Monday turned out to be our first BEAT THE HEAT hike of 2025. Our hike in the Greensprings reached maybe 80 degrees out in the meadows, while Ashland was sweltering in the high 90s with high humidity from thick thunderclouds.

Our car caravan wound up Highway 66 to the summit parking, then out Old Hyatt Prarie Road to parking by Little Hyatt Dam.

Randy got our group photo on the bridge in front of the dam then, we set off on the PCT through the forest starting on the west side of the bridge. We had a steady uphill climb through mostly shaded forest until the trail started to descend into the first of several meadows on the day's hike.

Spring wildflowers were abundant in sunny meadows, shaded forests, and sunny hillsides. Many are posted in the report, thank you, Linda.

After a while on the PCT, we came to a split on the trail that marked the start of the mountain loop. We took the left split which would take us around the loop in a clockwise direction. The descending trail through the forest meant we'd be making up the gain on the far side of the loop with views into and across Bear Valley. We had views of Pilot Rock, where we hiked last Monday and, Mt. Ashland. We stopped for lunch and to take in the views on a big log as we faced south.

We only had one downed tree over the trail in today's section of the PCT, much better than the sections we'd hiked in the past week.

Monday's lollypop hike from Little Hyatt Dam onto the Greensprings Mountain Loop and back covered 7 miles with 900' of gain.

A few other special spring flowers that we saw on other sections of the PCT in the Greensprings were Mountain Lady Slippers, Brown's Wild Peony, and Checkerlily Fritilarry or Mission Bells.