State: California
Location: Henry W. Coe State Park
Length, Round Trip: 1.2 miles
Trail Type: Out and Back
Elevation Change: 360 feet
Best Season: Year-Round
Difficulty: Moderate
Usage: Moderate
Sunrise in death valley
Trail Information
This hike takes you to the top of Pine Ridge and to the monument Sada Coe put in place over 40 years ago as a memorial to her father, the park’s namesake. If you spend some time up on the ridge top, it could become one of your favorite places. From vantage points near the monument, you can gaze across the rugged ridges and canyons of the park and on clear days you can see peaks and domes of the Sierra Nevada Mountains.
Starting the Park Headquarters on Manzanita Point Road, hike up the paved road a few hundred feet and turn left on Monument Trail, which zigzags up fairly steeply, following the contours of the hill. When you come to a trail junction, you’ve made it to the top. If you turn right at the trail junction, you can follow a short path to Hobbs Road and visit the monument. If you go straight, you’ll also reach Hobbs Road, a few hundred feet north of the monument. If you turn left, you can take a short (half mile or so) side trip to Eric’s bench, where you can sit back and look out over the Santa Clara Valley to the Santa Cruz Mountains and the Monterey Bay beyond Your best bet is to take the time to walk all the short trails on the ridge top.
You can extend this hike by making it a loop, going up to the monument on Hobbs Road and returning on Monument Trail (or reverse). The road has some very steep, graveled areas, which can be slippery going downhill. If you’re going to take the loop, we recommend that you go up the road and return on the trail. The Hobbs Road junction is on Manzanita Point Road, about a half mile beyond the Monument Trail junction.
Directions
The Monument Trail starts at the Park Headquarters on Manzanita Point Road.
