We always enjoy hiking the Highline Trail so with the weather being perfect we choose to hike a section we haven’t tried before. For that we drive to the Washington Park Trailhead and from there we start east on the Highline Trail with the plan being to go as far as we can before it gets to dark and then return. And to find lots of caches along the way of course.
The trail starts with a creek crossing, luckily with a bridge and then leaving the people enjoying the creek behind us it is time to climb following the Highline Trail.
While climbing and descending is common on the trail we enjoy most the level portions of the trail passing through the forest and then giving way to some nice views.
There are some flowers along the way which is nice and they are attracting all kinds of insects like bees, butterflies and flies that pretend to be bees.
This section is quite level and well defined and with caches all along the trail we are being kept busy as we advance further and further into the wilderness.
There are a few sections where we get out of the forest and cross meadows, they seem to have been created mostly by fires. Even those patches are special with some great views of the reddish rocks of the Rim.
There are quite a few birds in this section like jays but the top bird is a Northern Flicker, not because of the species but because it seems to be nesting. Cool to find something so special!
Our turnaround point is right after Dude Creek, a flowing creek in the middle of the wilderness. It is a great spot for a picnic for us and the Elks that are eating the grass near the creek and eyeing us wearily.
Returning we continue to keep an eye out for anything interesting. Like the colorful Western Tanager and the weird Alpine Cancer-Root plants, both are quite fun finds.
And then we continue on following the trail over meadows, through forests and over creeks returning to the parking lot after an almost ten mile hike. A hike that we really enjoyed given the great weather, solitude and number of caches we were able to find, looking forward to return to the area in the future.
