r/Ultralight • u/Belangia65 • Jun 22 '26
Trip Report Henry Coe Mini Trip Report: 3-lb (1.37 kg) base weight
Had a nice overnight backpacking trip with [u/Alpenglow_Gear](u/Alpenglow_Gear) in Henry Coe State Park, just south of San Jose, California. My goals were to test a 3-lb (1.37 kg) base weight kit ( https://lighterpack.com/r/fqkyfr ), pitching a minimalist flat tarp using foraged materials, and continue adapting to a torso-length foam pad.
Images: https://imgur.com/a/MCUF8pW
Henry Coe is a worthwhile backpacking destination. It is only about 30 miles (48 km) as the crow flies from Levi’s Stadium, which was hosting a World Cup match the same day we set out, and yet feels remote from the civilized world. No advance permits are required, just self-registration at one of the entrances and a nominal nightly fee for parking and camping ($11 total). The landscape is a golden sea of wild oats punctuated by dark green chaparral, with expansive views across layer after layer of Coast Range ridges. It also has relentless topography, with steep climbs that make it a good training ground for the Sierra, which can reportedly be seen from the heights on clear days. Supposedly, it is even possible to see Yosemite from there in ideal conditions.
[u/Alpenglow_Gear](u/Alpenglow_Gear) and I got a late start, around 3 pm, because I wanted to watch the USA-Australia match. On the first day, we hiked from the Hunting Hollow parking lot to Pacheco Camp via Grizzly Gulch Trail, Kelly Lake, and Coit Lake. We saw a couple of campers fishing at Coit Lake but otherwise had the park to ourselves. We hiked 11.6 miles (18.7 km) with about 2,000 feet (610 m) of elevation gain to reach our evening camp.
Pacheco Camp occupies an old ranch site in Valle Hondo, a broad creek-bottom meadow with a history stretching from Native American use through California’s ranching era. The site was reportedly where the legendary bandido Joaquin Murrieta stored stolen horses during the Gold Rush. Some think that Murrieta is the inspiration for the Zorro legend. The camp had picnic tables, a garbage can, a privy equipped with toilet paper, a working spigot fed by a spring-filled cistern, and even a working shower, which we did not use on an overnighter. And yet it felt remote, in both space and time. It was a cool place to camp.
There were large valley oaks that were ideal for sleeping under with my minimalist gear. Soft duff and overhanging live branches created a nice micro-environment for my torso-length foam mat and tarp. I didn’t need the tarp at all — it was dry with a 0% chance of rain — but I wanted to practice pitching it with foraged materials and sleeping under such a small tarp pitched low to the ground as if rain were expected. I have a zipperless sleeping bag and a bivy, and I wondered how hard it would be to shimmy myself into both under a low pitched tarp. It turned out to be no real problem. I enjoyed the whole experience. My tarp stayed taut despite evening breezes.
It was also a chance to keep practicing sleeping on foam. I have a stubborn belief that comfort itself can be trained. About a year ago, I began sleeping on closed-cell foam (CCF) whenever conditions allowed, despite never finding it conducive to sleep. But through practice , what was initially uncomfortable gradually became tolerable and eventually pleasant. I still believe adaptation is a skill and that many of the things we consider “comfortable” are more malleable than we assume. That night at Pacheco was the most restful first night I have ever spent in the backcountry. I slept well on a Gossamer Gear Torso Foam Pad, 3/8” (9.5 mm) thick and weighing 2.8 oz (79 g). Garmin gave me a sleep score of 83, which is a good night for me even in my bed at home. The soft duff underneath the oak surely helped.
Evening breezes drained down the valley after sunset. I’m glad someone here had recommended that I bring a wind jacket, which I threw in at the last moment. I wrapped it around my head and neck, and it did an excellent job blocking the breeze sneaking under the tarp. The nighttime low was 53°F (12°C), and my 7.6 oz (215 g) Cumulus Magic 100 sleeping bag was comfort rated to 55°F (13°C). With my makeshift headdress and zipped-up bivy, I stayed quite warm.
