Hike Coordinator: Penny Groth
Narration by Penny Groth
Twenty hikers gathered on a brisk morning to head up to Lake in the Woods. This was a wonderful conglomerate of ages, and also many new, or recently new, participants of the hiking club. A large percentage hadn’t hiked in the area previously. Our drive up 138 and Little River Road were roadways of fall color, all part of the adventure.
This day was planned to include three separate hikes, all beginning and ending at Lake in the Woods.
Our first destination was Yakso Falls, a 1.4 mile out and back jaunt. Trail travels through lush forest. I love how rock formations create different presentations of waterfalls. This one is a fan looking fall, very picturesque.
Our second hike was into Hemlock Falls, about a mile out and back. It is not as pretty as Yakso, in my opinion, but let’s face if all waterfalls have some beauty and uniqueness. This hike is steeper, quite a pull coming back out!
The third segment was the Hemlock Creek Trail #1505, 8 miles out and back from Lake in the Woods to Hemlock Lake. The forest stand along here is beautiful, having been thinned many years ago. It consists primarily of Hemlock with some Cedar. This trail allowed participants to hike out as far as they wanted. Many of us noticed the temperature drop as we climbed up to the upper lake (800-foot elevation gain).
I also captured a pic of a Barred owl seen along the road which we sighted earlier in the week when we pre-hiked the trails. He was real pretty and cooperated as we took many pictures of him. Was a special gift to see him!
All in all, it was a spectacular fall day to be out in nature’s beauty!
Pictures below by Penny Groth
