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Thursday, May 15, 2003
Sunday May 11, 2003 Mother's DaySpent morning in Spokane visiting Mom.
Blankets of dandilions along Wolf Lodge Road.
1:33 PM Start up road from Marie Creek parking lot. Bluejays fliting in the pines along the road.
2:10 PM Stopped to shoot yellow flower. Photo did't turn out.
2:47 PM 1st right turn from Marie Creek road.
This is my first time down this side road.
At all forks I take the higher road, to maintain view and consistancy so I don't get lost.
On subsequent hikes I will explore lower roads.
3:40 PM Road overlooks vast valley. Stopped to sit on stump and eat apple.
4:00 PM I'm still on the road overlooking vast valley. It's really past time to turn around. I had originally told myself to turn around at 3:00 PM.
I was mildly hoping to arrive at the top of the rock wall that overlooks the Meadow on Marie Creek.
A road scars the side of the mountain across the huge valley. I wonder if it leads to the rock wall. I take several photos of the far mountain and road to study.
It is past turnaround time, but there is a sharp turn in the road just ahead. I'll just check and see what's around that bend.
I prefer loop trips to turnarounds. If I have to do a turnaround I like to do it at a distinct landmark.
Around the bend I see familiar trail signs. Been here before. It's the new part of the horse trail that comes up from Skitwish Creek. Eureka!
Now I can make it a loop trip and return to the car via Marie Creek. Also, I now see that that my chosen road has taken two or three miles east of the rock wall as well as being still far north of
it. I have a map that suggests that there is or was a road that may dead end near the rock wall, but it must be one of several lower roads I had chosen not to
explore today. Also I can see that the far road across the valley is also east and south of Marie Creek and thus is not the road to the rock wall.
I shoot a few flowers as I descend the horse trail to Skitwish Creek. I decide to wade the creek rather than use the nearby but somewhat awkward windfall.
5:28 PM Shoot lavendar flowers between Skitwish and the Meadow.
5:48 PM The Meadow with the distictive Rock Wall.
6:02 PM Burton Creek. Nice little bridge, still in good condition, though the rail looks rickety.
6:26 PM Out of Cacaphony Valley to Mud Trail Hill.
6:53 PM Trailhead.
John 7:39 AM
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