Saturday, June 8, 2024
Today I set off to hike to Flag Point, but things didn’t go as planned.
I parked at the Fret Creek Trailhead on Road 2730 and set off up the trail.
Pretty quickly the trail crosses into the Badger Creek Wilderness:
It was not a good sign to be seeing Trillium so soon in the hike. Trillium bloom right after the snow melts:
Crossing Fret Creek on a footbridge:
More trillium:
First snow sighting:
Looking down on the creek from the trail:
Lovely moss:
Crossing back over Fret Creek and encountering more snow:
This old trail hasn’t burned and the trees still have blazes on them from way back in the day when trails were marked with tree blazes:
Yet another creek crossing, this time without a bridge:
Then the snow started getting deep:
I reached Oval Lake:
Shortly after the lake I reached the junction with the Divide Trail:
Not looking good:
I decided to make that my turnaround point. Following the Divide Trail up to the top of the ridge seemed like a bad idea with so much snow on the ground, especially since I didn’t have any traction with me. I tried to go too high too early in the season!
Back at the trailhead it was too early to call it a day, so I decided to explore the Fifteenmile Trail which started at the nearby Fifteenmile Campground:
I quickly reached a junction and stayed straight:
Signs of recent trail maintenance:
I reached the junction with the Cedar Creek Trail and briefly detoured down to the creek crossing:
Back on the Fifteenmile Trail I continued until I reached this pleasant rocky meadow area:
This was a good turnaround point so I headed back, enjoying the lush forest as I hiked back to the car:
All in all a pleasant day, despite the snow mishap!
