Henry W. Coe State Park, State park in Santa Clara County and Stanislaus County, California
Henry W. Coe State Park is a protected area in Santa Clara County and Stanislaus County, California, covering roughly 87,000 acres. Gentle hills alternate with steep ridges while dense oak forests, chaparral, and open grassland mark the varied elevations.
The land was Pine Ridge Ranch from 1905, when Henry Willard Coe Jr established a cattle operation there. After his death in 1943 the property eventually passed into state ownership and became a park.
Cattle ranching shaped these mountains for decades and old fences and trails still cross the slopes. Hikers often follow the same routes that ranchers and their herds once used to move between grazing areas and water sources.
The park lies east of Morgan Hill between San Antonio Valley and Pacheco Pass, reached via East Dunne Avenue to the headquarters. Trails are open to hikers, mountain bikers and horseback riders, and the park map divides the land into 13 zones. Cell coverage is sparse in the backcountry, so carry a printed map.
The park's wilderness area is officially the Henry W. Coe State Wilderness but locally called the Orestimba Wilderness. It covers about 22,000 acres within the park's more than 87,000 acres, the second-largest state park in California after Anza-Borrego Desert State Park.
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