INCH Hike: Willson Loop

1236. Willson Loop (11/14/20)

Hikers (20): Adam, Alan, Brad, Dong, Ellen, Gela, George, Giulia, Hong, Iris F, Karl, Manfred, Mihail, Peter, Qi, Rudi, Sandy F, Sarah, Sophie, Yipeng
Distance: 17 miles
Rating: 4 difficulty, 8 beauty
Park info: Henry Coe State Park near Morgan Hill

Write-up by Peter -- Pictures by Alan, Dong, Qi, Sophie, and Yipeng

It was a beautiful day at the partially-reopened Henry Coe State Park. We got 17 miles and 4400 feet elevation on the day, including the new-to-INCH Domino Pond Trail.

Setting out up the mighty Steer Ridge in the early morning

Iris made sure everyone got a lot of snacks for energy

Mihail was all alone at Willson Peak (social distancing!) in under an hour

Not a whole lot water along the Grizzly Gulch Trail

We found Sandy taking a break

Bye-bye Sandy!

Halfway up the Rock Tower Trail -- royal blue was the color of the day

Keep it moving Uncle George!

The Domino Pond Trail a pretty trail going through a little canyon, but unfortunately the pond was dry, which means we'll have to go back in the spring.

It's hard to drown in Domino Pond

We caught with Karl shortly after the "pond", and Iris gave out more snacks

This was a new route for INCH, so naturally we made a wrong turn

The route along Wasno Road took us right along the edge of the fire damage. One side of the trail was all black, and other side was normal. It was good to see that the fire road did its job in helping to contain the fire. Fortunately it looked like most of the trees had survived. Big Henry took a big hit, but he will be back!

Karl and I stopped for lunch overlooking the burn area

Giulia along the fire line

Iris examines the aftermath of the fire -- happily most of the trees survived

Milestones:
Qi's 90^th leaf
Sarah's 450^th leaf