The campfire flames reached into the night sky, casting a
flickering warm glow on the 40 or so souls that encircled it.
The campfire flames reached into the night sky, casting a flickering warm glow on the 40 or so souls that encircled it.
After the day’s activities, we had enjoyed a phenomenal meal featuring Fitz’s virtuoso talent on the grill. This, along with the warmth generated by discreet sips from the traditional red bottle circulating through the group, gave each of us a glow that nearly matched the fire.
We were at Pacheco Camp deep in Henry Coe State Park and this was the annual Ride-Along weekend.
The Ride-Along is part of a comprehensive training program for volunteers at Coe Park. Volunteer trainees spend most of their autumn weekends learning natural history, California Parks Department procedures, park history, first aid, how to work the cash register and so on. Miss one day of the training and you remain a trainee until you make up that class the next year.
But, without question, the highlight of the training is the Ride-Along.
Early on an October Saturday morning, the new volunteers, along with some experienced volunteers and State Parks employees, pile into 4-wheel drive vehicles and head out for a two-day tour of the backcountry. At 87,000 acres (136 square miles), the far reaches of Henry Coe Park are more miles and sharp ridges away from the Visitor Center than most people will ever reach on foot.
The evening campfire on this Ride-Along lingers sweetly in my mind. It was several years ago, and I was an experienced volunteer who decided to tag along. Barry Breckling, the head ranger at Coe for the past 25 years, stepped up to the fire and raised his voice, signaling the beginning of the evening’s “program.”
“Let’s go around the fire,” he said, “have everybody introduce themselves, and tell how they came to be acquainted with the Park.”
One by one, these bright faces, some of whom I had never met, and others I knew, but only superficially, told their stories. Each story was different in the particulars, but similar in theme.
For example: “One Saturday, I finally decided to drive the long windy road up to the park, and when I got to the Visitor Center I said, ‘Is that all there is?’ But after a few visits, I began to appreciate the park,” and they would proceed to explain how the subtle charms of this wild country won their hearts.
And, through each telling, an intimate part of the teller was revealed, and my preconceptions about them shattered. People who I had pegged as painfully shy, to my surprise captivated the group, regaling us with milk-coming-out-your-nose funny stories.
Others told of amazing encounters with wildlife in the park.
Still others shared unique knowledge about the park’s natural history or its ranching past.
Then the circle returned to Barry.
I quickly recognized that, on that night, his always-affable manner was tinged with purpose. Barry had something to say.
Here‚s how I recall his words: “I have been a ranger with the Department of Parks for a long time now. Among all the park rangers in the state of California, I rank ninth in seniority. I know most of the parks, and with my seniority, I can work at nearly any one I choose. Coe Park is a special place and I wouldn’t want to be anywhere else.”
It’s true. Coe Park doesn’t have a drive-through tree, crashing waves, or a cafeteria with softie cones. But if you are looking for deafening silence and vast unspoiled spaces where things are much as they have been through the ages, it’s there for you.
This campfire reminded me of the special opportunity Coe Park gives me to connect with the peace and beauty of an isolated place.
But it also awakened me to something more – the special people who come to worship here.
Each of those campfire-lit faces was drawn to that evening under the stars by an instinctive force that fewer and fewer people can hear over the distracting daily racket of our lives.
Later, I lay in my sleeping bag staring up at a dome of stars, thinking about the evening.
I wondered, how would I have met such a group of people except through this park?
It made perfect sense to me that such an interesting group of people would be pulled together by their love of the beauty and solitude that Coe Park preserves.
I closed my eyes that night realizing that there was more to discover here than I ever dreamed.
By ron erskine Coe Park volunteer
