Lithia Park and Japaneese Garden 11-20-24

Photos by Francie

On Wednesday we had 7 hikers to come out and hike in Lithia Park. A weather bomb cyclone had hit the coastline and we had received some very strong winds and rain on Tuesday. There were several people in Ashland and the rest of the Rogue Valley without power. My concern was for more strong winds and heavy rain.

We were very fortunate and the weather was quite pleasant and we only had a few sprinkles.

We started our hike from the plaza and walked past the Meyer Memorial Lake and amongst many trees that had already lost their leaves. We made our way past the playground and continued up the trail. Ashland Creek was flowing and the air was fresh. We took various trails and made our way to the Granite Street Reservoir. We took a quick bathroom break then headed back down. We stopped at the Black Swan Lake and passed the Pickleball courts.

We crossed the street then headed to the Japanese Garden and enjoyed the peacefulness. From there, we headed to the Plaza. Scott continued to hike and the rest of us headed to Brickroom for brunch where we were joined by Michael. We hiked around 4 miles and had 700 feet of elevation gain.