The Monday Group ventured out 20 strong to take on a new hike down Taylor Creek following Rd 25 off the Merlin-Galice Road. We left a shuttle car at English Flat and drove up to Rd 2509 where we parked and headed down the trail. The Trailhead is well-marked and there is ample room for 6 or more cars. The upper part of the trail navigated a steep portion of the hill and was in extraordinarily good condition, probably because it is sometimes used by mountain bikers.. We made good time all the way down to China Creek. We stopped at the waterfall and tried to descend to the falls but came to an abrupt halt when we were faced with a deep gully and no apparent way around it. Faced with losing several members on a descent we headed back on the trail and found a cool, shaded place for lunch. Along the way we crossed a few new bridges that had been beautifully constructed to survive anything.

Despite the 1000 foot net elevation loss there are substantial hills to climb along the way. You often find yourself hundreds of feet above the Creek looking down at a gorge.. After lunch the trail headed up a steep hill again and we eventually came down to a bridge with some still water and stopped to take a group picture. It was marked as English Meadows. While everyone took a short break the drivers headed out in search of the shuttle car but were misled by the signs and arrived at the road far from what was expected to be English Flat. We sent out people in both directions while one waited for the rest of the hikers. John and Steve questioned a couple of drivers who said they had seen a blue car just around the corner. Of course just around the corner to someone in a car is not just around the corner to someone on foot, so we walked a mile or so before finding the shuttle car. It was just as well because the main group would have had to scale the heights for another mile if we had found the right trail.

From there we retrieved the cars, picked everyone up and headed home. The group that headed for the Climate Brew Pub in Grants Pass found it closed but were directed to The Haul down the street which had good beer and truffle fries. We noted some additional brew pubs including an upscale gastronomic affair called the Horny Goat. Lots of potential for a pub crawl.

For future reference we would leave the shuttle at the point where we came up to the road next time. We had a good hike with ample climbing and almost all in the shade, Hikers might consider wearing long pants because there is a lot of poison oak on the lower portions, but avoidable on a good trail if you pay attention. The difficulty was about right for the Monday group and we all had a good workout.