My husband often says “ if you shoot enough arrows you’re bound to hit the bullseye”. Yesterday the weather forecasters hit the bullseye; dead-on. They said it would rain - and it did! I’m thankful for Nanci’s council in switching the scheduled hike from Stein Butte to Enchanted Forest.
The forest welcomed us into its greenness, under the protection of its trees. The canyon blocked the wind, the tree canopy and moss softened the rain. We were all properly prepared with rainwear and layers, too many layers for some of us with the mild temperatures and steady climb.
After visiting the memorial we took a vote at the trail junction; go back to the cars to have our lunch out of the rain OR continue up to the saddle and have lunch there. Everyone wanted to keep going! There’s a fairly steep stretch (Francie’s watch said 21%) combined with being over dressed that had us huffing and puffing. At the saddle we encountered the wind blowing up from the other side. It was initially refreshing but then we took shelter on the leeward side to have lunch.
The trail was great, considering the wet conditions. The warriors were still blooming strong, along with bleeding heart and trillium. I noticed two “living stumps” along the trail to the memorial that I hadn’t noticed previously. Francie and Nanci both found golden morels on the return from the saddle.
I logged 7.9 miles with 1,552’ of elevation gain. We were on the trail just under 4 hours.
The sun was just breaking through when we arrived back in Jacksonville.
Leslie
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Felton Memorial
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golden morels
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ground cones
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Group
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living stumps
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madrones
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Pretties along the trail
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Super Hero Hiker
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there’s no bad weather with the right gear
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trail sentry
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trilliums
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warrior with caterpillars
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wet but stable trail
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Who’s having fun
