Thursday at Sunday Gulch

A beautiful day in store 80's and sunshine so we head out early to do our hike at the Sunday Gulch by Sylvan Lake.  Not sure what to expect except it is listed as 3 miles, strenuous and crosses water at several points.

The trail begins off the Sylvan Lakeshore Trail. 

It is full of small waterfalls and rock grottos surrounded by ponderosa pine.   Many of the rocks are covered with mosses and lichen. Once this gulch was filled with a stream, but in the 1890s Theodor Reder dammed the mouth of the gulch and created Sylvan Lake.

A squeeze through the rocks 

It opens up into a ponderosa pine forest 

and the backside of Sylvan Lake

Then down into the Gulch! 

and down . . . 

and down . .  

The rocks can be slippery and there is some water to get across but there are railings most of the way down.  I don't know how they got them here! 

Once you get down the 800 ft drop in 1 mile the hike goes through the woods.

The brown trees on this hill are all dead from the pine beetle.   

The end! 

We've worked up an appetite so we go to Blue Bell Lodge for a late lunch 

Then a drive on the Needles Highway

Till Later,

Meanwhile we keep on Trek'n

Melissa and Gary