Hiking the Mount Sizer Loop in Henry Coe State Park

Welcome to Travel Tuesday! Once upon a time last year (see? somewhat less of a delay this time!), my brother and I decided to go camping when I was back for vacation, and decided on hiking the Mount Sizer Loop in Henry Coe State Park.

Hiking the Mount Sizer Loop in Henry Coe State Park

Henry Coe State Park is the largest park in the California State Park system and is located only about 1.5-2 hours from where my hometown. How it took me 3 decades to discover its existence is honestly beyond me. I’m glad we found it though!

Just to give you fair warning, this hike is NOT for the faint of heart. I like to think that my brother/his friends/I are in relatively good shape, but holy eff, “the Shortcut” was difficult.

My brother and his friends were low-key training for their climb up Mount Whitney (I so wanted to go on that! :'( ) at the time, so we figured this would be a good “training hike” that would be much more exciting than repeatedly climbing the stairs at Ohlone.

We had a group of 5, but only 3 of us wanted to hike the Mount Sizer Loop, so we decided to start on the trail together, eat lunch, and then head our separate ways, so we didn’t end up beginning the hike until around noon.

The trail starts off at the Henry Coe State Park Headquarters on East Dunne Ave. We decided to go clockwise around the loop.

Distance: 20 miles
Elevation: 3684 feet
Difficulty: Difficult (especially the “Shortcut”)
Duration: 7.5-8 hours
Trailhead Address: 9100 E Dunne Ave, Morgan Hill, CA 95037 
Parking: There’s a lot available by the state park headquarters!

As you head up Monument Trail, you’ll end up climbing ~400 feet in less than 3/4 a mile. It’s like a tiny tiny taste for what is to come. From there, you head up north along Hobbs Road to connect with Frog Lake Trail, which leads to a junction with Middle Ridge Trail.

Then comes the steepest trail in all of the bay area, nicknamed “The Shortcut”–you climb 1500 feet in about a mile. There were a couple cars that tried driving up and even they had a lot of trouble (22% grade is no joke)!

The dirt road can get a little slippery with the tiny rocks giving way under your shoes, so just…advance carefully, and best of luck! You’ll definitely feel accomplished when you make it up there!)

There’s a challenge for the Shortcut where you’re supposed to finish it in the same amount of minutes at your age. (My brother’s friend is the only one that made it. ._. My brother and I made it up in about 40 minutes.) There’s a bench at the top to take a break at if you feel so inclined! We definitely did. >_>

Following the Shortcut is the Blue Ridge Road, which you’ll follow til you reach Jackass Trail. Be sure you have bug repellent because it was pretty darn overgrown and tick-laden.

Also make sure you have antihistamines if you have seasonal allergies like my brother and I did. We were pretty miserable along this stretch of the trail. :[

This is before the allergies kicked in. ;_;

There are tarantulas on the trail too, so if you have arachnophobia, well…here’s your warning. :D?

After we finally got through Jackass Trail, we took Poverty Flat Road to the China Hole Trail before following Manzanita Point Road back to our campsite at Sierra View.

It was worth getting through Jackass Trail to get to this though. <3

All in all, this hike was one of the most challenging ones I’ve been on thus far, but it definitely felt worth it when we managed to finish and return before sunset!

Mount Sizer is one of the peaks in the Six Pack of Peaks Challenge! I’ve also hiked Mount Tam, Mount Diablo, and Rose Peak. Gotta get to Mount Umunhum and Mount Saint Helena one of these days!

• What’s the most difficult hike you’ve ever been on?
• What’s the steepest hill/mountain you’ve ever climbed?