Author Topic: Henry Coe State Park June 22, 2013  (Read 3719 times)

Skyline35

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Henry Coe State Park June 22, 2013
« on: June 23, 2013, 08:18:14 AM »
Ad hoc trailwork day on Phoneline Trail

A ride out and back to Phoneline Trail to do a little brushing.


Today was the day for the annual Stolstice Ride. To my surprise, the group was coming down the Lyman Willson Ridge Trail as I was on my initial climb. l to r, Tom, Roy, Brett, Marco:



Some links for this ride:
Henry W. Coe Soltice Ride 2013: It Could Be Worse (mtbr thread with a long write-up by Roy)
Roy's Strava
Roy's track on Open Street Map
Marco's Strava
Marco's track on Open Street Map
Brett's Strava
Brett's's track on Open Street Map

Fun to chat with them! Marco and Brett were waiting here because, as we found out later, Roy had stopped uphill to change worn-out brake pads. With 12,900' of descending ahead of him, good idea!



The White Tank Spring Trail sign was in sad shape:





Do I have to fix everything around here???





There is a spectacular California Mountain Mahogany bush on Rose Dam Trail:





Audacious!!!







So mid-way down Phoneline Trail, just after the three rollers, one has to bash through a field of Chamise. This is today's target:





And afterwards:



I didn't quite make through to the far end. Short by maybe 10 feet. It had been 90º, stagnate air on the hillside, and I was out of water, tired, and could feel a headache coming on. So I stopped. I'll be back another day…



Downhill from the Chamise field is a somewhat steep chute that takes you on down to the meadow section:





I cleaned this up before beginning on the Chamise Field:





Track data has me working on Phoneline from 12:45 to 3:45 pm. Felt much longer! Afterwards I took a one-hour break at Pacheco Camp. Filtered some water immediately upon arrival and drank it. Later I filtered some more for the ride back.

There was a cool wind hitting the ridge tops (some weather was beginning to arrive, light rain predicted for the next couple days) so I choose a route back that kept me on the ridges. Didn't descend until Dexter.....here's how it looked:




Start at Hunting Hollow » Hunting Hollow Road » Lyman Willson Ridge Trail » Bowl Trail » Willson Camp » Wagon Road » Fish & Game Trail » Coit Road » Coit Lake Perimeter Trail » Coit Dam Road » Willow Ridge Road » White Tank Spring Road » White Tank Spring Trail » Rose Dam Trail » Pacheco Creek Trail » Coit Road » Pacheco Ridge Road » Phoneline Trail - ad hoc trailwork » Pacheco Ridge Road » Ridge Trail » Pacheco Creek Trail » Pacheco Camp » Coit Road » Wagon Road » Wasno Road » Bovine Slalom » Dexter Trail » Grizzly Gulch Trail » Coit Road » Coyote Creek gate » Gilroy Hot Springs Road » Hunting Hollow parking. 28.19 / 4:57 / 10:42 / 5,068'

Link to Open Street Map


Gilroy:




Cordoza Ridge:




mudworm

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Re: Henry Coe State Park June 22, 2013
« Reply #1 on: June 24, 2013, 11:18:28 AM »
Charlie, it's so nice that you were there to greet them. And by the look of it, your photo was the only one that captured this year's Solstice riders. Precious!

And that plant! I saw it last weekend on my hike up Table Rock and was amazed by it, but what you saw was wilder. So pretty!

Well, as usual, thanks for your trail work!
Inch by inch, I will get there.

Skyline35

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Henry Coe State Park July 6, 2013
« Reply #2 on: July 07, 2013, 08:21:13 PM »
A continuation of the Phoneline Project…

After a week of 90º days, it's nice to have the AC (fog) back. Predicted max temp, 83º,  is within my operating range so I can pick-up where I left off on this one.

Hunting Hollow, 8am, is shrouded by fog, and the old ramada gone:



Are they building a replacement in the area inside the orange fencing on the left? There are a few large post holes there but that’s all.



I begin by climbing the Lyman Willson Ridge Trail and pop out of the fog at Bowl Trail:





On my way to Phoneline, I stopped near Wasno Pond and spent about an hour brushing Upper Kelly Cabin Canyon Trail. No pictures.


Okay, this is what I left undone last time. Doesn't look like much but actually there were many small Chamise shoots, lots of snip,snip,snip...





I think I got it perfect!:





I went back and widened some of the prior work here. I foresee branches from the plants along the edge of the trail flopping into the open area so I wanted to account for that. When I was done, I took one last "after" photo:



I was very happy with the results here.



As a reminder, the "before" for this spot (from 22 June 2013):





Next I rolled downhill to the other side of the meadow to the Chamise Tunnel which Greg B and I opened up last year and did some more brushing there. This is what it looks like:





At 5pm, I packed up and headed back. Water stop at Pacheco Camp and then return on my normal route. It’s the Saturday of a 4 day Fourth of July weekend and this was my 3rd day in a row riding. Usually that is a problem for me but today I felt pretty good, even at the end.

Descending Grizzly Gulch, I came upon a group of turkeys on the trail, tried to get a photo of them scurrying ahead of me:



…but they’re too far away (they're barely visible at the far end of the trail). While this was a Fail at photographing the turkeys, I think it nicely represents riding Grizzly Gulch late in the day.



Just when I'm thinking I can auto-pilot Grizzly Gulch the rest of the way back...ugh, a fallen Oak blocking the trail:





At that point, I wanted to just squeeze around it; it was getting dark and I was ready to end the ride. I stared at it for a few minutes then got the saw out…



Lots of small branches to snip-snip-snip. I was stopped here for 40 minutes. Still, I made it back to the car at 8:30pm, right about sunset on these long days.



I'm ending this week's report by giving the 2013 Phoneline Project the Completed stamp:



Yay!



Start at Hunting Hollow » Hunting Hollow Road » Lyman Willson Ridge Trail » Bowl Trail » Willson Camp » Wagon Road » Fish & Game Trail » Coit Road » Coit Lake Perimeter Trail » Coit Dam Road » Willow Ridge Road » White Tank Spring Road » White Tank Spring Trail » Rose Dam Trail » Pacheco Creek Trail » Pacheco Camp » Coit Road » Pacheco Ridge Road » Phoneline Trail - ad hoc trailwork » Coit Road » Pacheco Ridge Road » Ridge Trail » Pacheco Creek Trail » Pacheco Camp » Coit Road » Live Oak Spring Trail (lower) » Wagon Road » Tule Pond Trail » Grizzly Gulch Trail » Coit Road » Coyote Creek gate » Gilroy Hot Springs Road » Hunting Hollow parking.  29.30 / 4:51 / 12:04 / 5,455'


Gilroy:




Cordoza Ridge:








mynameismud

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Re: Henry Coe State Park June 22, 2013
« Reply #3 on: July 08, 2013, 07:17:10 AM »
Nice.
Here's to sweat in your eye

mudworm

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Re: Henry Coe State Park June 22, 2013
« Reply #4 on: July 08, 2013, 09:01:57 PM »
Thank you, Charlie!!!
Inch by inch, I will get there.