Green Springs Summit to Hyatt Lake

We greeted another group of enthusiast hikers Monday morning including new and returning members. Our group of 14 loaded into 5 cars and headed up Highway 66 to the Green Springs Summit parking lot.

We’d be hiking north on the PCT out to Little Hyatt Lake for lunch and then continuing out to Hyatt Rd where we parked two shuttle cars.

Along the trail we hoped to see an array of wildflowers including some blooms that are special to this hike. Liz found the rare Mountain Lady Slipper but it was in buds so not yet blooming. We’ll check back a week from Friday on the next flower walk. Across the bridge at Little Hyatt we found some wild Peony’s with their seed pods engorged so past bloom. But our timing was perfect for viewing the strange and beautiful Prairie Smoke (a.k.a. Old Man’s Beard) on the trail coming up from the creek. Called Martian Flowers when I first spotted them last spring, Liz finally ID’d them after a long search in her flower book. We have three frames posted of these pink marvels.

Thanks to Linda and Randy for their great flower pictures!

After last week’s heat wave, this hike in the Greensprings was a cool off with temps in the mid 50s.

Two cars stopped at Coco Rico, formerly the Greensprings Inn, for refreshments on the breezy deck. While there Leslie Hart and her husband came over to say hello. It’s so good to see new and familiar faces,

Rich

Note: Dan was surprised to see water flowing over Little Hyatt dam as it wasn’t when we saw him there on April 30. Here’s what he shared with us.
It just dawned on me why Little Hyatt was overflowing now but not back in April. TID started the ditch on the west side of Ashland recently, the Ashland Canal. The Ashland Canal water comes from the Howard Prairie Canal which is fed by Howard, Hyatt and Little Hyatt. The Ashland Canal water does not come from Emigrant Lake. Emigrant Lake feeds the East Canal with water that comes from the watershed above Emigrant via Simpson Creek and Emigrant Creek. The Howard Prairie Canal bypasses Emigrant Lake via a siphon that goes under Emigrant Creek at the south end of Emigrant Lake.

Here’s the TID canal map:

Hike Leader: Rich Stickle

Photos By: Linda, Randy