The long Memorial Weekend approached and my original plan to climb Mt Shasta wasn’t going to happen. The low snow fall this winter had left the mountain very bare and dangerous. Maybe a late summer climb may happen, but without enough snow late spring was out of the question for me.

I went through my options and the places needing permits were full and the conditions in the Tahoe Desolation Wilderness were questionable enough that I didn’t want to chance it.

I settled on Henry W Coe State Park south of San Jose near Gilroy. No permits needed and some great out of the way trails for me to explore. I had gone two years ago and went out to Pacheco Falls and back via Wilson Peak over three nights.

The lack of winter rains meant that the falls may not even be flowing, but there were plenty of new areas to explore.

I decided to start by going down Hunting Hollow and up Redfern Trail to a peak near Redfern Pond. This was the first possible stop for the first night, but I also could continue deeper into the wilderness to Vasquez or Rock Springs Peaks.

The morning started with a thick cloud hovering over my head as I hiked down the flat Hunting Hollow Trail and turned up Redfern Trail. I soon climbed the steep ridge up into the clouds. So, wasn’t much to see as I reached the high point and took a break.

It was still 11am at that point, so stopping there would be very an early end to the day. So I decided to continue my route towards Vasquez Peak. Unfortunately, this meant a long descent and re-climb.

Fortunately, the skies had started to clear up and give me a view of the area. Unfortunately, that also meant the heat from the sun started to warm me up.

But the hike over was pretty nice and easy, so I reached the top of Vasquez Peak mid-afternoon. Enjoying the view and taking a lot of pictures (since I was still testing my new Panasonic camera), I looked around for someplace to camp, but there wasn’t really any good places near that peak.

So, I decided to continue along the ridge to Rock Springs Peak. I reached it and enjoyed the view some more.

At that point, a pretty strong and cold wind had started blowing across the ridge. That was one problem with camping at the top of high points, if there was significant wind it made camping tricky.

I couldn’t find a spot that was sheltered from the wind that also had a good view of the spot where the sun would set that night and then rise again the next morning. So, I settled on a mostly flat area behind a tree. It was sheltered enough that I could get my tent setup in the wind without it flying of to who-knows-where. I’d just need to walk a few feet to see the sun set and then a few dozen feet to see the sunrise.

Oh, the horror. 🙂

As I ate dinner, I discovered that I might not actually have reached Rock Springs Peak after all. My GPS maps showed it as the nearby mound that was the high point for that part of the ridge. But when I looked at the hiking map provided by the state park, it showed Red Springs Peak further towards the east and apparently on private property. I didn’t feel like checking it out that evening, so I decided it would be worth a short hike in the morning before breaking camp.

So, I settled in to enjoy the sunset and had some great views of the sun as it set near Wilson Peak to the west. As I discovered on my other recent hikes, my Panasonic camera took a little more work to get good sunset pictures.

Right as the light show was finishing up, the low cloud cover started to roll over the ridge I was on. It wasn’t long before I couldn’t see anything beyond the immediate area. I went to bed thankful that the cloud hadn’t moved in until after the sun had set.

I then wondered if the morning would still be cloudy to rob me of the sunrise. My two night expeditions to water the bushes were similarly foggy, also making me worry.

Waking up about a half hour before sunrise, I poked my head out of my tent and was thrilled to see clear sky around me.

The clouds weren’t gone, but had lowered closer to the lower valley floors around me. It was an impressive ‘sea of clouds’ that surrounded the tiny islands I stood on. A nice surprise to wake me up.

I walked a little bit around the trees I had slept under and saw the sun rise over what I now thought was probably the real Rock Springs Peak. Very nice morning as the light illuminated the area and the clouds covering the valleys around me.

One major problem I had was that my Panasonic camera seemed to be foggy INSIDE the lens. So at first, the pictures were foggy and out of focus. Eventually it cleared up, but I was very worried that the lens wasn’t properly sealed from the elements. Considering some of the extreme dusty and moist location I traveled to, this could be a big problem.

