Limpy Creek and Waters Creek Trails

Since the weather has been so nice, we decided to get another hike in and gave Glenn's sister the choice of trails. Drum roll please..........she chose......OK, you read the post title so you know, Limpy Creek trail and Waters Creek trail.

After a short drive to Grants Pass, we headed south a few miles to the Limpy Creek trail which is on Limpy Creek road.  Although this trail is just a 1-mile loop, it is a great wildflower trail and easy for families to hike.  We have hiked this trail in March and April, but never this late in the year.  Although the creek was low, we still enjoyed hearing the creek as we hiked through the forested portion and even saw a giant slug out for a hike.

Even slugs hike on the Limpy Creek trail!

Also in the forested area we saw for the first time a yellow Ground Cone.  We love Ground Cones but have never seen a yellow one.  The pictures we took came out blurry, so you will have to take our word for it. We also saw another flower for the first time, the Twinflower.  There was only one area where they were growing and maybe a dozen plants total.

Twinflower

The two main meadows that the trail passes through still had lots flowers including Self Heal, Meadow Death Camas, Hairy Owl Clover, White Brodiaea and even one of Glenn's favorites, the Monkey Flower.

Self Heal

After we finished the Limpy Creek trail, we drove down Highway 199 a few miles to Waters Creek Road to get to the Waters Creek trailhead.  Sure makes it easy to find these trailheads when the road name matches the trail name!

As we hiked through the meadow at the beginning of the trail, we were surrounded by the color of various flowers including the Bachelor's Button which had blue, purple and even white blooms. So in honor of The Dating Game (if you remember that show), here they are:

Bachelor #1

Bachelor #2

Bachelor #3

Once we arrived at the loop portion of the trail, we took the longer outer loop trail.  There is a shorter inner loop that is a wheelchair accessible trail. Throughout the loop we constantly saw a yellow flower.  We are not sure what it is yet, so if you know, please let us know.

Mystery Flower? Do you know what variety??

We also saw another new flower to us - Prince's Pine.

Prince's Pine

Normally on the Waters Creek trail you hear the creek as the loop follows along in the shaded canyon and eventually crosses the creek on the return segment.  However the creek today was dry - which means there was no Water in Waters Creek.

Waters Creek without water

The combination of these two hikes gave us the chance to take in some more wildflowers before they are all spent and allowed us to enjoy forested areas, meadows, and creeks (with and without water).  If you haven't got out to see some wildflowers yet this year, you still have some time, but not much.  If  you are near Grants Pass or have the time to drive there, either one of these two hikes will provide you with some wildflowers and give you a good excuse to get outside and hike.

Trekking Together
Glenn & Carol