Henry Coe State Park - China Hole Loop
(January 13, 2002 [Sunday])

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On Sunday, January 13, 2002, 11 hikers woke up early in the morning, in the midst of the fog, met at Bijan around 8AM and decided to go hiking at Henry Coe State Park.  This is the largest state park in northern California at 81,000 acres, and is located about 35 minutes off 101 and Morgan Hills.  The starting elevation at the visitor center is 2,640 ft, where we parked.  We took the Corral Trail, then Manzanita Point Road, then Madrone Soda Springs Trail, and then the Mile Trail, to arrive at the destination "China Hole".  China Hole is simply a deeper-than-usual section of the Coyote Creek.  It holds water even in late fall when all the creeks have dried up.  This time, the creeks held plenty of running water and we had lots of fun crossing it at least a dozen times, as the trail winds around the creek.

On the way to the park, we saw at least a dozen wild turkeys, right there on the side of the road!  Pretty neat!  Oh, we had a new hiker - Kristina, please welcome her to future hikes.  Not a single complaint from the newcomer :)  So, if you have a friend that wants to try hiking, there's plenty of complaints stored up for the next new hiker =P  It took us about 2 hours to get to China Hole, which is at an elevation of 1,160 ft.  This meant a descent of about 1,500 ft from the starting point.  We had lunch on some boulders surrounding China Hole, as you'll see in the pictures.  It was a relaxing hike - till we had to head back to the visitor center.  If people were lookiing to burn some calories after the holidays, this sure was a great way to do so.  We hiked up China Hole Trail and then Manzanita Point, and finally Corral Trail back to the parking lot.  The total distance is about 10 miles, or 5 miles each way.  But I'm sure most felt the hike back from China Hole felt like 10 miles in itself as the climb up was pretty strenuous for a while.  Fortunately, the weather was pretty perfect - sunny but not too warm.  Lucked out again!  Where shall we go next?


 

To China HOle
China Hole
From China Hole

This hike's participants:  Duc & Yen-Chi, Arthur & Tracie & Ryan, Kristina, Greg, Jenny, Hoa, Roger, Paul.
This hike's summary:  10 mile loop, 1,500 ft elevation change - (moderate to strenuous)

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