Lead Cove—1.8 & Bote Mtn—2.9 (repeats), Eagle Creek—8.7 (new)

I was responsible for organizing this hike; this included contracting with Fontana Marina, ensuring that all three groups (i.e., those doing Eagle Creek—N=12, those dropping off the Lead Cove hikers at trailhead and/or driving to Lake Fontana to hike Lakeshore trail and then transport hikers home—N=3 vehicles/4 hikers, & those doing Bone Valley plus—N=3). Everything worked fine because people like Martha Sundquist, Bob Hutchins, & Bill Woodrick got us to the trail head and then took the long drive to Fontana, and although they were able to do a short hike, they enabled the rest of us to make the longer trek. Pam Reddoch, Judy Collins, and John Kennerly scheduled their hike so that it would interface with ours and facilitate getting a good boat pick-up price (we had 19 hikers but one of the cancellers paid for the boat too so we were able to get the Marina’s lowest price). Teamwork was truly in evidence.

A litany of events resulted in a late start of ~45 min. at the Lead Cove trail head. Debbie Way, Nancy Cain, Bob Bolinger, Dale Teague, Betty Stamper, BZ Lane, Cecil Rowe, BZ Lane, Nancy Olsen, Tom Wainner, and I were the hikers. Lead Cove, as well as Bote Mtn that followed it, had a lot of climb and was not too popular. Eagle Creek had two facets. The first was steep (going down) with many rocks on the trail; the second was a modest decline with many stream crossings (15 identified as being difficult); I had my water shoes on for at least the last 10. My shoes gave me pretty good traction on the submerged rocks; my two poles also made it easier. However, a number of our group took one or more spills.

Believe that our 1st contingent arrived at Campsite #90 at least by 4:15; I was concerned because neither the Lakeshore or Bone Valley hikers were there. However, I learned when the first pontoon boat arrived that they had already been picked up. I collected $13 from each hiker in my boat and Bill Woodrick did the same in the other; we arrived at the marina ~5:00. Unfortunately today I forgot my camera; the shots shown are courtesy of Charles Wilder (he really has the knack of capturing the beauty).