His Waypoints blog confirms my observation: it’s a pretty slow season out there.
I had been talking to Dave, my brother in law, about the wildflowers at Henry Coe. They don’t usually go there, but after my brilliant reomendation we made plans for a hike first week of April which is usually quite good. We can usually do a nice casual headquarters loop to see great displays of many species. Middle ridge, Flat frog, Fish trail, Spring trail, and others can be used to bring hikers past profusions of Ground Iris, Larkspur, carpets of Gila and Goldfields, and a whole tantalizing variety. These trails in close to park headquarters are all easy trails which anyone can hike. But, this year’s hike was quite disappointing in comparison. We saw most of the same varieties, but far less than I have ever seen there. Many species were in evidence, but still not blooming despite the fairly good sunshine. My reputation in taters, we made the best of it and had a good time.
If Henry Coe isn’t putting on a show, you know it’s a meager year (on the upside, typos like “My reputation in taters…” always make me smile. I’m hoping Randy has the good humor to leave it intact.)
Oh my, Tom, I did my first ever backpack into Henry Coe this past weekend, packing it into Hoover Lake, and I saw wildflowers everywhere. I imagine there have been better displays in years gone by but it in the 2 and half years I have been going there, Henry Coe was the prettiest I have ever seen it. The Park was amazingly beautiful!!!!! The grass was lush green, wildflowers, individually and in carpets were everywhere, and even the trees all had a special luster to them. And the cool weather with clear blue skies and scattered puffy white clouds just made it spectacular beyond belief. I met a woman back at park headquarters who was visiting Henry Coe for the first time and she broke down and cried over the beauty she saw just from a short 2 mile hike from park HQ. I don’t know how much longer the current luster will last but if you haven’t been there recently, GO!
And by the way, my Mac died and I haven’t been able to update my own website for some time. Eventually I’ll get a new one and try to catch it up. But go to Henry Coe!
By the way, here is a recent link I saw from an email from BayAreaHiking:
http://picasaweb.google.com/masonse/HenryCoeHike4509And41109?authkey=Gv1sRgCMHt89GQurePhQE&feat=directlink#
Henry Coe is BEAUTIFUL!
I’d have to say that I thought Sunol (2 weeks ago) and Pinnacles (this last weekend) where the best I’ve seen in quite a few years. On the 25th, I’ll check out Grant Ranch, and the week after I’ll check out Russian Ridge. If anyone else finds particularly lush flower displays nearby (Silicon Valley), I’d like to know about them.
IMHO its been a spotty year, some areas have been incredible, some have been lackluster.
The generational Merced River Canyon display early last month was simply breathtaking, but most of the desert parks that I visited last week were middleing to unimpressive.
Hoping to get a Coe outing in before the season’s over, but got a Ventana trip scheduled for this weekend.
Seems a mixed season to me too – Sunol was wonderful on April 4th, Point Reyes was decidedly “meh” on March 28, Edgewood seemed about average (which is to say, pretty darned good).