Near Lake Cushman

Another hike that I will no longer name by name.  I was shocked to see people on this trail for the first time ever and it was on a weekday.

Walks with moss? Nope, walks with protozoa on the Copper Creek trail



are you tempted?

My mother is still in the ICU and still on a ventilator.  She’s been there for 16 days now.  But she is getting better and her condition is not life threatening, so I took a break from visiting the hospital and went for a hike.   I needed exercise to make up for my lack of exercise these past two weeks, but at the same time I was tired from visiting the hospital and driving so I did not want to push my body too hard.  I thought of doing Mount Rose, but opted for something a little easier.  I had a deadline to meet; I had to get home in time for the 4^th grade concert.

The gate across the causeway was open, so I was able to park right at the trail head and I started my hike at about 9:30.   The trail starts out next to the river and soon it climbs up into an old growth forest.  This trail follows Copper River and it should not be confused with Copper Mountain.  Copper Mountain is on the other side of Lake Cushman.  One can climb lightening peak from the top of this trail, I think lightening peak is a class 4 climb, so it’s not for hikers like me.

When I got to the top of the loop I turned right and did the loop counter-clockwise.  I took my lunch at the little view point on the way down.  Lunch was dried blueberries (way, way too sweet) peanuts and a buddy fruit.  I also had a cup of Vina café instant coffee.

I thought about having my lunch up on the way trail that leads to lightening peak, but I was needlessly concerned about time. 

When I got home and fixed up my track log I found the trail to be just 3.5 miles round trip with 2,500 feet elevation gain.  Is the forest service wrong?  The trail head signs say this trail is 4.5 miles round trip.  The problem is that no GPS works very well in the valley at the bottom.  A wheeled device might be needed to really measure this trail.

The weather was nice; I got a bit warm hiking up and there was no rain even though rain had been predicted.  There were protozoa (slime molds) everywhere; I guess the protozoa thought it was a good day to go for a stroll too.  I had the trail to myself all day.

This trail is maintained by the Mount Rose trail crew so it is in perfect condition nearly all the time and it has beautiful bridges.  I wish there was a trail going up to the top of the little peak between Rose and Copper.  Better yet how about a trail up to the top of Copper Mountain that starts in the National Forest so I can take Patches with me.. I can dream..

3.5-4.5 miles with 2,500 elevation gain

 

Lake Cushman and a clearcut forest in the distance

Hand drawn track log

Robin's egg blue

Protozoa on the march

Patches wants to find a way down

Patches becomes one with the mountain

Lichen and moss wonderland on the ridge

Protozoa goes for a walk

After several revisions my home made pack is holding
 up well notice the new pocket on the right.  My feet
thanked me for hiking in running shoes instead of boots

 

669 year old tree that fell across the trail
was cleared out by the Mount Rose trail crew.. Thanks!

 

Copper Creek trail on a hot day

 

Still a bit under the weather but needed to get out and hike!  Lots of stress this week, dealing red tape galore. 

Patches is about to be registered as a potentially dangerous dog.  She was tied to a fence at the school with my daughter nearby, when some kids started teasing her.  One grabbed her by the scruff of her neck and twisted her head around, so Patches bit her.  It’s not really fair to Patches and the animal control officer never even asked for our side of the story or even looked at Patches before making her decision.  I adopted Patches from the same agency that now says she is a potentially dangerous dog.

I think Patches is still allowed to roam free when hiking, but she cannot be free at all in the city limits.  If she can’t roam free while hiking I think she may as well be put down.  A Springer spaniel is not a dog that can be cooped up all the time, they need room to run.  Springer Spaniels also have a reputation for dominance aggression, so I’m not saying that Patches is innocent here.

I decided to hike with my friend Stan, he’s getting into shape and I’m feeling ill so Copper Creek sounded like a good option.  The weather forecast was HOT.  Copper Creek Trail stays low in a valley next to a creek and then it climbs up out of the heat, so it seemed like a good option on a hot day.

The forest was very wet from the recent heavy rains and thunderstorms, but at the same time it was hot.  It felt almost like hiking in Central America with the heat and the humidity.

We were shocked to find that the causeway gate was open!  That was not expected!  The culvert over Copper Creek has been reinforced a bit.  I think the Elk Creek culvert is still washed out, as the wild life gate before Elk Creek was shut.  The road was very nice and smooth all the way to the wild life gate.

We hiked slowly with me being sick and my friend having been off the trail for a few weeks and the heat.  Also with the days being so long we did not have to worry about running out of daylight.  The valley where the trail runs near the creek is beautiful.  I must go back and do photography there when the light it right.  Perhaps I will camp there so I can catch the sweet light on both ends of the day.

Mosquitoes were out in force and when I stopped they swarmed me.  This is a bad year for mosquitoes.  I applied 100% Deet and that did the trick. 

