Hiking Journal

flume trail

I headed out the Flume Trail to see how much things had grown since my last visit and was quite surprised. A few of the smaller creeklets had dried up but for the most part things still looked as verdant as they could at this time of year.

I missed the peak of the wild Irises but many still held their color. The trailside grass had grown considerably and alas, so had the poison oak.

root creek

The forest along Root Creek is changing from all brown-colored undergrowth to a blend of brown and green. This is especially evident around Fern Spring, where the Azaleas were at their peak when I visited. After hiking around all winter on the one decent day after several days of rain, I became spoiled by how soft and giving the trails were after almost continuous soaking, but now things have dried out and it's almost as firm as walking on a sidewalk.

The pool just below the rocks has changed considerably after the wild winter. Either a lot of rocks were washed down from the base of Castle Dome or the churning action of the creek meeting soil after running over bare rock has stirred up everything around the pool and re-distributed it — the result is a much smaller body of water to cool off in on a hot day. I can only imagine where the salamander I watched swimming around last year is now...