Somewhat spur of the moment, I decided to join a backpacking trip put on by the "Bay Area Backcounty Buddies" Meetup group- and I'm glad I did! For this trip to Henry Coe, we started at the Hunting Hollow entrance, which is quite a ways from the main park entrance. From there, we spent three days and two nights in the park. Some of the big surprises included getting snowed on the first afternoon (fortunately it didn't stick!) and having the nighttime temperatures a bit colder than I was really anticipating (note the frost and frozen water bottles...), though I managed to get by thanks to having both a down vest and jacket packed in my bag. Luck was on our side, as on Friday afternoon we managed to connect with one fellow-hiker that got a late start, and then on Sun morning we met up with three more that got a really late start! All in all, it was a great trip, with fabulous flowers, an amazing waterfall, and getting to know some great folks on the trail.