This was possibly the last snow-free weekend for this trail, a snow park pass may be needed moving forward with more weather on the way. It was cold and wet and we had the trail to ourselves, snowflakes beginning to accumulate on the path and making the bridges slick. The trail is pretty flat minus a few bumpy/rooty spots, and easy to follow along the water and through the woods. Just a hint of fall colors left.

We went for the color today. Even though some trees have lost their leaves and some of the leaves have gone to brown there are still some very vibrant scenes on the walk around the pond.

Looking for a hike to get you into the Halloween spirit? This is a great one! It's 2 miles of dark walking thru an old RR tunnel under the ski area. Use your imagination, how many spooky stories take place inside a cave and what could you find in this one? Tolkien has some pretty good stuff for your imaginative journey, trolls, orc kingdoms, a dragons lair filled with gold, the deep and haunted mines of Moria, the Paths of the Dead and who could forget Shelob the giant spider. Some prankster should hang a giant spider in the middle of the tunnel. If you're more into history instead of imagination, there's lots of old stuff in the cubbyholes on the wall, not sure but I think it's old electrical boxes and wires. When you enter on one side, you can faintly see the light at the other end, giving meaning to the saying 'the light at the end of the tunnel'. Once at the west end (we started from the east end) there are a couple of picnic tables and a loo, plus a nice waterfall. You can look out and see the freeway in the distance below, the powerlines above. There is a blinking cell tower there, you can see it from the freeway on your way back and know that's where you came out! Go back in and repeat the journey, but bring a strong light and watch out for Gollum!   Once done with the tunnel, we drove up to Gold Creek and walked around the pond, bull trout in the stream, ducks on the pond and nice reflections. 

Very mellow hike. Got lucky on a rainy day as the peaks were actually quite clear and didn’t get socked in. Only saw three others there which was unbelievable. Very pretty scene without the crowd.

I hiked with a dear friend today - we hadn't shared the trail for a while. We arrived at the trailhead around 8am (the unpaved part of the road : about 1 mile: is somewhat rough - any car could do it, but you want to go slow). We were headed up gold creek trail as far as we felt like wandering (given other time commitments later in the day) & what a delightful day outdoors it was - it also felt like we had the place to ourselves until around midday. We wandered around gold creek pond clockwise - the lake is always delightful & then through the gold creek community & onto the gold creek trail.  it was like wandering into patches of a neon kaleidoscope in the rockfall/avalanche paths. There was a good variety of mushrooms along the way - lots of fun.  We turned around at around 3 miles (time constraints)...I can't wait to head back to explore further. for more pics - IG: @janettepowell