Me near Mississippi Lake

Once a year, Henry Coe State Park opens up the gate to the remote and less-traveled east side of the park, including Orestimba Wilderness. This Backcountry Weekend allows people to get in to the areas that would normally be accessible only by a minimum of a (long) full day’s hike, and that doesn’t include the exploration you would want to do once you get out there.

Passes for the Backcountry Weekend are available via a lottery process that begins in February, and the weekend usually falls at the end of April, prime time for enjoying the green and the wildflowers before the park gets painfully and dangerously hot.

Fire recovery

I scored a backpacking pass, so on Saturday morning a carload of us headed out to the park. We checked in at the Bell Station gate, then headed down Kaiser Aetna Road towards the Alquist Trailhead. I didn’t know what to expect, and was surprised at the lack of vehicles we saw on the way in. At the end of the road, however, there were dozens of vehicles crammed together along the road shoulder.

Dayhikers, car campers, and backpackers milled around, getting organized, meeting up, and ready to explore the Coe Backcountry. I can see why it has to be a lottery process – the space is rather limited and although cars could be parked almost anywhere along the road, organizing and parking them would be a nightmare if they let everyone in.

Our destination for the day was Mississippi Lake, and we took the Alquist Trail to County Line Road on the way in. The Alquist trail is a unique gem in the Coe trail system. It gently switchbacks up a ridge through fields of wildflowers and views into Orestimba Wilderness. It gains something like 700 feet from the bottom to the intersection with County Line Road, but I hardly noticed the climb, it was so well graded and pleasant.

Chinese Houses on Alquist Trail

For those not familiar with Henry Coe SP, I should tell you that from the main entrance the park trails generally run in an East to West direction. The problem is that the ridges in the park run from North to South. So to get anywhere, it’s likely a rollercoaster of a hike up and over ridges. I don’t believe the trail builders ever heard the term ‘switchback’ since most paths go steeply straight up and down. On top of that, it’s usually hot and sunny. The saying goes something like  “people don’t go to Coe to train for the Sierra, they go to the Sierra to train for Coe”.  Some of the steepest trails in the Bay Area are at Coe (see my trip report from Mt Sizer for details of those…)

With my prior experience with Coe trails, our route into Mississippi Lake was a pleasant surprise. Once we turned on County Line road we enjoyed a gently rolling ridge hike, and we arrived at Mississippi Lake still feeling fresh. We worked our way around the lake and eventually found friends who were meeting us there – they had scored a great campsite at this busy lake (only busy on the Backcountry Weekend, is my guess). Once we got settled in, we took off on a dayhike to the remote Bear Mountain.

Bear Mountain has been on my radar for a while and I was excited for the opportunity to approach it the ‘easy’ way, rather than via the long slog from headquarters. Truthfully, this ‘easy’ way won’t be easy much longer. From Mississippi Lake we walked about a mile up the trail to Bear Spring, then cross countried to Bear Mountain. Our route took us up to one ridge, down to a creek, and then up the steep southeast slope of the mountain. This route was passable only because of the 2007 fire – the thick coyote brush had burned away and we were easily able to find a route through the burned skeletons of the former thick wall of growth. Once the bushes grow back it will once again be impossible to pass.

With the satisfaction of bagging the mighty Bear Mountain, we returned to camp (after refilling our water supplies at the deliciously crisp and clear Bear Spring – didn’t want any more of that frog water from the lake), and settled in to a nice evening of celebrating Pavla’s birthday and watching the stars come out. I fell asleep to the sounds of frogs ribbiting away from the reeds nearby.

Coast Horned Lizard

Sunday’s hike back to the car from the lake was a bit more Coe-like than the way in. We took the steep steep steep Hartman trail, and then followed the road back along Orestimba Creek. Wildflowers were abundant on the Hartman Trail and we had it to ourselves. Once we picked up the road we joined the crowds of other Backcountry Weekend enthusiasts heading back to the cars. Bikers, backpackers, equestrians, fishermen, and dayhikers all seemed to be enjoying themselves. I can’t wait until next year’s BCW!

Henry Coe Backcountry Weekend (04.25-26.2009)

48 photos