Ashland Lakes — Monday, May. 28, 2018

This hike is a hidden gem!  We set out around  noon on Memorial Day looking for solace on Mountain Loop Highway.  That might sound like a daunting task but our goal was easily achieved at Ashland Lakes.  We only crossed paths with two other couples momentarily. There was one minor blow down but otherwise a very nice trail with a lot of resources put into it.   While the end destination offers up three small lakes; Beaver Plant Lake, Upper Ashland Lake and Lower Ashland Lake in that order, the true stars of this hike is the massive trees growing out of ancient stumps.  The birds were singing.  The creeks offering an intermittent song of their own as we walked through this quiet and serene landscape of awe inspiring trees.  I would recommend taking the short  detour to Beaver Plant Lake.  A bench sits at the edge of the lake where we took in the view listening to the occasional bullfrog croaking.  There is some nice campsites at the lake’s shores and I imagine you can hear a whole symphony of frogs in the evening.  While smaller than the other two lakes it happened to be our favorite.  Continue on to Upper Ashland and finally, Lower Ashland. The road is heavily potholed but determined small cars can make it just as we did.  You just have to go slow.  Very slowly.  There is no snow on road or trail.  Though not one to repeat hikes, I will do this one again.  I highly recommend this hike!  Loved the trees more than the lakes!  See pics