Hike Coordinator Brad Bishop.
Charles and John had met me at the government building and Bill and his son were actually hiking from their house (now that’s dedication), to meet up at the Comstock parking area on the East Entrance. As we approached the clouds gave way to some glorious winter sunshine. Well at least it wouldn’t be freezing.
Driving through the thick, cold fog to the North Bank Habitat I was wondering just how miserable this hike could get. I remembered from last year it seemed like a big ‘mud march’. I mean after all, this is Oregon in late December.
We passed Bill and his son as they were almost to the parking area. We got our packs on and started up the Soggy Bottom Road Trail headed to the Boundary Road. It was amazing, hardly any mud and a temperature in the high 50’s to low 60’s I estimate. It was perfect hiking weather. I may be wrong but it seems they may have repaired some of the trail from last year, (that and a lack of rain).
Along the way we were entertained with a couple of deer sightings and a cacophony of shot gun blasts from the turkey hunters along with the beautiful sunshine. Surprisingly it seemed that the cattle were absent this year, but signs that they had been there fairly recently were fairly abundant as we stepped over them.
We had a quick lunch a short ways down the Boundary Road and noticed clouds advancing from the west. It was still very comfortable to hike in shirt sleeves as we headed back down and around to our vehicles. The loop lasted about 3 1/2 Hours and we figured about 8 miles. Overall it was a very enjoyable and refreshing way to end the year. Make sure you join us on our next foray into our natural wonderland.
Pictures by Brad Bishop
