Spence Mountain Park - 3 New Trails

June 10, 2020

Glenn took a day off work and we headed over towards Klamath Falls to hike at Spence Mountain Park. Last year we did a 10+ mile hike on various trails starting from the Shoalwater Bay TH, so today we started at the other main TH, Spence Mountain.

One of our first views of Klamath Lake from the Queen of the Lake trail

There are 3 trails that were just completed last year, so our plan was an out and back along these 3.  The first trail, and our favorite, was the Queen of the Lake,  The trail follows the shoreline of Klamath Lake and provides some great views.  We were also treated to 3 sightings of Bald Eagles and later saw their nest and  young along this same trail.

Glenn and Katie along the Queen of the Lake trail

First sighting of a Bald Eagle

Bald Eagle nest wtih two young ones

This trail is rated "extremely difficult" and was very rocky with many rock only sections of trail.  We think the trail rating is for biking which is the main use of these trails.  Today we only saw one biker the entire 5 hours of hiking.

Junction of the Lower Winema and North Star trail

Along the North Star trail

When we arrived at the junction with the Lower Winema Trail we headed up what we thought was the trail, an old road in full sun exposure with loose gravel.  We did arrive at the junction with the North Star trail but later discovered that the Lower Winema trail was off to the left of the trail sign.








The North Star trail was mostly flat with little climbs and descending sections but wound us through forested areas.  We periodically saw wildflowers along this trail and the others as well, but it seems most were past their bloom.  We did not hike all of the North Star trail, but stopped after a couple of miles in to eat and take a break.

Katie and Glenn at our turnaround break sight

Butterfly enjoying some Coyote Mint flowers

After our break we retraced our hike except for the Lower Winema Trail.   We saw a TH sign that pointed in a different direction than the "road" we had hiked up, so we followed the real Lower Winema Trail back to the Queen of the Lake trail.

Large volcanic rock area

The afternoon clouds began moving in at the end of our hike

One tired and DIRTY dog!  Her harness was black in color.

In all we covered 10.5 miles in 5 hours and began to feel the temp as the Klamath Falls area heated up.  Katie was so tired that near the end of our hike she would just stop and lay down in the trail.  All 3 of us did make it to the car and home after a long but enjoyable hike at Spence Mountain Park.

Trekking Together
Glenn and Carol