Hike a thon #8 Picked an easy one today with my family. I had never been here, and will be back for snowshoe for sure! We did half of the upper gold creek trail which is quite nice, a bit of road walk but after that it's really quite beautiful rocky pika areas as well as nice forest walk and river bed, loved it all. The doggies were tired by the pond loop back we stopped several times and took in the views. Trail was very quite early in the morning. Hard to believe this used to be a gravel pit. Great hike for dogs, and families.

After a grandson's baseball game and a hike to Franklin Falls we made the short drive to Gold Creek Pond. We had a bit of lunch in this serene paradise and were walking to the car when we heard it. Starting as a loud rumble from the direction of the highway the sound grew until there was no mistaking it for thunder, an explosion or anything else in our memory. We looked up just in time to see an airforce jet traveling at a very high rate of speed (though less than mach 1) heading into the canyon. The big surprise was that it was skimming about 100' above the treetops! The speed and roar made this q scene, and trip to remember. The downside was that our ears hurt until this morning :( According to the sheriff's office, Gold Creek Canyon is a mountainous terrain training route for fighter jets. So if you ever hear a loud rumble cover your ears and look to the sky.

Sunny wonderful day. No snow except on the surrounding peaks. Had the place almost to myself. Paved trail is in excellent condition and just a couple of pot holes on the road in.

It was a great day for the hike,although there was still plenty of snow on the road leading to trail head. Walked the trail around the lake but could not complete the loop because of snow.Will definitely go back in summer when the snow is gone.It is really pretty lake ,very scenic!

The goal for today was to get out on the trail for some fresh air and not get our feet muddy. Gold Creek Pond turned out to be AWESOME for today, though I'd love to come back in the summer and see it against the blue sky. The one mile path is PAVED around this manmade lake (used to be a gravel pit). POURING RAIN and totally FUN! It was cold up there, though and we saw a little (tiny) bit of snow, too. The lake itself is gorgeous and apparently quite deep. It was perfect because of the pavement-no mud. Even though we each had our own custom-trimmed garbage bag (!) we got pretty wet. Well, everyone except my daughter who enjoyed Gramma's umbrella. The challenge was keeping the camera dry in the moisture-laden air, I'm going to have to think on that one. About half way around (we went counter clockwise), there's a peninsula. We walked out to the end. Gramma found a few rocks and the kids enjoyed "kerplunking" them into the water. A few vine maples were in brilliant fall color against the dark hemlocks and gray sky. Super easy to find, vault toilets at parking lot. Easy, flat walk with beautiful scenery!