After breakfast, I hiked towards Rock Springs Peak and confirmed it was on private property. It was also covered in tall trees, so wouldn’t have had a view if I could get to the top anyway. I felt a little solace in knowing that.

My original destination for the second night was going to be Wilson Peak. While I had camped at the top my previous time in this park, it was a great place to camp and also would give me a real short hike on the final day to get back to the Hunting Hollow trail head. Since, Monday was supposed to be very hot that was a great reason to spend thew second night there.

The problem was that was only 4 miles to hike and not even a lot of descending and climbing to make it more of a challenge. I looked for alternate routes that might be more interesting or take more of the day, but nothing really looked like a good alternative.

So I decided on going across to Wilson Camp. Fortunately, I had enough water for the previous day, night, and morning before I could filter the water from the spring near the camp to fill up my Camelbak. There was a pond near Wilson Peak, but I always prefer running water vs stagnant pond water when I had a choice.

The camp looked like it was an old horse camp or old ranch that became a horse camp. It had a nice picnic table to take a break on as well as a pit toilet to use. In the wilderness, you try to make use of the little luxuries when you come across them.

Then it was a short climb up along Steel Ridge before reaching an easy horizontal stroll before I reached Wilson Peak. By that time, I was very glad I decided on a short hike that day since it had gotten very hot and it wasn’t even noon yet.

I enjoyed the view from the top of Wilson Peak and then had to decide on where to setup my camp. I could have easily returned to my Jeep that afternoon, but had no desire to cut my trip short.

The last time I had setup my tent right next to the benchmarks that identified the top of the peak. But that was a cooler day and not that windy. It had actually rained a little that time. No chance of that on this hot and dry day.

Without any tree cover at the exact summit, I decided to camp in a little group of trees a little way from the summit. No direct view of the sunset or sunrise from there, but it was only a half minute walk to the summit and would be easy to go up there as much as I wanted, but still enjoy the shade from the trees covering my campsite.

It was a nice afternoon of rest and views from the top.

After dinner, I had a great night enjoying the spectacular light from the sunset. Well worth the wait. The entire evening was great with some views of the San Jose city lights as well as the wilderness around me. Even some overnight stars to enjoy as I watered the bushes. The morning skies were clear as well, so the sunrise over the eastern sky was great. Maybe not as great as the sea of clouds the prior morning, but a great way to end this short backpacking trip.

I think at that point I had decided to return my Panasonic camera. The internal fog inside the lens the prior morning and some of the other quirks finally outweighed the benefits of the large sensor. Unless I found something nicer in the next week, I’ll just get another Sony HX99.

To get back to my Jeep, there were three routes down. Two I had used the previous trip, but the third was a bit steep in comparison. Since I was feeling pretty good and had the entire day, I decided on skipping all three and going down the Spike Jones Trail to the Coyote Creek entrance. It would mean about a 2 mile hike down the road to get back to my Jeep, but it looked like a nice hike overall. I had actually thought of starting my hike going up in that direction, but decided on the hike down to and up Redfern Trail instead.

It was a nice hike, made better by a good deal of it being under the shade of nice trees. Since it was even hotter than the previous day, it was a nice break and nice way to end the trip.

Short hike, but a good way to break in and test some of my new gear. In addition to my decision to return my Panasonic camera, I also decided my Zpack Arc Haul wasn’t going to work long term for me. It just wasn’t comfortable for long hikes and I didn’t see it working on even longer trips that this one where I’d be carrying even more weight.

So, I’ll probably get a new Osprey Exos 58 like my old one. Since the new Exos removed the waist pockets and didn’t have as many external pockets, I’d probably end up using the removable waist pockets and side upper pockets from the Zpack to augment the new Exos. A month from my week-long Yosemite trip and I still have to get a new camera and pack. Fun. 🙂