Hiking Cache Creek

It was a beautiful morning and the temperature was suppose to reach 75 degrees, so we planned a hike of the nearby Cache Creek Loop. It was close to us- trailhead starts at the southeast corner of town - and it was an easy hike to start our hiking season. The trail is also a popular trail for mountain bikes.

We arrived at the parking area at the start of the trail at about 10:30 AM and read the information and maps on the info board:

which was next to the creek:

One of the trails noted on the info board was this one which was not on our agenda for our hike:

The trail was a long one through this canyon and we had planned to hike only about 4 miles for the day. That meant hiking in about 2 miles and returning on one of the side trails. The countryside and views along the way were fabulous:

The first mile was fairly easy:

 

 

as we continued along the trail.

Aside from the terrific views, we saw many wildflowers and took tons of pictures. Some of the wildflowers we saw were unidentifiable using the two wildflower books we have. These are the best photos of the wildflowers:

Starting with the Balsamroot that were everywhere in the open fields and hillsides:

 

Sticky Geranium:

 

 

Creeping Barberry:

 

 

Common Cowparsnip:

 

 

Prairiesmoke:

 

 

Hairy Clematis:

 

 

Low Larkspur:

 

 

Single Flower Helanthia:

 

 

Horsetail:

 

 

Some of the unidentified wildflowers:

 

 

and yes, lots of Dandelions:

 

 

 

After we reached the end of the 2.2 mile initial trail, we came to and area where there were several options to continue:

 

 

 

At this point, we decided to return by a side trail that would take us along the Cache Creek. Along this trail, we came to a gauging station that measures the flow and depth of the creek for the Forest Service so they can control flooding:

 

 

 

At this point, we were beginning to tire and were glad we decided to return. The total hike was just over 5 miles for us and was a nice first hike of the season.

 

We returned home and picked up the lawn mower and trimmer from the RV office and performed that task for this week. We sat outside and relaxed for a couple hours before dinner and snapped this nice photo of a Magpie:

 

 

This bird, along with a robin that was on our lawn, were grabbing worms from our freshly mowed and watered area of our campsite.

 

It was a wonderful way to spend our first day off this week and we also noticed that the classic cars were checking in at the lodge. We will get some nice pictures of this year's classic auto rally for tomorrow's entry. We also would like to take a drive today back to the area where the bears are located, so we'll see about photos from that trip...