I got off to an early start because the days are getting short and I had a tough hiked planned. It was tougher then I expected. I kept losing the trail. I wasted so much time searching for the trail that I knew I had to turn back before the lakes. Stupid orange ribbons led me astray. I ignored the damn ribbons on the way back to the car and I only lost the trail once.
I made it to Huckleberry creek and lost the trail. I mean really lost the trail, I just could not find it so I turned back. After I turned back I found the trail but then lost it again thanks to a misleading orange ribbon. Why the Fuck was that ribbon there? Anyway I found the route but by the time I found it I decided it was too late. It was 11:30 and turn around time was only 1 hour away. I still had to gain 1000 feet even though the lakes were only .60 of a mile away by crow. I looked back at the trail to my car and up to the trail to the lakes. My car had more appeal then the lakes did.
The only possible way I could have made it to the lakes and back before dark would be to hike like superwoman and never lose the trail. I knew from the guidebooks that the trail is really bad beyond the river and I was not feeling like superwoman after all of my wandering around lost.
Damn those orange ribbons. The striped ribbons were great and the red ribbons were OK but the orange ribbons were misleading and should be torn down.
According to my GPS I hiked 6.29 miles and my TOTAL elevation gain was 2,100 feet.
I'll try again in the summer when the days are longer.
I made it back to my car at 1:45, 4 hours up and 1 hour 15 minutes down.
On my drive out I saw a van parked on the side of the road near the icicles. A Mom and Dad had parked there to let there kids out. The kids were destroying the beautiful icicles. I would not have allowed my kids to do such a thing. It's destructive and thoughtless. Maybe they were type who think mother nature is there just for them to exploit.
On the way back home I stopped and walked on the Hamma Hamma Beaver Pond Trail. It is a lovely little trail that I'm sure my family would enjoy hiking. Just over 1 mile long with only 200 feet of elevation gain. On the Beaver trail I found a cauliflower mushroom that was frozen solid.
I don't know if they thaw well so I left it alone. I found a 20-30 pound cauliflower in Oregon this year so I've had my fill of them . I saw several frozen bears heads on the Mildred Lakes trail as well.
The only mushrooms I brought home today were a couple of huge hedgehogs. It's been a great mushroom year and I'm getting burned out on eating mushrooms.
My aborted track log
Trail head sign
My aborted elevation profile
It was cold today
This may as well have been the ridge between me and the lake.
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