Hike Coordinator: Penny Groth
Narration by Penny Groth
Seven hikers gathered at the courthouse. My first comment to them was, “Everyone knows we’re not doing Bohemia Mountain today due to smoke, right?” Ha! Yep, we’re all on the same page! Good start!
It was a beautiful drive up the North Umpqua, a bright blue sky. So good to see after periods of smoke that week. After a mid-road turn around (what’s a great day of hiking without “turn around, follow me”…) we found the trailhead.
We parked on FS road 60, then began our trek up trail 1414. This is technically the Lemolo segment of the North Umpqua Trail. It follows the North Umpqua River in the beginning. This is a much smaller version of said river, a very pretty, meandering version as we are not that far from its beginning (Maidu Lake). Vegetation was very lush and wet because of a full day of rain the previous day. Mosquitoes were pretty thick, big and hungry.
About 2.25 miles up the trail, it changes in name to the Maidu segment. We crossed Tolo creek and continued. The trail began to climb and become dusty. At approximately 3.5 miles, the hungries got us and we found logs in the sun (to avoid skeeters) to enjoy our lunch. Always fun, intellectual discussions with friends such as the best compliment to a peanut butter sandwich! Heading back down, we reached Tolo Creek. John stated he’d never been up Tolo Creek, so off we went on an adventure. What a great little find! A small gentle creek with ripples and small waterfalls. As the trail left the creek and went up, discussion began. Well, we do have to hike back out! So, our return began. We hiked about 11.75 miles. A great day of hiking and adventure!
Pictures below by Penny Groth