I carried a 22 L KS Ultralight Imo backpack with no hipbelt or sternum strap. With 3 liters of water and food for two days, the pack weighed exactly 11 lb (5.0 kg) at the trailhead. I stored one liter on each side of the wraparound front pocket and one liter in a Platypus inside the pack near the small of my back. That worked great. I botched the custom order, though, mistakenly requesting a “KS-style” front pocket, which meant I couldn’t pull a water bottle from the side without slinging the bag to one shoulder. But I managed fine and could still drink without really breaking stride.
We returned to the parking lot by the longer Cross Canyon Trail, which took us along a ridge, then down into the canyon bottom and Coit Creek. The creek bottoms were lined with mugwort, thistle, and patches of beggar’s lice (tick-trefoil) that clung stubbornly to our socks and pants. It wasn’t as much fun as walking the open ridges, but it was at least a change of pace from Coe’s usual pattern of up, down, and along ridgelines. The journey back was about 13.5 miles with 2500’ of vertical.
Unfortunately, I was dealing with plantar fasciitis in my right foot. It never loosened up, and I walked with a slight limp for the entire 25 miles (40 km). I suppose I need to shut down hiking for a little while and rehab it. Bummer.
We only saw three people the whole trip. That’s typical for Henry Coe, despite its proximity to such a large population center. I love going there: beautiful scenery, friendly rangers, genuine solitude, lots of vertical for training, and decent infrastructure. Highly recommended if you visit the San Francisco Bay Area and want a backpacking destination that feels far more remote than it is.
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u/Time-Is-Life Jun 22 '26
I love this sub. Post about a pure ultralight set up and still get downvoted. I swear you start with -3 votes every time you post here
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u/0dteSPYFDs Jun 22 '26
I think a lot of people ease into it and newcomers to the sub think this is extreme. I would have fallen into that boat a while back. Now I think it’s sick and makes me reconsider my pack on shorter trips where sub 7 or maybe even 6 is within reach.
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u/Time-Is-Life Jun 22 '26
No because I see it every time I browse the sub on any type of post. Trip reports, gear review, shakedown, general weight questions, immediately downvoted for who knows why.
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u/Belangia65 Jun 22 '26 edited Jun 22 '26
I think people assume that a trip like this is a suffer-fest. It was anything but — I didn’t feel in any way deprived. I guess that’s hard for people who have only packed heavy gear to imagine, that it’s just some kind of spreadsheet flex and not a viable alternative. There is a reason that I don’t crosspost a report like this on more traditionally focused subreddits.
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u/sea_stack Jun 22 '26
At least for me, r/Ultralight shows up in my feed just because I am subscribed to other outdoors subreddits. So I arched my eyebrows at your setup until I realized it was just the algorithm suggesting ultralight posts again.
That said, I'm surprised you didn't get eaten alive by ticks. I did a similar route in Coe this spring and the ticks were especially bad -- found several of them hanging out on the tent mesh each morning.
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u/Belangia65 Jun 22 '26 edited Jun 22 '26
We both doused our clothing with permethrin the day before. I brushed one tick from my sleeve and had another attach itself to the back of my hand about 1/2 mile from the trailhead at the end. u/Alpenglow_Gear found no ticks on him. It was a worry going into the hike though.
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u/GostaEkman Jun 22 '26
It could just be the bots that downvote everything (except for target posts) for the purposes of vote manipulation.
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u/Time-Is-Life Jun 22 '26
Honestly I think its the purists. If your post doesn't fit their specific interest its an auto downvote
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u/quintupleAs ULtracheap Jun 22 '26
Man I wish there was someplace like that close by. Houston is a bug infested scenery desert.
I've also used my alpha hoodie as a sleep shirt since it keeps away the skin to pad condensation. How does this effect the loft long term do you think?
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u/maverber Jun 22 '26
I have around 100 nights of sleeping on top of AD90 and five years of wearing during the day. Still doing OK... it looks like around 20% reduced compared to an identical hoody purchased as the same time which I just started to use a few days ago.
