Deep Lake Loop

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On a day in late March, I started by trying to hike to Lyons Lake (northeast of Heffley Creek), but I found the route too muddy,  so I shifted gears and instead drove out to another hike on my list – the Deep Lake Outer Loop.    In February I had hiked trails in the area, on open south-facing slopes up the Community Grasslands Trail and up the hill above the lake (link).   I left the sheltered and muddier routes for a later day.   This day’s hike went up the Deep Lake Outer Loop route and then around the hill on the east side of Deep Lake.

The first part of the trail climbed the sagebrush grasslands ridges, and then I urned onto a single track which wound around gullies heading to Deep Lake.    A turn at the south end of the hill led to a forested trail bearing north.

At the northeast end of the trail system, the Outer Loop goes through some grassy meadows up to the north end of Deep Lake.

There were some boys fishing on the lake as I hike past by, then I continued up the hill.    This is a peaceful spot in the Lac du Bois Grasslands.

I joined the main trail system and then hiked back down to the trailhead.    This was over 2 hours on the trails with lots of up-and-down hiking, but hiking the Deep Lake Trails is always rewarding.

On the trails I spotted some woodpeckers, some robins and a grouse.   Sagebrush buttercups were abundant, but I also spotted a few yellow bells (Fritillaries), and arrowleaf balsamroot was showing emerging flower buds.    It was a windy but mild day on the grasslands trails, one more great day of hiking.

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