Find hiking, biking, climbing and more at South Valley parks
By Anthony Ha
A place as big as Henry Coe State Park doesn’t reveal its treasures at a glance.
“If you drive up there, look out the window and say, ‘Is that all there is?’ you’re missing the boat,” Morgan Hill resident Ron Erskine said. “Get on a bike, get on a horse or start walking.”
Erskine has found plenty to love about Coe, which lies about 10 miles east of both Gilroy and Morgan Hill. After all, he’s volunteered there for the past 16 years, clearing trails, leading hikes and helping to prepare a 10-minute video introduction to the park. Last year, Erskine went backpacking through the park’s less-traveled paths, and said it was the perfect escape.
“I never saw a soul,” he said.
With 90,000 acres of wilderness – Park Ranger Barry Breckling noted that’s three times the size of San Francisco – Coe is a great choice for such getaways, but South Valley residents actually have a wide-ranging menu when it comes to getting away from it all.
Southern Santa Clara County has lakes full of fishing and swimming opportunities, and the new Coyote Lake-Harvey Bear Ranch also features facilities for biking and horseback riding. San Benito County, meanwhile, includes several smaller state parks – Fremont Peak, a top spot for local hikers, and the Hollister Hills State Recreation Area, with 2,400 acres available for motorcycle and ATV riders to get down and dirty – not to mention the majestic Pinnacles National Monument.
Even with all those options, however, it’s hard to resist the appeal of the South Valley’s two giant wilderness areas, Coe and Pinnacles, which draw visitors from throughout the region.
Erskine started volunteering at Coe because he knew other volunteers, but it was his love of the outdoors that kept him coming back. And his commitment isn’t limited to showing up for a couple of hours once or twice a year. In order to maintain his status as a “uniformed volunteer,” Erskine has to put in about 50 hours of work a year, 20 of them behind the counter of the visitor center. However, he noted that beyond the time spent in the visitor center, there’s a lot of flexibility about how he gets to help out.
“The beauty is that you can do almost anything you want within the confines of the term ‘interpretation,'” he said. “Imagination is your only limit.”
When asked what keeps him committed to Coe, Erskine said it’s the big, wild countryside – where visitors can find elk, bobcats and coyotes – that he loves. In this case, at least, size does matter.
“Coe is just a lot of country,” he said.
Volunteers are a big part of what keeps Coe running – in addition to their work in the park, they also are the main movers behind the Pine Ridge Association, which supports the park and runs its Web site – but they’re not the only ones devoted to it. Breckling, for example, has been a ranger at Coe for more than a decade.
“Once I got here, I had no desire to go anyplace else,” Breckling said.
Although Coe offers facilities for swimming, fishing and horseback riding, Breckling said the most popular activities include backpacking, day hiking and bird-watching. Spring is the park’s peak season, and although you won’t be seeing hordes of visitors gathered in one location anytime soon, Breckling said he is a little concerned that the main parking lot may eventually fill up. He pointed out that visitors can choose alternate routes into the park, such as the Hunting Hollow entrance near Gilroy.
Coe may soon be adding another attraction. The park recently purchased Gilroy Hot Springs, but the buildings need to be cleaned and renovated. Breckling said park officials estimate the hot springs will open in five years.
“That’s what I call five state years,” Breckling said. “With the way the parks service works, it’s more likely to be seven to 10 real years.”
Carl Brenner, Pinnacles National Monument’s director of education and interpretation, recently celebrated his eighth anniversary at the park. He previously worked in the Grand Canyon, but Brenner said San Benito County’s natural treasure can hold its own against the more famous canyon.
“This is an extremely special place,” he said.
One of Pinnacles’ greatest virtues, he said, is how different visitors can have different experiences. They can hike, catch a glimpse of the endangered California condors or scale massive rock walls. The park also offers a different experience depending on what time of year you come or whether you enter from the east or the west.
“It’s a completely different world every season,” Brenner said.
He added that people should consider visiting during the off-season – essentially, anytime but spring – in order to avoid sharing a hiking trail with dozens or even hundreds of other visitors.
The two park entrances, Brenner said, offer completely different experiences. The east side – closer to Hollister – offers narrow canyons, capturing the light of the sunrise, while the west side features open spaces and rolling hills.
“Personally, I like the west side because of all the open space,” Brenner said.
In addition to the natural beauty, Brenner touted Pinnacles’ history. After all, he said, you can walk among the rocks that helped prove the plate tectonic theory. The whole park, he added, offers a trip back in time.
“You can see the land as homesteaders saw it 100 years ago,” he said.
In fact, at a time of rapid development in the South Valley, the opportunity to step into a more natural past is a especially tantalizing.
“You always see something new (at Coe), but I think it’s a virtue that the park doesn’t change that much,” Breckling said. “This area has seen dramatic change, but the park has stayed the same for thousands of years.”
Park Facts
Coyote Lake-Harvey Bear Ranch
Activities: Fishing, boating, horseback riding, bicycling, hiking, camping
Size: 4,595 acres
Phone number: 408-842-7800
Web site: www.sccgov.org/portal/site/parks/
Fremont Peak State Park
Activities: Hiking, camping, stargazing
Size: 159 acres
Phone number: 831-623-4526
Web site: www.parks.ca.gov/?page_id=564
Henry Coe State Park
Activities: Hiking, backpacking, camping, bicycling, fishing, horseback riding
Size: 87,000 acres
Phone number: 408-779-2728
Web site: www.coepark.org
Hollister Hills State Recreation Area
Activities: Motorcycle and ATV riding, bicycling, hiking, camping
Size: 3,200 acres
Phone number: 831-637-3874
Web site: www.parks.ca.gov/default.asp?page_id=404
Pinnacles National Monument
Size: 26,000 acres
Activities: Hiking, rock-climbing, camping, bird and wildflower watching
Phone number: 831-389-4485
Web site: www.nps.gov/pinn/
FAVORITE ACTIVITIES
– Bicycling – Henry Coe
State Park
“There’s lots and lots of trail. If you’re fit and willing to deal with some tough terrain, it’s an incredible place out there. … Not too far from the south entrance, there are some nice loops, and it’s not as crowded as Santa Cruz would be. The wildlife is incredible, too.”
– Brian Lucas, Off the Chain Bikes, Hollister
– Fishing – Coyote Lake-Harvey Bear Ranch
“When I go to the Coyote reservoir, I usually do pretty good. I’m a tournament fisher, so it’s kind of like a playground. … I fish mainly bass there. It’s a place to go, relax and have some fun.”
– Ken Aloerton, Hollister Bait & Tackle
– Hiking – Pinnacles National Monument and Henry Coe State Park
“I like the Juniper Canyon and High Peaks Trails in Pinnacles, and the Old Hobbes Road in Coe. Those are my definite favorites. During the wintertime especially, it’s nice to go up on these high ridges and see those nice views. You just feel good to see the clouds.”
– Ron Williams, Get Outta The House hiking club, San Jose
– Horseback Riding – Coyote Lake-Harvey Bear Ranch
“It’s a beautiful ranch with trails for horses and bikes. It has some really great hills. My brother rode up there and had a blast. He says it’s really nice.”
– Julie Carreiro, Animal Control Director, Hollister
