Date: July 26, 2007 |
Location Yellow Jacket Loop Hike |
Where: Hemlock Lake, Umpqua National Forest |
We had set aside this day to hike the Yellow Jacket Loop Trail and get to see it's outstanding wildflower displays. But it seemed to be one of those days when nothing seems to be in sync. Buster ratcheted it up by whinny to get out of the car all the way from Glide, just about driving Jeanette and I crazy. At the trailhead while attempting to use my GPS I mistakenly cleared all the past waypoints I had spent so much time entering. Visiting with neighboring dogs took another fifteen minutes. One half mile down the trail, some one needed to return to use the toilet. At the one-mile point, some one else realized they had left their hiking poles in the car. -- Not a very good start for a hike we had thought we were looking forward to.
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Jeanette at the Hemlock Meadows Junction However we kept going, and choose to add the Flat Rock spur to our route. I think while eating lunch on Flat Rock's summit our day turned around and we began to think of ourselves as most fortunate. The views for the summit were outstanding, the wildflowers abundant.
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Jeanette at the Flat Rock Trail Junction |
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Jim on the Yellow Jacket Loop Statistics for the day: distance- 7.5 miles, accumulative climb- 1600 feet
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Hemlock Meadow flowers |
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fly on a Cone Flower |
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Woodland Phlox |