Hike Coordinator: Richard O’Neill
Narration by Richard O’Neill
It’d been a long time since the club had hiked on the east side of Applegate Lake so it was about time. It was a sparsely attended hike, bad weather was in the forecast, but the 4 of us were pleasantly surprised with balmy temps and no rain. The Payette Trail follows the shore of the lake, ducking in and out with all the coves and bays the lake serves up on its erratic shoreline. Unlike the trails here in Douglas County, the Payette Trail was mostly fallen-tree free and clear. The trail alternated between madrone forest and brushy manzanita near the lake’s waters. Or what little water there was, the lake was still drawn down for the winter.
Amazingly, we were catching little patches of sunlight but all that came to an end when we plopped down for lunch at naturally, the farthest point away from our car. We could see the storm coming, a veritable black wall of angry cloud swooping down from the hidden Siskiyou Mountains. Sure enough, the storm announced its arrival with several minutes of strong gusty wind followed by a steady rain for the rest of the day.
To shorten our time in the rain, we took the Osprey Trail shortcut which went up and over a forested ridge and we did encounter one rather large tree laying on the trail and blocking the way. It was a pretty sodden bunch of hikers peeling off wet clothing and muddy boots but as usual, we enjoyed the hike and felt sorry for all those that stayed at home in a warm dry house.
More about this hike on Richard O’Neill’s Blog
More pictures on Richard O’Neill’s Flickr page
Pictures below by Richard O’Neill