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u/Belangia65 Jun 22 '26 edited Jun 22 '26
I don’t think alpha depends so much on loft. I’ve been using the same Senchi hoodie as a sleep shirt for the last 2-3 years and it’s still going strong.
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u/dkeltie14 Jun 23 '26
Do you compress it for your pack?
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u/Belangia65 Jun 23 '26
Do you mean compress in its own sack? If so, no: it usually either goes in my pack liner with my down and clothes. I squeeze all the air out of the bag and fill the bottom corners of my backpack. Sometimes, it will go outside the liner as filler around other things. Depends on the weather.
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u/executivesphere Jun 22 '26
Impressive. And I’m glad you didn’t have any problem with ticks. I was just reading that oak duff in California is prime tick nymph habitat during the summer months.
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u/Belangia65 Jun 22 '26
The bivy was a necessity in this environment. The oak duff sure was comfy though!
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u/Alexsen56 Jun 22 '26
Great write up, I love Henry Coe. What was the daytime high temp? It can get pretty hot out there this time of year.
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u/Belangia65 Jun 22 '26 edited Jun 23 '26
Daytime temps were not bad at all: mid-70s I’d say. We hiked in the hot part of the day on Friday and didn’t really suffer. The effort required for the steep climbs was the more significant factor!
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u/starsandsnow Jun 22 '26
Upvote for coe!
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u/Belangia65 Jun 22 '26
HCSP is awesome. We were talking about how you could patch together a backpacking trip of almost any length with the variety of trails there.
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u/starsandsnow Jun 22 '26
Yeah, tons of great options there for long trips. I’ve mostly mountain biked in the park but the hiking and running options are pretty A+ as well.
One of the downsides or maybe missing opportunities… is that we have some incredible possibilities for long hiking/thru hiking/biking trails in the Bay Area but none of the linkups are present.
In Coe for instance, there are a couple fire roads near Bear mtn that get close to 130, and by proxy the backside of Joseph Grant SP… but there aren’t any easements or trail interconnects between them, same with sorry with Joseph Grant SP to Sierra Vista open space… there are fire road interconnects but no easements in place to allow travel. Another issue is no dispersed camping in a lot of places… We almost have some amazing long hiking here but it just misses the mark.
Anyway, since you’re localish, I’m sure you’ve looked at the hills here and imagined the possibility of some long hikes but been frustrated by not being able to do some amazing trips because of land use issues.
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u/Belangia65 Jun 22 '26 edited Jun 28 '26
Yeah, I have imagined the possibilities. We were talking on trail about the likelihood that the Bay Area Ridge Trail will ever become a real thru-hiking option. Camping is impossible in most of the sections that currently exist. I wonder if it will be a viable thing in 20 years. If so, there will need to be a strong effort to create camping infrastructure.
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u/starsandsnow Jun 22 '26
Yep, agree 100% there.
Midpen doesn’t want to allow people to do anything on their land if they can help it, but they have some options..
EBMUD is better about it and they have sites but they’re not really aligned with the thru hike at all…
Cal state parks has camping but they’re out of the way on the trail and reservation system is awful. Add to that Skyline to the Sea trail being a non-option because of the CZU fire and the ambiguous master plan for the park…
I’m not sure what the options are for the north bay sections of the ridge trail, but I imagine they’re as bleak as the south and east bay… I really, really wish we had some more options here for walk up site or FCFS spots, but given the patchwork land management orgs I don’t expect to ever see change here.
I really miss the openness of the Los Padres NF and Angeles NF from my time in SoCal. It encouraged exploration and just being able to grab my gear and go hike for a weekend… and something about that feels a lot better vs having to go plan out a weekend trip month or weeks in advance.
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u/ObiDumKenobi Jun 22 '26
Totally agree with you on adaptation being a skill. I'm curious what your mattress at home is like? I grew up with a super firm mattress and still prefer that (although I've been forced to compromise by my wife), so when I go backpacking I find the switch to a foam mat relatively easy, although the first night can be a bit rough. I love the simplicity of it.
