PCT - Ashalnd Meadows/Grouse Gap Segment

June 17, 2020

Glenn took another Wednesday off and this time we hiked without Katie since these longer hikes seem to do her in.  We drove up towards Mt Ashland and hiked an out and back on the Pacific Crest Trail, a segment known as Ashland Meadows (due to the varioius meadows with wildlflowers along this trail) or Grouse Gap (since most folks turn around at the Grouse Gap Shelter for a nice 6.8 miles hike). We were actually a little early for the full blooming of wildflowers although there were plenty to see including Larkspur, Pussy Paws, Wallflower, Skunk-leaved Jacob's Ladder, Blue Stickseed, Mission Bells, a Dwarf Lupine and many more. About 2-3 weeks from now should see the wildflowers at their best. As we began our hike there was some leftover ice/snow from the recent storm, but that soon gave way to plenty of sunshine, blue skies and temps around 62 degrees --- beautiful!  We had views of snow-covered Mt Shasta to the south and there was plenty of run-off water crossing the trail.  We did meet one PCT hiker who started in Castle Crags SP in Northern CA and was planning to go all the way to Canada.  He ran into 5" of snow in Seiad Valley a few days ago.    We had a beautiful 11.4 mile hike as we went a few miles past Grouse Gap (after a break at the shelter) before deciding it was time to turn around.   We wanted to just keep going!  Hope you enjoy the pictures.

Trekking Together
Glenn & Carol

The old familar trail sign at the start of the Grouse Gap hike.

First meadow comes into view.

View of Mt Shasta to the south

Wallflower

PCT indicator

Trail segment past the Grouse Gap Shelter

The elusive but beautiful Mission Bells

Grouse Gap Shelter and Restroom

View at our turnaround point

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

Great Grey Owl @ Jacksonville Woodland Trails

Monday, May 11, 2020

Each year we hike at the Jacksonville Woodland Trails 20-30 times.  But over the past couple of weeks we have become owl whisperers.  In the last 3 hikes @ JWT, we have had 5 sightings of owls.  These sightings are along the White Oak trail for those of you who live in Southern Oregon and/or hike at the Jacksonville Woodland Trails.  One of the owls we saw in the past was about 20 or so feet from us, but we didn't have our camera and the our phone picture was mostly a dark silhouette.  When we did have our camera, the owls always were too far away and we had to settle for using our binoculars for a view.  But today, yes finally today, we saw not one, but two owls on our hike and we had our camera.  The first was not too far off the trail and was on a branch of a pine tree and is in the photos below.

First owl sighting which we think was a young owl

Same young owl just a slightly closer picture from a differnt angle on the trail.

We  are not sure what type of owl it was - let us know if you have any idea.  However, just a little further down the trail, Carol almost walked under a Great Grey owl that was literally 10 feet from us.  We spent 5-10 minutes just taking in the beauty of this creature and even got to point out the owl to two other people on the trail.  We even had Katie with us, yet the owl stayed right there on the branch for us. Incredible!

Our Great Grey friend @ JWT

Hope you enjoy the pictures and if you are in the Southern Oregon area, get out to those trails and find an owl if you can.  They are there, you just have to look real carefully.

Trekking Together
Glenn and Carol