a full 70 gallon spring tank.
This was the cleanest water of the trip and nice and cold too being in shade all day.
Passed through the Narrows again and then charged up Coit Road (steep!)
Temperatures ranged from 32 degrees at 8 am in China hole to 72 degrees up on Willow ridge at noon.
It was 45 degrees at 5 am at 2657 feet and 32 degrees at 1200 feet a few hours later.. the cold air really sinks and pools without any wind to stir things up. Camping up high really pays off in weather like this.
Awesome little get-a-way and just over an hour from home.
Lots more to see at COE and hoping to expand my journeys from there.
Should be lots more water after these next storms come through too.
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