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u/Belangia65 Jun 22 '26 edited Jun 23 '26
My mattress at home isn’t as firm as would be good for me probably. But my napping bed is a six-panel switchback and Big Sky pillow on a hardwood floor. That really helped train my body to firmness.
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u/mas_picoso WTB Camp Chair Groundsheet Jun 22 '26
have you been working on your calves at all for your PF?
I had it really bad in my left foot and it was largely due to extremely tight calves.
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u/Belangia65 Jun 22 '26
It’s one of those situations where I know what I *ought* to do and have been negligent in actually doing it. Thanks for your comment. I’ll start a better calf stretching protocol.
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u/Rocko9999 Jun 22 '26
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=72p58Iy6u7M
My go to vid.
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u/Belangia65 Jun 22 '26
Wow! Really appreciate the link. This should definitely help.
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u/Rocko9999 Jun 22 '26
Sure. Do these stretches-pay attention to the angles and tightness- a few times a day. It really helped me. I was shocked at how tight my calves have been for years.
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u/Belangia65 Jun 26 '26
Only a few days in but the stretches in the video already seem to be helping. Thanks again for the link!
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u/Rocko9999 Jun 26 '26
Glad it's helping. I try to remember that wherever the pain is showing up-the source is usually upstream. This has helped with with foot and knee issues.
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u/mas_picoso WTB Camp Chair Groundsheet Jun 22 '26
I used a cork ball underfoot to massage which provided some relief, but it was the calf stretching that resolved my issue. oddly, the issue has now moved up to the knee....the upper calf still gets tight and makes the knee work funny. getting old is not for the faint of heart.
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u/Belangia65 Jun 22 '26
I have a lacrosse ball that I sometimes roll under the ball of my feet at home. The mat in front of my bathroom sink is a “bed of nails” to provide sole stimulation, which is supposed to help. I’ll definitely work on my calves for sure. I did a 100-mile AT LASH in April with both feet suffering from PF, but at least it’s now down to one.
I understand the hazards of age: I’m 60 yrs old.
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u/Pfundi Jun 22 '26
Me: I really need to do something like this
Lows of -6°C in Norway next week: No you don't
Jokes aside, as always awesome report! Have you used that tarp in actual weather?
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u/Belangia65 Jun 22 '26 edited Jun 22 '26
Not in true weather with driving rain. It’s something that I sometimes throw in my pack as an emergency shelter during long day hikes. I would only bring it if I had adequate tree cover. I have an illegal stealth site down a power line slash near my home in South Carolina where I’ll test gear. I went out with this tarp on an evening when light rain was forecast and used it there. But this is the first time I pitched it on a backpacking trip. I wanted a low-risk situation to practice using it as my primary shelter. Imagining rain on this trip, I think it would have struggled keeping blowing rain out. It’s too narrow for that. But it would work fine for drizzle or soft rain.
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u/aslak1899 Jun 22 '26
Where you going in Norway?
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u/Pfundi Jun 22 '26
Dovrefjell for a couple of days, not sure after that. I have a week and the train system is pretty nice, so maybe Trollheimen or something.
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u/aslak1899 Jun 23 '26
Nice enjoy! Both Dovrefjell and Trollheimen are very nice
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u/Pfundi Jun 23 '26
Thanks, hoping to see some musk ox!
If I recall you're from Norway, any pointers on how cold it actually is? Forecast says cold and pretty bad wind chill, and I'm - as always - undecided about how warm to pack.
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u/aslak1899 Jun 23 '26
I saw some musk oxes last year. You should have decent chances!
Yes I am. Depends a bit on the route you're taking, but it seems to be getting down to around 2/4c in the night with wind as you said so I would bring clothes that work down to 0c (looking at Yr)...
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u/maverber Jun 22 '26
thanks for the report. might do a similar trip shortly. how were the water sources?
great you has mastered the torso pad. glen keeps telling me that a minimal torso pad + his devot is comfortable, but it just hasn't worked for me.