We took the loop in the counter-clockwise direction so we could find the cache and hit the top first.  The only view point is just after the summit and that is where we stopped for lunch, but we did not stop for long.  We left our lunch spot and explored the way trail that goes up lightening peak.   The way trail seems to get a lot of use and even some maintenance.  Neither of us have the skill to climb lightening peak, we were just hoping to find a nicer place to have lunch, and we did. 

We had our lunch on  a bed of nice soft pipe cleaner (Rytidiopsus robusta)  moss.  There was a view of Lake Cushman, Mount Lincoln and Mount Cruiser.

On the way back down we saw two rough skinned newts and two western toads.

We had the trail to ourselves all day long.

6 miles with 2,500 feet elevation gain 

 

 

Bunch berry, a type of dogwood

Old growth hemlock

Clavaria vermicularis mushrooms
 

What way?

Snail

Old growth snag lit up nicely

Summit rock of Mount Rose is in the red circle, click to enlarge

Pacific coralrood orchid depends on a mushroom (fungi) for it's energy needs

Mycena mushrooms

Mossy

Loving my newish lens.  This is zoomed all the way in on Lake Cushman and the road next to
it from near the top of the Copper Creek Trail

Fungi left this black pattern in this rotten wood

The dog vomit slime mold Fuligo septica is not a fungi



Lepadozia Reptans liverwort with sporophytes

Lepodozia reptans leaf

Lepodozia repthans one elator and two spores
 

Lepodozia reptans stem
 

Copper Creek amphibian rescue

Dendroalsia abietina

 

Huge new culvert at Copper Creek has become an amphibian death trap

Rough skinned newt and Western Toadlet trapped in culvert, there were many dead ones too

We moved these surviors out of the culvert

Dendroalsia abietina

Townsends Long-eared Bat in cave

Unknown solo bat in cave

Cave cricket

Great Blue Heron

I can see that the  Climacium dendroides moss is alive after being
flooded out and now uncovered as they lower the lake level for the winter

Westeren red sided snail on moss

Spelunking!

Swarms of yellow jackets on Copper Creek

I’m juggling with my needs for exercise and my kids needs to get ready to go back to school this week.  I left the house without breakfast so I could get a quick start so I could be back in time to do stuff for the kids.  I think I made it to the causeway at about 9am.  It felt a bit strange for me to wander off into the solitude and silence after living in the chaos of Panama City for 20 days.  I was a tiny bit creeped out, but I got over it quickly.

 I found that the washout near the trail head has been repaired and now crews are working on the washout at elk creek.  Copper Creek was completely dry at the trail head and at the bridges.  It was looking like I was going to be thirsty and I was thinking of turning back when I heard water.  Water emerges after the bridges but well before the trail heads up.

I made it to the top at about noon and spent about 20 minutes taking in the tiny view before I headed back down. 

On the way up and down I found baby Western Toads  (Anaxyrus boreas) where the trail runs next to the river.  There were many, many baby toads.  I’ve never seen this before.  Copper Creek must be the breeding area for Western Toads.

Anaxyrus boreas Two sitting on my hand and one in mid jump

 

I wished I had read the trail head register before I started so I would have known about the yellow jacket nest at the first bridge.  On the way up we had no problems with yellow jackets but on the way down we had serious yellow jacket trouble.

First I got stung, no big deal, I’ve been stung plenty of times and I felt a bit lucky to have only been stung once.  After I got stung I quickened our pace but at some point I stopped and noticed that Patches face was crawling with yellow jackets.  I was horrified.  My poor puppy!  I tried to brush them off her with my trekking poles but that did not work at all.  Next I tried to brush them off with a stick but they kept falling off and then landing on her face again.  So I started smashing them against Patches face with a stick. The smashed yellow jackets fell off and probably died.  That finished we resumed our hike, I could not tell if Patches had been stung or not, but I kept a close eye on her.  Then I noticed that Patches had a yellow jacket attached to her rear so I stopped and kill it. 

Then about ¼ of a mile later a yellow jacket tried to sting my shoulder but my shirt prevented it.  I still felt it try though.  I brushed that wasp off and thought it was all over. But then some large buzzing creature started to circle me.  It could have been a horsefly, but it also could have been a yellow jacket, so I swatted at it with some brush until it went away.

I still can’t tell if Patches got stung or not.  She never yelped and she seems fine now, so maybe her double coat of hair protected her.   I’m not sure what is worse, the swarms of people on Mount Rose with the Ellinor trail being closed, or the swarm of yellow jackets on Copper Creek.

I got home at 3pm and I feel pretty good, so I guess I did not lose too much of my conditioning while on vacation. 

6.5 miles 2,500 feet elevation gain with the added road walk thanks to the causeway bridge STILL being closed to the public after all these years..

Dyers Polypore



Car crash on 101 at Purdy Cutoff

Rhytidiopsis robustus

Start of route up Lightning Peak

My lunchtime SPOT spot

Others have been stung

 

Gas was $4.12 a gallon

Why?

Lake Cushman is still high

Simpson wood, or simpson road work?

Culvert repair, but why if they are going to leave the gate shut?