Our hikers luck held through a wild and crazy day on Monday. With a forecast of an 80% chance of rain at Lost Creek Lake, we wore our rain gear including John's lucky poncho. Lore has it that when John wears his poncho it never rains.
At Rite Aid it was cloudy but dry. Then heading up I-5 we drove into thick valley fog with everyone turning on their head lights. We made it through Medford morning traffic to the bypass and up Highway 62 towards improving conditions.
Just past Mile Post 33 we five turned into Joseph Stewart Park and eventually met up with three more hikers at the TH parking.
Our plan to explore the trail heading past the marina towards the dam was cut short when we found the bridge across Lost Creek was boarded up due to a fallen tree. So, turning around, we headed up the south shore trail and ran into Jerry and our new friend and hiker Gary.
I took the group up to view scenic Diamond Creek Falls which makes a four way split while cascading down the rock face. Right before the falls we found Diamond Creek Pond which is filled by the creek but doesn't flood as the water seeps down through the bottom of the pond into the lake.
We continued on the paved trail around the park stopping at lake viewpoints, discovering Taggart Creek Falls rushing under us on the bridge and learning about the "born from fire" Baker Cypress which grows in Southern Oregon and is found on the trail.
We stopped for lunch as soon as we entered the large campgrounds. After lunch we completed the four mile loop around the park and headed back to parking.
All together we hiked five miles with 270' of gain and made lots of discoveries along the way.
And not a bit of rain.
