Walk across Ashland

Concern about possible ice on upper Park St and Walker made us switch to a plan B hike from many years ago.
Twelve hikers turned out to cross Ashland from the Rite Aid parking lot to the Plaza using the Ashland Central bike path and sidewalks.
Snow and ice were not much of a factor down at 1800′, but we did get some when we took a loop in Lithia Park before lunch at Skout’s.
The weather started at about freezing but steadily rose and we had unexpected periods of sunlight during our hike.
We had the bike path mostly to ourselves with nary a bike insight.
When we arrived at the entrance to Lithia it was only 10:20 am so we decided to walk the length of the park up to the swimming reservoir for our group picture then back down to work up an appetite for lunch.

On the day this hike was 6.5 miles with just 300′ of elevation gain. And the TH was the Rite Aid parking lot, which was unusual.
At lunch, we were greeted by our friend Joe Senter who joined us at the table under the warm heat lamps.
As always, we made lemonade out of the lemons that the weather dealt us and had a wonderful time on this plan B hike.
As Joe always says, “make it a great day”
Thank you,

Hike Leader: Rich Stickle

Photos By: Randy