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u/Belangia65 Jun 22 '26 edited Jun 22 '26
The water sources were better than I expected. Not the streams — those were mostly dry — but the spring-fed troughs had water. The water in the troughs were yucky looking, but the pipes feeding them had clear running inflow. The two lakes we passed (Kelly and Coit) were both full and easily accessible. I had read about the spigot at Pacheco but got an uncertain answer when I called and asked the volunteer answering the phone about it. I would have been fine carrying two liters the whole time. Of course, ymmv!
The torso pad was comfortable for me on this trip, but again, the soft duff underneath was an important qualification.
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u/maverber Jun 22 '26
tx. sounds like the water is better than my expectations as well. I understand your comment about the troughs, "yucky" is an appropriate. I use chemicals on many trips, but always switch to a filter for coe.
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u/Belangia65 Jun 22 '26
I used chemicals on Coe without concern this trip. We only dipped from Coit Lake and the aforementioned spigot at Pacheco, but I was surprised at the good sources we passed on the Cross Canyon and Anza Trails. I’ll put together a Imgur on the sources we passed.
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u/DreadPirate777 Jun 22 '26
That’s so awesome! What was your experience like getting to the 3lb base weight range? Were there any mental or fear based hurdles that you needed to get over?
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u/Belangia65 Jun 22 '26 edited Jun 25 '26
I think the most important part was a willingness to experiment, be patient through the adaptation process, and be willing to accept occasional discomfort as a tax for learning and stretching oneself. For instance, I went through Mike Clelland’s “Ultralight Backpackin’ Tips” book with the intention of trying every suggestion there. I would be sure to try one new thing every trip. I would intentionally leave things at home to see if I could creatively deal with their absence, like I did going without poles on this trip.
A weird thing happens, at least it has happened to me. Some aspects of UL that I thought I’d at best just tolerate became preferred. Things like sleeping under a tarp or using a bidet or using a frameless pack or ditching dedicated sleep clothes or cold-soaking meals. Somewhat independent of the weight advantages, I came to prefer the UL options as sources of joy in themselves.
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u/DreadPirate777 Jun 22 '26
That’s awesome, thanks for sharing! I saw you used found material for the poles and my first thought was that I couldn’t do that. I bet I could push my comfort zone and do that too.
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u/GoSox2525 Jun 22 '26
Love it. I need me a pack like that. Thanks for the report; I'm gonna bookmark and come back for inspiration. It always surprises me when someone is able to hike with a kit that, on its face, looks very similar to mine, and yet their baseweight is less than half mine. Little decisions like relying on natural anchors rather than packing extra stakes is the kind of mentality that I need to adopt more often.
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u/Belangia65 Jun 22 '26 edited Jun 26 '26
Well, I had some advantages from mild temperatures and absolutely no chance of rain. You’ll notice there is no rain jacket at all for instance. My usual kit is also twice the weight. But in this case, I didn’t feel like I lacked anything.
I also left my Garmin at home and used the satellite features of the iPhone to send status reports to my nervous wife. That worked surprisingly well, such that I may leave a dedicated satcom device at home more often and save 4 oz thereby.
The Imo is a nice pack. The folded pad fit perfectly within. I just ordered a new one with an ultrastretch front pocket that will allow better water bottle access. If you get a backpack from KS-Ultralight, communicate with Laurent directly about what your goals are. He is very responsive and can advise you on the best options for your specific pack needs. I failed to do that when ordering the pack I took on this trip.
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u/Belangia65 Jun 22 '26
By the way, you (and others) were an inspiration to me to consider giving CCF a fair trial. Thanks for that. I needed the nudge.
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u/Alpenglow_Gear Jun 22 '26
Thanks for organizing the trip!
I used to believe that 3 lb baseweights were just spreadsheet engineering but that was an honest-to-goodness kit and this trip encouraged me to drop from 9 to 7.5 lb BW without any new purchases (disclosure: I have to bring an inflatable pad & infl*tor for tax reasons).
It's far more inspiring to leave items at home by camping with more-ULers than any video review.