Monday started with an odd mix of bone chilling cold and bright sunlight. Ashland woke to temps in the low 20s, but full sun in a clear sky.

Our hope was that all this sunlight would produce some warmer weather somewhere. A search of local forecasts using the AHG website pointed towards the sunny side of Lost Creek Lake as the best possible choice.

So, after witnessing Sue M's signature on the waiver form, we eleven hikers headed up Highway 62 to meet up with Randy, Jerry and Gary.

Our caravan of 4 SUVs pulled into the parking lot for the Takelma Day use area. The plan was to hike out on the Rogue Trail for an hour before returning to the TH. Although it felt good in the sun most of the trail was in the shade and chilly. On the way back we noticed a campground with plenty of sun by the lake shore and lots of big logs to sit on, so we decided to make this our lunch spot.

We enjoyed a leisurely lunch, with almond roca provided by Tracy, and good chocolate from Lisa and Gabriele.

During lunch, we saw a woman in a wetsuit navigate a paddle board out into the lake; and across the lake we saw Flounce Rock and the ridge heading down to the Eye of the Needle. And, we saw a snow covered peak identified as Tom's Mountain.

When we got back to parking we put away our backpacks and headed southeast across the William Jess dam.

Still very clear, we could see to the east across the lake and nearly 50 miles away the bright peak of Mt Thielsen.

On the day, we hiked 7.8 miles and finally did feel the warmth of the sun when we crossed the dam.