Prescott Park Update

March 11 ,2017

After hiking the Cathedral Hill trails on Friday, we headed up to Prescott Park for a short hike along the main road and loop around Roxy Ann on Saturday morning.  Nothing eventful about the hike, but just wanted to share an update on the Prescott Park trail improvement and expansion project.

The world is a dangerous place!

At the beginning of the loop around Roxy Ann they have now cleared out, leveled and added rock to what will be one of the new parking areas.  

New parking area at beginning of Roxy Ann loop

We also noticed new posts at various trails around the loop that will eventually include the trail names and maybe miles or other information.

One of many new trail posts that we spotted.

There were also covered display boards put in since we last hiked that we are guessing will eventually include maps of the park with trail information and the famous "you are here" dot.

One of the future homes for park maps???

We did find another new trail just before the rock quarry on the right side when hiking the loop road counter clockwise.  If anyone hikes this or knows where it leads, let us know.  Otherwise we will eventually hike it ourselves and see where we end up.

Snow covered Mt McLoughlin looms in the distance

We did see a few Goldfield and Desert Parsley wldflowers in bloom and included their pictures below. That's if for now - looking forward to seeing what other changes takes place over Spring & Summer.

Goldfield

Desert Parsley

Trekking Together
Glenn & Carol

Cathedral Hills - Sunshine & WIldflowers!

March 10, 2017

Even though our last posting back in January was of Cathedral Hills, between these two visits we have hiked various other trails when weather and time would allow -- mostly the weather.  But when we ventured over to Grants Pass this past Friday & decided to take in the Cathedral Hill trails again, we were treated to sunshine and wildflowers!

Blue sky - a rare occurrence in Southern Oregon this year -- so far.

Our route for this almost 7 mile trek included the Outback trail, Ponderosa Pine trail, Timber Riders trail, Madrone trail and the Skycrest Loop trail.

So many trails and so many choices!!!

As we started out on the Outback trail from the Espy parking area and hiked clockwise, our first wildflower of the season appeared, the little Oak Toothwort.  We did see more of these, but the most populous wildflower while hiking today was the Indian Warrior.  In a couple of weeks it will be an all out invasion of these flowers as they seem to take over the Cathedral Hill Park.

First wildflower of 2017 - Oak Toothwort

Indian Warrior sighting

Along the Timber Riders trail the main flower was the beautiful Grass Widow.

Grass Widow

Other wildflowers spotted were the Houndstongue, Buttercup (always makes us want to watch The Princess Bride movie), Goldfield and even a Shooting Star or two.

Nice to see the word "easiest" on your trail sign!!

Trail shot along the Timber Riders trail

Really enjoyed the almost 70 degree sunshine and it made a nice end to the work week.
So Spring really is coming, or so the flowers indicate.  Be sure to get out and enjoy them - and the sunshine too!!

Trekking Together
Glenn & Carol

Cathedral Hills Park - Grants Pass

January 29, 2017

As January comes to a close, we got in a couple of local hikes.  First on Friday we revisited the Jacksonville Woodland Trails to find that most were now clear of snow and ice.  That being said, they were now muddy.  But hikers can't always be choosy and Katie loved getting her paws all muddy!  The sun was out while we hiked for 4.3 miles and we got to see wild turkeys, deer, and even our Screech Owl friend on the Britt Ridge trail.

Time to hike in Grants Pass!

On Sunday we drove over to Grants Pass and hiked at Cathedral Hills Park.  Our 6.7 mile hike consisted of hiking out to and on the Wild Rose Loop followed by hiking what is probably the most popular trail at Cathedral Hills Park, the Outback Loop.  We started both hikes at the Espy TH.

Looking up the ridge at the inversion layer.

One the views of Grants Pass - where???

We found out that even though Medford had some clearing and sunshine, Grants Pass was all about the inversion layer, so we literally hiked "in the clouds".  We kept trying to envision the wildflowers that will be all along these trails in a few months.  For now the trails were mostly lined with creeks & puddles from the winter weather.

View of the Outback Trail from the Outback Trail

 We did get to see a large Pileated Woodpecker while hiking the "W" trail out to the Wild Rose Loop.  We couldn't get a picture, but if you want to see what a Pileated Woodpecker looks like, click here.

The start of what we consider the toughest climb on the Outback Loop!

Well that's about it for now.  Felt great to get out a stretch the legs again and soon the wildflowers will be here!

Trekking Together
Glenn & Carol