Fish Lake Trail......Again

And we're off.....again.

Last time we hiked (or rather tried to hike) the Fish Lake Trail was back in April of this year.  If you have not read that posting or forgot, take a few minutes and go back to our April posting to see our adventure.

......a little jeopardy music please........

Ok, April was the snow hindered version of the Fish Lake Trail.  But since this was the first day of September, we felt confident there would be no snow to hinder our hike this time.  Miracle of miracles, we were right!

We started the hike at the pullout by the North Fork Campground along the North Fork of the Little Butte Creek. The first part of the trail follows along the river and offered great views of this beautiful little creek.  We were treated to views of both the slow and fast segments of the creek which included logs across the water which provided great picture taking views. This very scenic portion also seems to be the quickest part of the trail at just 0.6 miles.  We did however take an off-trail detour up to the top of the Fish Lake Dam (which is where the creek begins) for a better view of the surrounding area before hiking on.

North Fork Little Butte Creek.  Fish Lake Dam in background.

One of the slower portions of the creek....great for flyfishing.

Beautiful thistle bloom

The next 0.8 miles veer away from the creek and took us through forested areas that smelled soooooo good. This portion featured lots of ferns and Oregon Grapes mixed in with all the trees. Eventually we made our way to Fish Lake and followed the trail along the shore to the boat ramp area.  This would serve as our turnaround for the hike and provided benches for a break with a view of the lake.  Although the lake was very low (it's September), it was still a nice view while eating.

View of Fish Lake from the trail.  Brown Mountain in the left background.

Should mention also that on the hike to the lake and on the return trip,  we were treated to numerous sightings of heron along the lake shoreline.  It may have been the same one following us or it could have been a group of them, but either way it was awesome to get such great views of them along the hike

One of the Herons posing for a picture

Our return trip from the lake to the North Fork campground started off innocently enough as we skirted the edge of the campground at Fish Lake, but suddenly Carol let out a scream!  It was the attack of the killer yellow jackets!!!! OK, it was just one yellow jacket, but don't say that to the person being stung.

We applied ice from our water bottles and use an ice packet from our first aid kit to relieve some of the pain, then made a quick beeline (no pun intended) back to the trailhead at the North Fork Campground in record time. Carol is fine and recovering, just not eager to see another yellow jacket for a while.

We enjoyed (for the most part) getting out and hiking again and have now hiked as many miles as last year (the most we have hiked) with four months of hiking to go.  Here we come 200 miles.  But one thing is for sure, we won't soon forget our 2013 hikes along the Fish Lake Trail!!!

Trekking Together
Glenn & Carol