Seventeen of us hiked at Emigrant Lake on the Songer Butte Loop Trail below Songer Butte. We followed a loop by Songer Butte, towards Songer Wayside and returned by Little Songer Rocks. Most of the hike passed through manzanita, some areas so dense as to be “tunnels”. In open areas, we enjoyed many views eastward to mostly dry, brown mountains and northward to mountains covered with evergreen stands.
We came to the upper finger of Emigrant Lake and headed westward to climb to Little Songer Rocks, always a treat for a break. We proceeded down the trail to the lakeside where we had lunch perched on the ‘beach’ rocks and logs.
The loop journey took us back along a narrow trail against a heavily eroded lakeside (paying close attention not to slip off the edge). The trail continued into the wooded area where we discovered grass widows, our first wildflowers of the new year, and then proceeded down along the lakeshore where the trail opens to views south to Pilot Rock. We passed through the meadow and across the hillside used to teach and practice paragliding. On this last stretch, we passed through a great deal of rose hip bushes and “snow ball” bushes (for want of a proper name).
Our distance was a bit over 3 miles with an elevation gain of 500’.
Elisabeth
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1
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2
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3. Flowering Manzanita
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4
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5
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6
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6a
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7. Sunburst Lichen
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7a
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8. Little Songer Rocks
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10. View from Little Songer Rocks
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12
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13
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15
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18
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20. Grass Widow
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Group
