Completed: June 2, 2024 | Elevation: 3,216′ | Trail: Corral > Flat Frog > Frog Lake > Hobbs Road > Blue Ridge > Monument | Distance: ~14.4 miles (out and back)
We did it! This weekend we reached the top of Mount Sizer, our fifth and final peak inside Henry Coe State Park. It was the hardest of all the Henry Coe Nifty Nineties, and not just because we were each carrying an extra 25 pounds on our backs.
First, it’s more than a day hike (for those of us who don’t live in the South Bay). To drive from SF to the park, hike the 12+ miles (depending on the route), and then drive back, makes for a really, really long day. Instead, we decided to turn it into a short backpacking trip. Second, it involves some big elevation gains and losses in relatively short distances. And lastly, the steepest section has a lot of scree which makes coming down slippery in some areas (which can be avoided if you hike the loop but that makes for an even longer hike).
Friday night we camped at Coe Ranch Campground near the main entrance. I was lucky enough to have snagged site #11 earlier in the week, and it worked out great. Similar to when we camped at Coyote Lake to hike Bill’s Hill, I picked up Chris from work, fought the weekend rush hour traffic, and arrived at the campground around 5:30 P.M. Our site was shaded by several trees and fortunately, we didn’t have anyone on either side of us. After dinner, we read a bit and watched a show on Netflix before turning in for the night.
Since we hadn’t set up the rainfly on our tent, the sun streamed in around 6:00 A.M. and woke us up. A wild turkey and her chick walked across our site before disappearing into the brush.
Because we were only hiking to Deerhorn Camp today, about 4.5 miles in, we didn’t rush and took our time tearing down camp and reorganizing our packs.
Around 9:20 A.M. we hit Corral Trailhead near the Ranger Station. After talking to the staff volunteer yesterday, and on her advice, we decided to take the shadier and less steep route via Flat Frog and Frog Lake Trails to reach our camp. We had time, so weren’t concerned about the extra 0.8 mile.
After 15 minutes we were at the junction with Flat Frog Trail (which you can barely make out on the sign). Coincidentally, there was a flat frog near the signpost. A joke? Who knows how long that poor thing has been there.
It took us about an hour to walk the 2.3 miles to Frog Lake. Saw lots of small fish but no frogs.
Leaving the lake, we followed the trail as it began a gradual ascent. We went past the sign to Two Oaks Camp, and eventually turned onto Middle Ridge where we found a picnic table, inviting us to take a break and have lunch. As we sat there eating our sandwiches, I looked across to the mountain ridge in front of us and saw a road winding up its flank. Could that be Hobbs Road? Ugh. From this vantage point, it definitely looked long and steep. No turning back now.
From our picnic table it was only a few more steps to Hobbs Road, and a short downhill walk to Deerhorn Camp. There were three sites: one was close to the spring but up a small hill, two was down the hill but afforded views of the mountains and three was close to the vault toilet and exposed. We picked site two and set up camp pretty quickly.
Originally, we were thinking of doing a day hike, but didn’t feel like going back up the hill to check out Middle Ridge, or going down for that matter because we’d be doing that tomorrow. In the end, we relaxed by reading and taking naps.
During the night, I woke up intermittently to the howling of strong winds and the hooting of a nearby owl. Through half-closed eyes I saw the sky blanketed with stars. At 6:00, the first rays of the sun woke us up. We roused ourselves, donned our hiking clothes, put on our boots, grabbed day packs, and before 7:00 set out for Mount Sizer.
Walking down to the creek we passed by the sign for Skeels Meadow where I had initially wanted to camp. In hindsight, I was grateful we took the ranger’s advice to stop at Deerhorn instead. A longer hike to Sizer, but less distance to carry the packs, which was a worthwhile tradeoff.
After crossing the creek, the hike began in earnest. For the next 1.3 miles we ascended almost 1,500 feet to the top of Blue Ridge. It took us about an hour with a stop at Sada’s Spring to top off our water. We passed a bench near but decided to keep going the last mile to Mount Sizer. There were a few small hills but nothing compared to what we had just been through.
Bushes lined both sides of the trail and in one section, as we walked through, the air filled with California tortoiseshell butterflies. Our presence must have disturbed them. In it’s own small way this was reminiscent of our experience in Mexico’s monarch butterfly sanctuaries. Nothing quite as spectacular, but we had never seen so many butterflies in one place in all our years of hiking so this felt special.
Thirty minutes later, we were at Mount Sizer’s peak. It’s not much to look at: a patch of grass, some scrawny trees, and just below it, a small communication tower and solar panel. We didn’t linger and headed back.
This time, we stopped at the bench for a snack break. Until now we had been the only ones on the trail, but a few people were slowly coming up. A woman was training for the John Muir Trail, and two men were doing a six-peak challenge. They were all doing the loop (continuing past Mount Sizer) which meant we’d likely still have the trail to ourselves going back to camp.
We made it back to our site around 11:30. While I cooked breakfast, Chris refilled our waters and started to break down camp. I wasn’t looking forward to this next part of the hike. We decided to take Hobbs Road back to Coe Headquarters but given how much climbing we had to do, and with our packs, I wonder if we wouldn’t have been better off exiting the way we had come.
I was so happy when we came to the junction with Monument Trail (not terribly well-signed) and could get off Hobbs onto a single-track that went through the woods. It was a more pleasant hike and much cooler. We were also finally going downhill. Views of Morgan Hill soon came into view and by 3:30 P.M. we were at the car.
Leaving Henry Coe State Park, we remembered the first time we were here, so many years ago, and wondered if we’d ever be back. If it wasn’t for the Nifty Ninety and setting a challenge for ourselves, it’s hard to say if would have chosen to do these hikes just for the sake of it. Probably not. All the more reason I’m glad we had these 90 peaks to motivate us to get out and explore the Bay Area!
Follow our progress bagging the Bay Area’s Nifty Ninety here.