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Henry Coe State Park, CA

At around 88,000 acres, Henry Coe State Park is the second largest state park in California. It is within the greater San Francisco Bay Area located to the east of Morgan Hill and Gilroy. In spite of its size and proximity, few people in the Bay Area have even been aware of its existence, though that may change due to the Lick fire that started there on Labor Day, September 3, 2007.

The first time I went there was in September 2006. I arrived mid-afternoon and did a short hike up to the Ponderosa Loop, not far from the park’s main headquarters.  My first impression was of a hot, dry, and dusty place and I wasn’t sure if I liked it. But I bought a map and talked to the park rangers and found that the park had a lot of hiking trails and I was just getting into hiking.

Since then I have returned to Henry Coe numerous times to hike and explore the park and it has grown on me to the point where of all the numerous parks in the Bay Area, it is flat out my favorite. I love Henry Coe State Park and now that I have explored some of its trails, I plan to explore it with my camera here.

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Dreamy spot along the Phegley Trail, Hunting Hollow entrance

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Frosty morning at the Hunting Hollow corral

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Three trees along Wagon Road, from Hunting Hollow

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Hiking down the Phegley Trail to Hunting Hollow

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Grove of oaks on the Phegley Trail

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Western view out from the Phegley Trail

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Ponderosa Loop near the main Henry Coe Entrance

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Along the Ponderosa Loop, one week before the Lick fire

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Along the Ponderosa Loop trail

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Hobbs Road, just down from the Henry Coe Monument (digital)

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A stand of pines along the Ponderosa Loop

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Old snag at the Ponderosa Loop (digital)

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Along Manzanita Point Road, digital photo, 2007-11-17

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Along the Forest Trail, digital photo, 2007-11-17

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Along the Ponderosa Loop Trail, digital photo, 2007-11-17

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Along the Forest Trail, digital photo, 2007-11-17

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Along the Ponderosa Loop, digital photo, 2007-11-24

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Along the Ponderosa Loop, digital photo, 2007-11-24

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Yes, I took the picture on the left. The scene is along Mazanita Point Road at Henry Coe State Park.  I took the picture with a Canon digital SLR on 17-Nov-2007.  However, I cannot take complete credit for the image as a lot of the Photoshop editing was performed by John Barclay.  You can view some of his fantastic work on his site at www.barclayphoto.com.

John looked at my original image and among other things, cropped it, added in soft focusing, and enhanced the colors. But the story doesn’t end there. My neighbor, Andrew Hale, looked at it and added in some of his touch, and cropped it some more.   The final picture?  I like it!

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