We’ve been trying to increase the distances of our hikes, and especially in light of yesterday’s shortened walk up the Adobe Trail, we needed to do something comparatively long. We had first thought of an Oats Peak/Coon Creek loop in Montana de Oro when planning the Valencia Peak Excellent Adventure in 2011, and we had hiked to Oats Peak before some 15 months ago. From Oats Peak, a trail leads south into Coon Creek Canyon, picking up a trail there leading back west to the coast. Several options exist for returning from there to the Oats Peak trailhead adjacent to park headquarters – one can take the Rattlesnake Flats trail that climbs northward back up the marine terrace, hike north along Pecho Road (the most direct but least interesting), or continue west to the Bluffs Trail and follow the coastline north. We figured it would be 9-10 miles to do the whole loop including the Bluffs Trail, and we arrived at the Oats Peak trailhead about 10am. This trail climbs steadily east up the valley to a saddle between Valencia Peak to the south and Oats Peak’s western ridge to the north – we got up this section relatively quickly, although we kept encountering new trails that have been cut through the area since our last visit. There are no markings at such junctions, other than small signs indicating the new trails are open to hikers only – nothing as to destination, distance, or name designations. This lack of signage had some direct impact as we reached the saddle, as we promptly got lost in the network of new trails amid the old. We didn’t remember the specifics of the old trail alignment, and what we thought was the main trail turned out to be perhaps a game trail that petered out in the meadow at the saddle’s center. We could see new trail cut uphill above us, and since that was all that was visible, we headed cross-country up the slope to reach it. It was quickly obvious that this new trail was switching back and forth up the slope to gain the ridgeline more quickly than the old trail –  however, this was problematic since it meant reaching the ridge about a half mile west (further away) from where we expected. Still, we were rewarded with grand views when we finally got to the top of the ridge, the vista comparable probably only to that from Valencia Peak immediately to the west. From here, we headed generally east on the new trail, eventually reaching a point one hilltop west of Oats Peak – the trail cutters (clearly cut by a Bobcat as we could see the caterpillar tracks marks now and then) had carved an overlook area at the trail’s end, and we took some pictures here before heading east once again. The climb up this intermediate hill, though short, was quite steep – Jane promptly christened this “Bitch Hill,” and Chris refrained from comment (mostly). At its top we could finally see Oats Peak, and in another 10 minutes we were on the summit. We had planned on eating lunch here, but the view was familiar and the flies were bothersome – after only a few minutes, we headed east again to a trail junction where we turned south into Coon Creek Canyon. This trail quickly became reminiscent of the Trespass Trail at Gaviota Peak – it was very overgrown in places and, although well-engineered, got to be tedious as we had to continually contort our bodies to avoid the poison oak that repeatedly encroached on the trail. At several points, we ducked under oak canopies, shortly emerging to bright sunlight and tall scrub. After picking our way down the ridge for about 1-1/2 miles, we reached the Coon Creek trail, turning west. Maybe it was frustration with the posion oak, maybe it was the absence of good places to stop and eat, but Jane set a blistering pace as we headed out of the lushness of the canyon and toward the open space we expected to find at the canyon’s mouth. We soon reached the first of six bridges across the creek, and we continued alternating sides of the creek for the next two miles. At the mouth of the canyon, we encountered an area previously burned by wildfire – we had seen evidence of this burn on our hike to Point Buchon last September, but we did not realize the burn had gotten into Montana de Oro at all. We passed quickly through this section, eventually crossing the last bridge and climbing out of the Coon Creek drainage to the trailhead adjacent to PG&E property to the south. Here we found some convenient picnic tables, and although it was less than scenic near an outhouse and a full parking lot, it was time for both of us to get off our feet, having covered nearly eight miles to this point. We ate and rested here for about 20 minutes, speculating on how much further we had to go – we couldn’t recall just how far the Bluffs Trail reached down the coast but figured it was less than two miles, so we thought we’d finish somewhere short of ten miles for the loop. After leaving our rest stop, we headed west across the flats, reaching the ocean in about 10 minutes. Turning north up the coast, we passed all the points we recognized from our last trip here in September 2011 – it had been foggy and cold that day, and today’s glorious weather gave a new perspective to familar surroundings. We were back at the car in about another half hour, completing the 10.1-mile loop in 4-1/2 hours with an average moving speed of 2.8 mph. The crown jewel of our upcoming trip to Maui is a 12.2-mile hike through the Haleakala crater, so we were very glad to do 10+ miles and feel as good as we did. This loop was something of a classic, much like Gaviota Peak was a few weeks ago – it led us through several different climatic zones and ecosystems, hawks soaring so close to us at times we could nearly touch them, and offered fantastic views. That said, it would be nice if the park could better groom the remote trails and sign the new ones to make it most enjoyable for all.

Update: The Central Coast Concerned Mountain Bikers (CCCMB) blog has recent postings describing the new mountain bike trails being cut along the way to Oats Peak – currently, mountain biking in Montana de Oro is prohibited south of Islay Creek. The new trails are open to hikers only until spring 2014, at which point they will have cured sufficiently to allow mountain bike traffic. Also, the burned area at the mouth of Coon Creek Canyon is the result of a prescribed burn gone awry this past November – planned to affect only PG&E property south of the creek, high winds pushed the flames northward, scorching 100 acres of state park land before being contained by some 400 firefighters three days later. The burned area we saw from Point Buchon in September is from a different, earlier fire.