Hiking the Grande

Again, we are lucky to have my friend Dennis Shepherd sharing with us his weekly hike with the group he leads in South Fork. They meet at the visitors center at 9 a.m. and want people to know they are invited to come along. There are hikes for every ability and so check in with him and find out how you can start enjoying free guided trips into the forests.

The following is the report on the hike from Dennis: 

We started our day on a high note; while  waiting for road construction just below Beaver Dam, we gathered and ate ripe  raspberries..our good luck continued by finding a few King Boletes, a lot of  Hawkswings and a whole gob of Chanterelle mushrooms.......more than I had ever  seen before.

We had cloudy skies and a few sprinkles  several times, just enough to settle the dust on the road.  We met a DOW  truck coming into the lake, bringing some 4 to 5 inch cutthroat trout to restock  the lake, good fishing in a couple of years.

The King Boletes had been up for several days  so it appears the Kings are going to be pretty scarce in this area.   Hopefully we will find more at a lower altitude than the 11,000 ft. elevation we  were hunting in.  One never knows for sure when it comes to finding  mushrooms, just have to get out there and look for them..........

Wayne will be leading an easier hike Monday,  Doug will be leading a "conditioning" hike Tuesday and I don't know what  Thursday will be for sure............but it will be fun.

All hikes leave the VCPL at 9AM.