Elk Creek Trail -- 300 miles!!

Hopefully the title of this posting did not confuse you -- we did not hike 300 miles along the Elk Creek trail. But we did hike the Elk Creek trail and as a result we reached 300 miles hiked for the year 2014.

Closed to cars, but not hikers!

During the late Autumn and Winter months it is hard to find trails that are not all mud and water, so we ventured up highway 62 just past Shady Cove to the Elk Creek trailhead.  The day use area is closed for the season, so we had to park our car at the gate and hike down the road to the day use area where the trail begins.  It was quite chilly at 37 degrees when we started hiking and the first part of the road was mostly in the shade, making it seem even colder.

We eventually got to the trailhead and enjoyed viewing the inlet stream that flows into Elk Creek.  The bridge  crossing offered us a great viewpoint and photo opportunity

Downstream view from bridge of the inlet stream

The bridge at the beginning of the Elk Creek trail

Upstream view from bridge of the inlet stream

When we hiked the Elk Creek trail earlier this year, we enjoyed all of the green meadows & the unique wildflowers along the road.  Hiking it today provided us with meadows flooded with pools of water, an Elk Creek that was full and fast, and even icicles on rock formations.  Each season has it's own beauty.

Meadows with Elk Creek in the background

It's cold - icicles on rock formation along trail

A little more water in Elk Creek this time!!!

We enjoyed hearing and seeing Elk Creek along our hike and Katie especially enjoyed running leash-free along the road.  It was evident that cows use this road/trail quite often, but we did not see any today. Katie was not sure what to make of the cow plops and probably was a little worried about what type of animal would go so much.

Mushrooms instead of wildflowers

The cold and clouds melted away as we hiked and we enjoyed some nice warm sunshine and blue skies for most of our hike.  It may have been just a quick 2 hour hike today, but it is always nice to get away from all the man-made chaos (especially the after Thanksgiving weekend) and enjoy God's creation.

Teasel along the Elk Creek trail

There is just one more month to go to finish out the year, but we are hoping to get a few more hikes in.  It's hard to believe that we have hiked 300 miles this year -- a far cry from the 54 miles we hiked our first year!!

Trekking Together
Glenn & Carol