Easter Hike to Rabbit Ears Rock (Lumpy Ridge loop), 04/20/2003
Started hiking at 10:35 from the Twin Owls parking area. Surprisingly this parking area was not yet full. The weather was mostly sunny and cool. We got to Gem Lake, which was ice free, at about 11:30. Started hiking down toward Cow Creek at about 11:45. There was NO snow on the trail, all the way down to the creek. Hiking west along the Cow Creek trail, we stopped to take a picture of Rabbit Ears Rock. On our climb out of the Cow Creek drainage, up to the saddle point, we encountered snow cover on the trail, with some old tracks. Losing the trail under the snow, we continued to head west directly up to the saddle point. Reaching the saddle point, we hiked a few hundred feet north up the ridge to a nice rock perch where we had a wish sandwich and some water. At about this time the sun vanished behind some clouds, and a few snow flakes began to fall. We then headed down to meet the Black Canyon Trail, and then back along this trail to the Twin Owls parking area. Finished the loop at about 15:40.
