Day 8: China Hole, Henry Coe State Park, to home in downtown San José by bicycle, via Coyote Creek Trail
The swelling on the bottom of my foot makes hiking the bike for a few miles up out of the canyon at China Hole really awkward, but I limp along and enjoy the ride back down to Silicon Valley afterward. 43.7 bicycle miles.
Fortunately, no big Henry Coe brush fire has started this morning while I hike and bike up Manzanita Point Road toward headquarters, which is what happened while I was leaving the Park on this same route at the end of last year's trip.
|
Date: September 07, 2008, 08h41
Size: 21 items
|
Morning at China Hole: too many flies buzzing around to enjoy morning here, so I try to pack up as quickly as possible and leave
Of course, this still takes me a while, and I eat a quick breakfast and make a cup of good coffee anyway. An early mountain biker comes down the trail and waves "hello" as he passes, the first other person that I've seen up close in a week.
Date: September 07, 2008, 08h57
|
View down the canyon behind my tent site at China Hole, Henry Coe State Park
Lee pointed out to me in an e-mail that the plants shooting up through the grass-like tufts here are a different plant than the tufts below (I had thought they were all part of the same plant).
Date: September 07, 2008, 09h37
|
A few yellowjackets are still buzzing around the ground near my tent, feeding on this "leaf"
It's not until after I take this close-up shot that I realize that this is not a leaf, but a dead cricket of some kind that the yellowjackets are slowly feasting upon. No wonder they're still here!
Date: September 07, 2008, 10h23
|
I finally get the 10-ton bike packed up and snap one last photo before departing China Hole
It was pleasantly cool overnight, but the canyon is heating up substantially now that the sun is starting to shine down here. Time to get out and away from all the flies here!
Date: September 07, 2008, 10h24
|
I start limping up China Hole Trail with the 10-ton bike
This lower part of the trail is rather steep, so excellent vistas back down into the canyon present themselves almost instantly.
Date: September 07, 2008, 10h46
|
I come around a switchback and can see back down to China Hole below
After a tough, but rewarding and enjoyable, week at Henry Coe Park, I hate to be on my way home, and leaving the Park behind me.
Date: September 07, 2008, 10h42
|
I bend around a switchback in another of my favourite stretches of China Hole Trail as I limp along upward
I'm a fan of chamise and ceanothus chaparral like this, which is a common vegetation type on hillsides in the California coast ranges.
Date: September 07, 2008, 11h07
|
China Hole Trail passes briefly through a stand of manzanitas
The trail will pass through a denser, shadier stand of manzanitas shortly, but there will be a bit a more open chamise chaparral on the way to there from here.
Date: September 07, 2008, 11h16
|
Rising higher on China Hole Trail, I still have some grandiose views down into the Coyote Creek canyon below
This won't last much longer though, as I enter more manzanita forest and get on the ridge that climbs toward Park headquarters.
Date: September 07, 2008, 11h37
|
China Hole Trail passes through a lot of chamise again before entering another manzanita-dominated area
The manzanita grove ahead is marked by all the lighter green leaves pushing above the carpet of chamise chaparral.
Date: September 07, 2008, 11h46
|
Now I pass through my most favourite part of China Hole Trail, "the manzanita tunnel"
The manzanita growth seems slightly less dense than what I remember from last year. Faulty memory perhaps, but some trimming may have been done, either by maintenance crews or last year's brush fire.
Date: September 07, 2008, 11h52
|
Looking back down toward the canyon across to Willow Ridge from Manzanita Point Road, about 1100 feet above China Hole
The road is actually flat for a brief stretch here on the ridge, but that doesn't last of course! The last couple of miles up Manzanita Point Road climb a few hundred feet more on the way to Park Headquarters.
Date: September 07, 2008, 12h20
|
|