Sly Park - BNov. '24

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On the Tuesday after Veterans' Day, five of us drove to the Fleming Meadow trail, at Sly Park, elevation 3,500 ft., but the trail was closed due to parking lot work. Nearby was the Jenkinson Lake trail, so we walked there instead.

At 10 am it was surprisingly chilly, in the low 50s, and all of us had an extra layer on and gloves, as we set out. 

Once on the trail, winter's low-angled sunbeams lit up the fall colors at ground level, or in bushes or small trees, like Dogwood, which seemed to be everywhere.

	Jenkinson Lake		winter sunlight		Big Leaf Maple
		mostly pine forest		Calif. Red Oak
	Rick
				us

After staying on the lakeside trail for about 2 miles, we tried the Equestrian trail, which put us on a long uphill walk, until we came upon a noisy tree-cutting operation, and turned back.  

On the return walk we had lunch at the beach. It was sunny but barely warm. 

On the way back -

			white fir		lunch stop area
						Rick & ground mist
	bracken fern
				dogwood
	almost back		Donna

Continuous grade changes plus roots & rocks made this a challenging walk. I tripped on a one inch high rock and launched myself forward, and my uncontrolled stomping footsteps made Rick think "a horse was suddenly coming up from behind."

Hiker consensus was that we walked at least six miles, and some of it was steep, so elevation gain might have been 400 ft.

This is a great walk, because the forest is healthy and you know you are in the mountains. It is also not far from home for most of the hikers.   

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