What a difference a year makes. Back then the trail was rough from the original trailhead, the bridge was merely trusses and a pile of wood, and the end of the loop was a bushwhack to FS 56 and a walk back on the road.
Today we parked at the new parking lot with bathrooms and kiosk. This connector has a great viewpoint of the river and mountains from a log barrier along the way before meeting up with the old trailhead and the beginning of the loop. The forest is covered in moss with some older growth trees, there's now a spur to the river, a nice view of the lake from the completed bridge, and the trail closely follows along the lake providing views with different perspectives as it loops back to the beginning. There's also great views of Russian Buttes. A million little frogs were jumping around so step carefully. We also saw two snakes.
On the way back we stopped at the Mine Creek Day Use area and walked down to the water where the kids had a spirited water gun fight and dad got soaked. I had a week and a half of epic hikes with the family out of town but I sure loved having my little hikers back home.
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