Henry Coe State Park
Date: Sunday February 1, 2009Posted in: Uncategorized, Santa Clara County, Morgan Hill, Gilroy, Henry Coe State Park
My daughter was home this weekend, visiting from UCSB where she’s a freshman. I asked her what she’d like to do yesterday and she said that she’d like to go on a family hike. After the shock wore off that she didn’t say, “Go shopping,” we packed up some snacks and headed to Henry Coe State Park.
We have a treasure here in south Santa Clara County. Not only is Henry Coe State Park the largest state park in northern California, it is the second largest state park in all of California. Its 87,000 acres are covered with rugged terrain, beautiful vistas, meandering creeks, gorgeous flora and interesting fauna.
We drove to one of the Gilroy entrances called Hunting Hollow and began our ascent of Willson Peak. We climbed 2000 vertical feet in about 2.5 miles. Hard work, but the view at the top was worth it. From our 2,651 foot vantage point, we could see the snow covered peaks of the high Sierras all the way across the San Joaquin Valley. We only saw a few other hikers during our trek, and, considering what a beautiful day yesterday was, that is surprising.
Henry Coe State Park is an under-utilized gem here in the Bay Area and I feel fortunate to be able to claim it as one of the many fabulous assets that are offered to south county residents and visitors.
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