This time of year it is challenging to get onto the trails without snowshoes on. For our Tuesday hike we tried the North Fork Kennally Creek trail with some success. To get there, you head south towards Donnelly, turning east onto Paddy Flat Rd. After Paddy Flat crosses Farm to Market road it turns to fairly good condition dirt road. Just stay on 388 and follow the signs for Kennally Creek camp ground.
It's a very scenic drive. The sun was shining. The sky was blue. A light breeze blowing...it felt really good to be out exploring new places. Didn't see another car up there, but there was evidence of recent logging.
Didn't hit any snow until after we hit Paddy Flat summit. At first it was just occasional banks of snow stretching across sections of the road. Eventually though it was more than we wanted to try and test the element's low clearance on. About a mile from the trail head we parked and hiked into the campground.
The campground itself was clear of snow.
Great signage showing all the nearby lakes. The campground would be a great jumping off place for a backpack trip, or use it for a basecamp and do dayhikes out to the lakes. If you click on the picture of the map, you will get a larger version and can see all the possibilities.
Kennally creek was full and loud. We were practically yelling at each other to be heard over the roar of the water. We kept Daisy back, if she fell in there would be no going in after her!
We were trying to tell if it was one solid rock across this stretch of the creek in the picture below. It looked like it was. We will have to come back when the water is lower.
Can you spot the wild Yaker Spaniel in the picture below? The trail was in good condition, a bit soggy in places. A bit of windfall across here and there to climb over. A couple of trees had fallen but were hanging up in branches of neighboring trees. They made ominous sounds when the wind blew.
Wildflowers were just starting to come out.
After half an hour or so we hit snow again. I sunk in up to my knees- brrrr! and we decided to head back. Definitely coming back in a month or two to check out the lakes.
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