On Wednesday we had 6 hikers go to Tipsoo Peak. I have always wanted to offer this hike to the group, but the drive took over 2 hours by the time the 2 Ashland hikers met the 4 Medford area hikers and we loaded up. We were all able to fit into Allison's car as she was gracious to drive.
We started hiking at 10:18am. The trail is nice and gradually goes up through a forested area. I told the group about Grouseberry bushes and you probably needed to have at least 10 berries at a time to get much of a taste. There were still some bushes with the tiny red berries so I picked about 8 and got a taste. We noticed the understory of the forest was relatively clear. There were Hemlocks, Lodgepole Pine and some Whitebark Pine.

As we made our way up, we only had a couple of downed trees to walk around or over. As we hiked, we had a peak at the top of Mount Thielsen. When we come out of the forest, the trail turns right and starts a short climb up to the red cinder mountaintop. The views are absolutely amazing. You could see Howlock Mountain, Mount Thielsen, Diamond Lake, Mount Bailey, Lemolo Lake, Diamond Peak, South, Middle and North Sisters, Brokentop (I think) Mount Bachelor, Cowhorn Mountain, Cappy Mountain, Lake Lucile, Maidu Lake and Miller Lake and Red Cone. Looking farther out, I think you can see the area of the Klamath Marsh National Wildlife refuge. Also, you can look down below Tipsoo and see a meadow where the PCT goes. In the past, I have hiked down and come to the highest point of the PCT for all of Oregon and Washington. We skipped it this time.

After lunch, we headed back down. Leslie found a fun tree to peek through. We also examined some black stuff on a downed tree. I did some research and it could be Black Pearl slime mold aka Wolf's Milk. We also saw some Pinesap- Monotropa hypopitys, known as Dutchman's pipe, false beech-drops, or yellow bird's-nest.

We arrived back at the car a little after 2:00 PM and had hiked 6.37 miles with 1,486 feet of gain. We stopped at Phil's Frosty for ice cream on the way home.