Apr 26 2010
Backpacking at Henry Coe
This past weekend I went on my first backpacking trip in the hilly terrain of Henry Coe State Park. It was incredible, and really gave me some perspective on what “real” camping is like. We were originally registered to participate in the Backcountry weekend, which is a section of the park that is only opened one weekend per year. However, some rain during the week made the road inaccessible, so that was cancelled. We still had a blast in the front section of Henry Coe, though!
We left work a bit early and arrived at the Hunting Hollow entrance around 5pm. After some preparations, we began the 3 mile, 1800-foot elevation gain hike to Wilson’s Peak – our first campsite. We didn’t fully realize it at the time, but this was by far the hardest portion of trail on the entire trip. Luckily we made it there by 7:30pm, or just as the sun was setting. We got our tents up and enjoyed a hearty dinner. I slept pretty well until about 4am, when it started getting really cold. I finally just got up at 6am to wait for the sun. I sat on a rock in the middle of the hillside on top of the peak and waited for some much needed solar radiation. It was an amazing time of solitude.
Finally, the sun came out and we made some oatmeal and protein bars for breakfast. My friend had a pretty sweet miniature stove made out of soda cans, and it did an excellent job of heating whatever we needed.
On Saturday, we made our way over the Kelly Lake. Luckily the elevation changes were only +/- 400 feet or so. The view from hiking along the mountains was really awesome. We were above the distant clouds at several points. There were also several different types of flowers growing on the hillside. It was really cool to witness such beauty with really no one else around. When we got to Kelly Lake, however, there were about 20 other people with tents set up. We had a nice lunch of apples and peanut butter, along with some various other goodies that we had packed, then set up camp. We got a prime location next to the water, complete with a large log that we relaxed on. After we dropped our gear, we hiked a few miles further, around Coit Lake. We saw several other hikers, and even a snake on the trail!
The next day we hiked the entire distance back to the parking lot, but it was much easier because it was downhill most of the way. It was an awesome trip, and taught me that backpacking is truly something that I would like to do more of in the future. Oh, and I finally have a new Facebook profile picture.