China Hole
Cynicism and doubt on the way out to this pleasant and hidden ravine
Steep ridges, mad descents, blistering heat, and fighting off a wild boar,
are the risks we face to discover this interesting little speck on the map.
Okay, we didn't really fight off the pig, but a certain tension was there, and it seemed very upset.
Fortunately, he chose to run away, as any good wildlife should,
but I've stopped expecting that ever since running into the bobcat at Fremond Older!
Due to the speed and silence of mountain bikes, such close encounters with the wildlife
are something of a regular event, but one usually hopes for a deer or a fox,
and not something that can rip off your leg...
Photos
Click to expand
The oak savannas at the park entrance, high up along the ridgeline, where on sunny days cool winds still blow.
It might have still been warm, but far cry from Morgan Hill down in the valley below.
Strange, there are no wildflowers in bloom, where the spring bloom is usually intense by this time of year.
Heading down Manzanita Point Road toward the junction of Poverty Flat Road.
There is a female turkey in the shade. On the way back, in the evening, there were tons of wild turkeys,
males and femals all around us here.
Descending Poverty Flat Road. This is one of the moderate sections. In two particular parts it gets extremely
steep. All I can say is, better to go down it than go back up.
Poverty flat. Surprisingly, knowing this area, it really is flat!
But it hardly lasts longer than a couple hundred feet before the first of the steep climbing began up toward Jackass Peak.
Take a good look and enjoy this section while it lasts,
because this is the only part of Henry Coe I know that looks anything like this.
This is about halfway up the route to Jackass Peak. It's pretty steep climbing but nothing uncommon around here.
Wonder how it got its name?
Finally over Jackass Peak, dropping into the broader portions of the valley as Coyote Creek divides into
three tributories.
Descending to Los Cruzeros-- a broad, rolling valley right out
of the wild west.
From Las Cruzeros we climbed over a couple ridges, and up the dark, shadowy, steep, twisty, bug-and-poison-oak
infested Lost Springs Trail, up to Mahoney Ridge.
There we finally found our destination: the China Hole Trail. Fortunately, it's much gentler
and scenic as singletrack begins near the crest of Mahoney Ridge.
Looking down over Coyote Creek valley, wherein lies tucked China Hole--
a steep, green and rocky gorge within precipitous narrows.
The singletrack atop Mahoney Ridge is mellow and straight, before it begins the hairpin switchbacks down into the gorge.
You can potentially get moving pretty fast along the trail here, if you want.
Not far from here is where we encountered the wild pig, close up.
We also saw another family of them at a distance near the park headquarters.
This is at the start of the real descent, through a cathedral of manzanita into the valley floor.
So where are the shots of China Hole? I guess you'll need to go there yourself sometime.
Being so deep in the valley, the good light was long gone by the time we got down there.
But I'm sure we'll be back sometime to see it earlier in the day.
Fortunately, the mellow grade down to China Hole continued on up the other side, as we climbed 1200 feet to
Manzanita Point Road. The riparian forests at the bottom eventually thinned to dry chapparal, and the trail loosened
a bit with obvious erosions. Then it was good again as we passed through the Manzanita forest, and stretched out a bit
for the last 500 feet of climbing up Manzanita Point Road. There families of pigs and turkeys, even a fox,
roamed the meadows on this mellow evening in the spring.
(b. April 25, 2004)
Back to the Henry Coe.
Back to Gatetrails.com.
Heading down Manzanita Point Road toward the junction of Poverty Flat Road.
There is a female turkey in the shade. On the way back, in the evening, there were tons of wild turkeys,
males and femals all around us here.
Descending Poverty Flat Road. This is one of the moderate sections. In two particular parts it gets extremely
steep. All I can say is, better to go down it than go back up.
Poverty flat. Surprisingly, knowing this area, it really is flat!
But it hardly lasts longer than a couple hundred feet before the first of the steep climbing began up toward Jackass Peak.
Take a good look and enjoy this section while it lasts,
because this is the only part of Henry Coe I know that looks anything like this.
This is about halfway up the route to Jackass Peak. It's pretty steep climbing but nothing uncommon around here.
Wonder how it got its name?
Finally over Jackass Peak, dropping into the broader portions of the valley as Coyote Creek divides into
three tributories.
Descending to Los Cruzeros-- a broad, rolling valley right out
of the wild west.
From Las Cruzeros we climbed over a couple ridges, and up the dark, shadowy, steep, twisty, bug-and-poison-oak
infested Lost Springs Trail, up to Mahoney Ridge.
There we finally found our destination: the China Hole Trail. Fortunately, it's much gentler
and scenic as singletrack begins near the crest of Mahoney Ridge.
Looking down over Coyote Creek valley, wherein lies tucked China Hole--
a steep, green and rocky gorge within precipitous narrows.
The singletrack atop Mahoney Ridge is mellow and straight, before it begins the hairpin switchbacks down into the gorge.
You can potentially get moving pretty fast along the trail here, if you want.
Not far from here is where we encountered the wild pig, close up.
We also saw another family of them at a distance near the park headquarters.
This is at the start of the real descent, through a cathedral of manzanita into the valley floor.