With The LovedOne busy at the library, Plan A was to drive to where Forest Road (FR) 1055 intersects the Pacific Crest Trail (PCT) at Cook and Green Pass on the Siskiyou Crest and then do some exploring along the PCT toward Kangaroo Springs. Uh, no. FR 1055 up from the Oregon side is closed indefinitely (there are locked gates at the bottom and at the pass) because of damage sustained during the 2017 Abney Fire. It apparently won’t reopen until the Forest Service is able to deal with the burned snags that have fallen (or could fall) across it.
So to Plan B: A simple hike in ideal weather around the Latgawa Peninsula when Applegate Lake looks most like a lake (i.e., when it’s near full pool). We usually hike the low-altitude trails here in winter when snow (if there is some) closes the higher trails. Hiking the peninsula trails in sunny, warm weather surrounded by the riotous greenery of late Spring was somehow very comforting. Not every hike has to be an adventure; sometimes just a good ramble is fine. The day was enlivened by several nesting ospreys who find the fish-filled lake and the snags around it just the place to raise batches of plump chicks. Starting from the French Gulch Trailhead, I went along the Payette Trail to Latgawa Cove Camp, then up the Calsh Trail, around the Prospector’s Loop Trail, down the Osprey Trail, and back to French Gulch via the Payette Trail.
BOOTS on the TRAIL 
Thanks! Like our home page says, we’re better at informative than literary with our posts. I suspected that FR 1055 might be in trouble because of last year’s fires and had Plan B standing-by. The road might be open from the California side but that’s a different national forest (Klamath) and I didn’t check with them. And I wasn’t up for a drive to Seiad Valley even if it was…
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Thanks for the intel on the road to Cook and Green Pass. So much of what you said here rings true for me. A hike doesn’t always have to be an adventure. A reservoir isn’t really a lake, but will do when you want to be out by some water. Thank you for your detailed write ups.
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