Chip was home painting on Saturday. I needed to clear out for the entire day because the paint fumes make me sick. So, I decided to head to Henry Coe State Park. When I was close the visitor center, I was shooed into the optional parking lot that is 1/2 mile from the trail heads/visitor center. Turns out everyone had the same idea. The wildflowers are starting to pop at Henry Coe. There were California poppies, delphiniums, lupine, buttercups, Douglas irises, and others I do not know. I decided to take the longer 6.7 mile trail because I had all day and could take my time. Hmmm, not my best plan.

My first mistake was thinking I could do 6.7 miles at Henry Coe. My second mistake was leaving my jacket and money in my coat in my car. My third mistake was not taking enough water. When I arrived at the visitor center, I could not buy a good map and just took a free xeroxed map. Thinking I was armed with enough info, I headed out. The temperature was about perfect to a little warm when climbing hills. The sun was shining beautifully. When I reached the hilltop point, I was starting to feel a little tired. So I stopped, had a rest looked around and chatted with a few ladies coming from the other direction. I decided that I would push ahead. The brochure at the visitor center did say “Warning: exhaustion may occur due to the steep trails. Try shorter trails first.”

<pI ended up going uphill for over a mile and now was exhausted. I had misread the xeroxed map and realized that the trail I was going to take as a shortcut was actually a creek. Now, I was seriously tired. After reviewing the map, I realized that I had over 3 miles to go and there was at least 1000 feet of climbing. It pays to review the elevation change before starting out. So I turned around. It was a relief to go downhill for a mile but I was starting to feel very thirsty and still had a long climb head. When I reached the hilltop, the fog was rolling in. The air was getting chilly and the shadows were getting long.

Now, it was sheer determination to make it back to the visitor center with its water fountain. As I stopped for a rest break about 1/2 mile from the visitor center. A family asked me to take their picture. I posed them in front of a beautiful oak and took a quick snap (maybe 30 seconds). They were thrilled with the picture and that maybe my best shot of the whole day! After downing a bunch of water at the visitor center, I girded myself for the 1/2 mile walk back to my car. At that point, it was foggy, chilly and raining. I reached the car and braced myself for the drive home. Every muscle was starting to ache. The next day, I spent in bed (like the log pic).