Nov 1, 2010…Mineral Point/Lost Lake…tr #81 & 82 …
hike # 376 by Betsy
Rain with 70% probability was predicted and they were right but the weather gods were kind to us today by not dumping on us till we were almost back to the truck.
We have done this hike several times before, it being one of our three rainy day hikes, and all of which are mountain bike trails. This recently built trail is an extension of the Mineral Point trail, which goes straight down to the lake…the extended part starts from the same point at top but meanders thru the woods, full of ponderosa pine and cedars, over to the Lost Lake trail offering many nice views of the lake. It is very beautiful.
The last time we did it though, we found a fork in the trail with no indication as to which way the trail to Lost Lake went…we took the one on the right and found a lake but we both had no recollection of this lake…it didn’t look like the Lost Lake we remembered before the new trail was built and it didn’t have any sitting benches. Hmmm. So this time we took the trail on the left and voila! We found the real Lost Lake and it was as we remembered and we now know the other lake is Mud Lake!
We met a couple of mountain bikers, one of whom was a member of the Pend Oreille Pedalers, the group who built the new trail. Again we caught up with them at the lake…they pedaled on and we ate lunch and took pics.
We saw the biggest mushrooms ever today, some were pizza sized. Never have we seen such an oddity, and so many in one particular spot.
There was a sad story in the paper this week…a 56 year old experienced hiker out for a day hike near Priest Lake…his car was found unoccupied for three weeks after his family reported him missing. Search and Rescue tried for 24 hours to find him but called off the search due to 3’ of snow. They said they would resume the search in the spring or if the predicted big snow winter comes thru, it won’t be till July 2011. My assumption is that he fell off a cliff and is gone. His family has hope that he will come home. The mountains are not very forgiving some times.
Left home 9:35Started up 10:30
Got to lake 12:30Turned around 12:40
Got to truck 2:00Total miles hiked 7 miles
Total hiking time 3 hours, 30 minutes
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