We finished our November hike schedule with a drive up to Grants Pass to hike in Cathedral Hills Park.

The highway was damp from pre-dawn rain, but dried as we approached our destination. A left turn off Highway 238 onto Epsey Road and a drive along the golf course brought us to the parking and the Epsey TH.

Cathedral Hills Park has many trails to choose from, but we took the perimeter trails on this 6-mile out and back hike.

The forest glistened from earlier rain with Oaks covered in green moss and lichen, and bare-trunk Madrones and Manzanitas shining from their morning shower.

The dampness brought out all types of mushrooms coming up through the fallen leaves and growing on logs, and even out of a pinecone.

We kept heading up trails to the top of the Park, meeting locals along the way out walking their dogs.

When we reached the Skycrest Trail, we knew we were near the end. We took the Skycrest Loop around a hill, then started back down until we found some logs to sit on for lunch. It was about 11:30, and we'd been hiking for two hours.

The rest of the group soon found us at the lunch spot, and we continued with our break.

After lunch, we started heading back down on other trails, but still had some challenging uphills in the return. Hogsback Hill Trail was the most demanding as it headed straight up, and then at the top it turned right and went for more gain, about 400' of the 1,000' total.

As we continued down, I noticed we'd lost 9 of our 13 back up the trail. They seemed to be gathering around a point of interest and were taking out their phones to take pictures. Later, I saw the pictures, a pinecone was lying on top of a stump, and small mushrooms were growing out of the cone. Quite a unique sight!