The trail seems to have received some heavy maintenance fairly recently and the majority of trees down across the trail between the TH and Big Slide Lake had been cleared. Just after entering the Bull of the Woods wilderness, I passed a pond flecked with water lilies, some of which were just starting to bloom.
At 2.9 mi, I crossed Dickey Creek and started the gradual climb toward Big Slide Lake. Sullivan describes this as a “long, hot climb” but in the morning it’s in the shade and was quite pleasant. As I went higher, the undergrowth subsided and some views up and down the canyon emerged.
After about 2 mi I got a view up the big slide toward Big Slide Mountain,
and shortly thereafter came to the junction with the spur trail (no sign but obvious) to the lake. A short descent, a hop across the outlet,
and I was at the lake.
I could see the Bull of the Woods Lookout above the lake but, lounging in the warm shade next to the water, could not find the motivation to hike up to it. The mosquitoes, annoying but not coming at me in clouds, didn’t provide enough motivation to move either.
Sullivan mentions the “plentiful salamanders” in the shallows of the lake and, sure enough, there were at least two dozen of them either sitting on the bottom or gliding gracefully through the water.
On the way back, I expended a lot of digital memory fooling around with photos involving sunlight (I guess I haven’t quite yet recovered emotionally from those seemingly endless cloudy days this Spring).
I wasn’t looking forward to climbing back up to the TH but it didn’t prove to be all that daunting (even in the afternoon heat). I met 4 backpackers on their way out, 4 on their way in to camp at the lake, and 4 camped at the lake - so the area is popular but hardly seemed crowded. Beautiful area, great little hike (11 mi RT, 2300') - maybe next time I’ll find the motivation to continue on to Big Slide Mountain or the lookout?
