INCH Hike: Rock House Ridge

576. Rock House Ridge (08/04/07)

Hikers (14): David, Diane, George, Janice, Linda L, Nik, Oliver, Padraig, Paul, Peter, Ramesh, Ross, Rudi, Steve
Distance: 19 miles
Rating: 6 difficulty, 8 beauty
Park info: Henry Coe State Park east of Morgan Hill

Write-up by Peter

The was my first INCH hike after coming back from Mt. Whitney. It turned out that hiking to the highest point in the Lower 48 was a cakewalk compared to what we were about to go through.

Full writeup to follow eventually, but here are some numbers to whet your appetite:

The temperature at Henry Coe hit 105 degrees by early afternoon
That explains why we only saw 4 other hikers in the entire park all day
Of the 14 hikers in our group, only half managed to do the entire planned route:
- 2 turned back after "only" doing Mt. Sizer
- 2 decided against taking the unmaintained section after not feeling well
- 1 took a different route in a desperate attempt to find water
- 7 staggered to the finish line, most completely dehydrated and suffering cramps
- 2 were rescued by separate ranger pickups -- thanks to Rangers Libby and Derek and the great crew at Henry Coe!
The planned 6-7 hour hike took 9 hours for most of us
I lost 9 lbs (~ 1 lb/hour) during the hike -- just over 5% of my body weight. Don't worry, after a few beers, I was back to my chubby self again!
After all that, I had to bump it up to a Level 6.

Milestones:
David's 110^th leaf
Ross's 140^th leaf