Henry Coe - First Hike From Dowdy Ranch

It's Saturday, May 3rd, and as I pull into the Dowdy Ranch Day Use lot, I revel in the fact I'm at Henry Coe's eastern entrance a mere three hours after its opening for the season. I register at the visitor center (barely a year old and still looking pristine), pay the five-dollar day-use fee, and ask the rangers for some hiking suggestions.

"Something in the neighborhood of ten miles," I say after one asks me how far I want to go.

She points me to a seven-mile counter-clockwise loop consisting of the Max's Corral, North Fork, Scherrer, Center Flats, and Hersman Trails. "You'll get some nice views," she says.

The other ranger pipes in, "I always tell people to bring plenty of water and beware of the hills."

"Are they like Hobbs Road?" I say with a shudder, thinking of the tortuously steep trail by Coe Headquarters.

"Not as steep, but more sustained," says the ranger.

I thank them, return to the car for my boots and poles, and head for the trail at the end of the lot, near the restroom and picnic area.

I start down Max's Corral Trail and immediately lose the trail. Instead of one clear path through the field of tall grass, there are several paths. It's the first democratically chosen trail I've ever encountered. I'm not sure how the exact process works, but I believe whichever way receives the most votes (or boots) becomes the newly elected trail.

For an entire minute, I stand in the field with a lost look on my face. I then remember the ranger's advice to keep an eye out for brightly colored tape tied to trees. "They mark the way", he said. I easily spot one and hurry in that direction, looking over my shoulder to see if anybody spotted my embarrassing moment of confusion.

Once out of the field, the trail choices narrow to one unmistakable path of trodden grass. It winds its way down the hill in a series of easy switchbacks.

Down I go through what feels like an orchard. Near the end of my descent, I pass a barbed wire fence and come across another field of tall grass. I hear the sound of running water ahead of me and soon encounter the North Fork Pacheco Creek, which I believe marks the start of the North Fork Trail.

The trail crosses the creek at least five times. I manage to keep my boots dry until the last pass, when my left foot decides it would be cool to be wet. Dumb foot.

In short order, I reach the Tie Down Trail junction. Here, I decide to visit Tie Down Peak and an unnamed pond just off Yellowjacket Trail.

I climb the Tie Down Trail and soon begin to see parts of the Kaiser Aetna Road across the valley. As I get higher and begin to wind my way around the peak, I catch a glimpse of the Dowdy Ranch restroom and picnic area.

Despite being so close to the peak, I can't find a safe way to scramble to the top, so I make the downward detour to what I'll informally call Yellowjacket Pond, a small body of brown water that is home to many dragonflies.

I snack before backtracking to the North Fork Trail. A quarter of a mile later, I'm at the impossible-to-miss Kaiser Aetna Road. I encounter the only other people I'll see on the trail all day: two hikers and two bikers.

I wander up the road, searching for the Scherrer Trail and come across a signpost that simply says "Trail". No apparent trail appears anywhere in the vicinity of the sign, but according to my map, this is the spot where the trail should start.

For three seconds, I contemplate returning to the ranch by way of the boring road. Then I dive into the brush.

I climb what looks like a potential path. It's entirely uphill and I soon begin to have serious doubts about the wisdom of my decision. Nothing indicates the existence of a trail. There is a striking absence of brightly colored tape anywhere.

I gain a little confidence when I reach a clearing at the top of a rise and see a faint path through the grass leading to what the map says should be Scherrer Lake. A feeling of joy sweeps over me as the lake comes into view.

I spend a few minutes here before returning to the "main trail". The next mile goes slowly as I climb what seems like an endless series of hills, guided only by my map and an improvised GPS device I build on the spot using three twigs, half a Clif Bar, my left sock, and a dime. At one point, I notice a series of trees with tape tied to them, but they lead off into grassy oblivion.

The climbing starts to take its toll and I'm just beginning to believe it might never end when, out of nowhere, the Center Flats Road appears. By sheer luck, I come out right where the road and the other end of the Scherrer Trail meet. I know this because a sign with a words "Scherrer Trail" duct taped to it says so. I wonder if the lack of a permanent sign is a budgetary issue or a certainty issue.

The road has a mild downhill slope to it and I follow it all the way until I reach the Hersman Trail. The prominent restroom/picnic area is in sight the entire way.

I wander down the Hersman Trail, another obscure, single-track affair, make a quick detour to see Hersman Pond (it's dry), and soon find myself back on the Kaiser Aetna Road, just two-tenths of mile from Dowdy Ranch.

Back at the lot, I sit a spell at one of the many picnic tables and scour the map for potential hiking destinations the next time I pass this way. Pacheco Falls and Mustang Peak are two strong candidates. Soon afterwards, I hop in my car and slowly make my way back down to Bell Station, Highway 152, and civilization.

You can see a few more photos from the hike on Flickr.