Coe Headquarters parking lot Friday Morning when I headed out.  Calm and quiet.
 
 
 
 
 
 

Looking towards interior section from Flat Frog Trail.  I'll be out there beyond that far ridge 4 days from now.
 
 
 
 
 
 

Fall colors spectacular.
 
 
 
 
 
 

Big Berry Manzanitas dressing up Flat frog trail.
 
 
 
 
 
 

One of the many locals I passed.  This one has seen many people before.
As I got further into the back country their behavior was quite different.
 
 
 
 
 
 

An acorn woodpecker's granary
 
 
 
 
 
 

Flat frog reservoir pond in background.  Close-up of granary in foreground.
 
 
 
 
 
 

Scarlet Gia (sp?) near Dear Horn.  What a steep road down into this fork of Coyote creek. (Sorry for a little bit of blur here and there. It is hard to hold this new digital camera still enough. I think it shoots slower than traditional film. But I'm working on tecniques to hold it more still.)
 
 
 
 
 
 

Middle fork of Coyote creek.  Dry but obviously still wet underground.
 
 
 
 
 
 

Unknown berry bush.  Later on the trip I would pass rose hips in dry Mississippi creek.
 
 
 
 
 
 

My first tarantula encounter at Coe!
This helped make the hike up Mt. Sizer bearable.  At the top it was blowing cold fog.  But mid way, where this guy was, it was comfortable.
 
 
 
 
 
 

Above Mississippi lake at sunset.
 
 
 
 
 
 

What we came to do:  we removed about a mile of barbed wire fence.
 
 
 
 
 
 

The fence removal team on day 2.
(Sorry but I'm lousy with names.  Somebody please email me with a more accurate list of names.)
From left to right: Erwin, Janet, Rob, Ranger Nedra, Reberta?, John, ?, Don?
 
 
 
 
 
 

Sunday afternoon.  Finally time for skinny dipping in a now vacant Mississippi lake.
 
 
 
 
 
 

View from County line road.  Near ridge is long ridge.  Mustang peak is the high point just right of center.
 
 
 
 
 
 

Bluff along Hartman trail down into Orestimba wilderness.
Oh, Orestimba you are calling me, but I don't have food enough to go there on this trip.
 
 
 
 
 
 

Robinson mountain in center.  Mt Stakes on left.
 
 
 
 
 
 

View of spectacular mountains of Coe from county line road.  Foreground red tips of fall Chemise.
 
 
 
 
 
 

"Mud hole spring" on Mississippi creek.
An oasis of life.
The little known headwall part ways down this canyon turned out to be passable (at least when dry).
But I had to take my pack off to climb down it.
It was about a 15' drop.  At the bottom was a tiny bit of water seeping from the rock into the sand.
Flies and wasps and bees of all sorts were swarming around the moisture,
and I had to be careful not to upset them as I slipped past in the narrow gap in the rock.
 
 
 
 
 
 

Mississippi creek watershed from Pacheco ridge.
Now on to Pacheco camp where I heard I could actually take a shower.  And it was true.
There was even shampoo there and the water wasn't too cold.
What a wonderful feeling to have a shower with soap in the back country, and then a good hot meal and
then head up the mountain to get a few more miles in before sundown.
I saw my third big buck on the trail up to the runway.
 
 
 
 
 

Contrails and morning comes to abandoned Hover landing strip.
What a big mess bold men can make.  Stunning that they would move so much dirt in the middle of nowhere so that they could fly a plane in to go hunting.
It was windy and the dew was wet last night.  I slept under the stars and the dew worked its way through my water proofed bag by morning.
I camped on the runway behind a big bush for cover.
Two coyotes visited me 50 yards away in the morning.  When I ducked down out of sight the one moved up the rise a bit further to get a better view of me. Wasn't sure who was watching who.
Then it stretched its back and fore legs as if it had been sleeping there too, and trotted off down a canyon.
Clearly I was the visitor and they were the locals.
 
 
 
 
 
 

Coe is a spectacular place, not only when engulfed by morning fog.
 
 
 
 
 

Willow ridge
 
 
 
 
 
 

Turtle pond at Los Cruzeros, where we watched a wonderful turtle this summer.
Now its pond is almost gone.  Water was 4' higher when we were there last.
 
 
 
 
 
 

Better view of turtle pond.  Turtle was missing.  Foul play by kids was suspected.
Not shown to left was a big rock fill engineering project completed by kids.
IMHO, we need to better educate visitors to not disturb the creeks.  The ecology here is more fragile than most people think.
 
 
 
 
 
 

Frog pond.  At least 30 jumped in as I walked past.  Plop, Plop, Pl..Plop...  As they dove for cover.
 
 
 
 
 
 

Approaching the narrow of the narrows.
 
 
 
 
 
 

The green of this pool was superb.  But few frogs here.
 
 
 
 
 
 

3 large fish in a row (left of center) trapped in China hole.
 
 
 
 
 
 

Near top of China hole trail.
A wild, but silent Big Berry Manzanitas trunk engulfed in Chemise.
The remains of a controlled burn a few years ago.
 
 
 
 
 
 

(Please email me with any tips on correct spelling.)
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