The WildeBeat

Thu, May 10, 2007

Orestimba Wilderness Updated

Posted at 09:00

/shows/wild_places [link ]

This wild places program revisits the Orestimba Wilderness of California's Henry W. Coe State Park. It's an amazingly remote wilderness surprisingly close to the San Francisco Bay Area. A new entrance to the park will make this remote wilderness more easily accessible.

Steve rode with backcountry ranger Cameron Bowers on a patrol trip to the wilderness. Volunteer park historian Teddy Goodrich came along. They stopped for lunch and to talk along Red Creek, in the heart of the wilderness area.

The Pine Ridge Association provides a lot of volunteer help to operate and maintain the park, and they maintain a comprehensive informational web site. Several years ago, the wilderness area was threatened by a proposal to route a high speed rail line through it.

Traveling into the Orestimba Wilderness is a challenging trip. But no where is California's inter-coastal range so well preserved and undeveloped. And you could have it all to yourself!

This is an update of our edition number 44 of June 1st, 2006. At the time of our original story, the Ortestimba Wilderness was indeed difficult to get to. But as of next week, a new entrance will provide a trailhead much closer to the edge of the wilderness. Steve talks to C. L. Price, a sector superintendent for the California State Parks responsible Henry Coe State Park. He explains the new entrance that opens up on May 19th.

• Show number 85 [MP3 format; length 9:55; 2,384,449 bytes]
• Show number 85, extended high-fidelity stereo [MP3 format; length 14:00; 13,446,687 bytes]
• Show number 85 script
• Photo album

This work is licensed under a Creative Commons Attribution-Noncommercial-No Derivative Works 3.0 License. (Details)