Dowdy Ranch, located at the southeast corner of Henry Coe State
Park, will have a grand opening ceremony at 11am, Saturday, May 19.
Refreshments will be served in the picnic area.
Morgan Hill – Dowdy Ranch, located at the southeast corner of Henry Coe State Park, will have a grand opening ceremony at 11am, Saturday, May 19. Refreshments will be served in the picnic area.
More than 20 years of planning and two years of construction went into building the new visitors’ area and park entrance, which includes rest rooms, picnic tables and an interpretive center.
“It’s just another opportunity for people to get in and enjoy mountain bike riding, horseback riding and hiking,” said C.L. Price, sector superintendent for California state parks. “It’s a very nice facility for barbecuing and it’s accessible to visitors from the Los Banos area as well as Morgan Hill and Gilroy.”
The Dowdy Ranch parking area, elevation 1,600 feet, is a short walk to the visitor center or to the shade ramadas for picnicking and spectacular views. The landscape looks almost exactly as it did when the first explorers, such as Juan Bautista de Anza, came across it in 1775. About the only obvious signs of intrusion into this natural wonder are old ranch roads lining the ridge tops and a scattering of stock ponds which once were frequented by the cattle that roamed these peaceful hills.
Henry Coe is the second-largest state park in California with 87,000 acres overlooking the Diablo Mountain Range. It is accessible from Highway 152 at Bell Station.
Park hours are Saturdays, Sundays and holidays, 8am to sunset. For more information, call Sheryl Neufeld at (831) 623-1948.
