Our first visit to see the mountain lady slippers was in 2020 and we have returned every year since to see and enjoy them. TH parking is across HWY 97 from the entrance to the park. A sign which says TRAIL near the TH parking area takes you to a large sign which names trails in the area. (A picture of this sign can be seen in the link of our first report which I included below.) We hike the Brooks Nature Trail through the Old Growth Grove and see the first lady slippers shortly after the Old Growth Grove. Many are also seen along the Lady Slipper Loop. We return to the TH via an unsigned road at a 4 way junction. This is about 2 1/2 miles with minimal elevation gain.  We have not seen any other hikers when we have done this loop. Lupine, one pink lupine, a penstemon, a few desert parsley and past their prime balsamroot were also seen. I have included a link of our 2020 report as it gives more detail of the area and a link to the Brooks Memorial SP website.

Since it is deer hunting season, we decided to hike at Brooks Memorial State Park. State parks are closed to hunting.

The temperature was 37 degrees when we started hiking so we bundled up in fleece and puff jackets, woolly hats and warm gloves for the first time since last spring. Under sunshine, the temperature warmed up to 51 degrees, but with a cool wind, before cloud cover began to develop ahead of the next rain storm forecast to arrive overnight.

At the trailhead, we noticed a new map on the sign board showing a "conceptual" trail plan. Interesting, because during previous hikes at this park we have never been able to find on the ground all the trails listed on the signs.

We decided to start with the Monastery Fire Trail (sign misspelled as "Monastary"), which was supposed to make a loop.

The 2011 Monastery Fire burned more than 5,300 acres; it was sparked by a pickup truck's muffler while driving by the Greek Orthodox Monastery of St. John the Forerunner which is located just south of the state park. The fire burned into the park before it was extinguished.

At first, the trail had constructed tread and it appeared that an equestrian group had ridden the trail the day before. In about 1/2 mile, the trail entered burnt Oregon white oak-ponderosa pine woodlands. Most oak trees have resprouted new growth from their roots but it appeared that deer browsing was stunting the new growth.

We emerged from the woodlands at the rim of the Camp Creek drainage. The trail descended directly down the fall line of the slope; WTA trail maintenance volunteers know that is a bad design because it leads to erosion. Already, horse hooves had churned a lot of rocks out of the ground as they descended.

We crossed the dry Camp Creek drainage and continued to follow the Monastery Fire Trail, which, without constructed tread, became less distinct. The trail route wandered through oak woodlands near the park boundary. We saw two trespass cattle on the wrong side of the boundary fence.

As the trail route became fainter, we followed blue ribbons until they petered out and we came to a halt. Yes, the Monastery Fire Trail was still "conceptual" at its far end.

We have explored the park enough over the past 10 years that we knew our approximate location. We decided to hike cross-country back to a picnic table for our lunch break.

The picnic table was missing, so we found a good location with a view to sit on the ground.

After lunch, we continued on to hike the Camp Creek Trail, another loop. This time, we were able to follow the entire loop because the park had mowed the trail through the grassy meadows.

The loop ascends to the highest point in the park, where we saw a bear on our last visit. It was running along the tree line at the edge of the meadow and just wanted to get away from us. This time, we did not see a bear, but we did see deer bedded down in the shade of oak trees. (A sign at the trailhead warned of bear and cougar sightings.)

We hiked about 4.5 miles total.

It's too bad that park management has not seemed interested in WTA trail maintenance support to help design and construct the park's trail system. 

Kind of a lackluster hike this day as we did the Lady Slipper Loop as well as went through the Old Growth Grove.  The road noise kind of took away from the experience as did the wedding party scheduled for that day.  Also, I guess a group of people reserved the campground and while we were able to use the vault toilets there, I think it was because a park ranger was picking up garbage and had opened the gate.  Otherwise, when we returned from our hike the gate was closed.  The portapotty at the trailhead is gone, so plan on using the restrooms across the street if needed and the campground is reserved. 

Lastly, there was a sign stating a cougar and a black bear and cub had been spotted.  That sign was posted for at least 2 weeks but we still brought bear mace just in case. 

Overall, I think it would have been a better experience during the off season.   

Today we hiked the Nature Trail and Picnic Meadows Trail to a beautiful open meadow with several varieties of wildflowers for a total of 2 1/2 miles RT and only 296 foot gain. I have bursitis in my left knee so am not able to meander very fast or very far! :(! From the TH parking area across HWY 97 from the CG, we hiked on an old road through a forest of Ponderosa pine and Oregon white oak. Here we saw lupine of various shades of white, pink and purple. At the edge of the forest you reach a large open meadow where there is a picnic table nestled among the trees. This is where we had lunch on our return to the TH. Because of my knee pain, we had  to turn around about 1/4 mile shy of what is called Picnic Meadows and the location of another picnic table. Flowers seen in the meadow were death camas, pearly everlasting, 2 species of onion, yellow desert parsley, 2 broomrape plants and yellow buckwheat. The day was sunny and warm. We could see Mt Hood and Mt Jefferson from the meadow. A local man and his dog were the only ones seen. There is no host in the CG and the only park person we have seen is an occasional maintenance worker whizzing by in a jitney so information about the park isn't readily available. The topographical maps available outside the Ranger Station aren't detailed so one needs to hike a trail to know what it is like. The trails we have done are nice and provide beautiful wildflowers in season.

We did talk to a park employee Wednesday AM before we left and he went over the map with us explaining the various trails which was very helpful. You used to be able to drive to the TH's, by driving the road to the Environmental Learning Center, but the road is now gated and only those staying there can drive through the gate. They built a short connector trail from the now TH parking and this takes you to a large TH sign which I pictured in our report of 5-23.

We had hiked the Lady Slipper Trail at Brooks Memorial SP on 5-23 and the Mountain Lady Slippers' leaves were just pushing through the ground and seemed to be 10 days to two weeks from blooming so we returned today to the park to camp for 2 nights to hopefully see some blooming. After setting up camp, we hiked the Lady Slipper Trail and found 20-25 blooming plants, a few embryo and some plants with leaves but no buds! Lupine, balsamroot, yellow desert parsley, larkspur and a few spotted coral root were also seen. The TH parking is across HWY 97 at the end of a park road which passes the Ranger Station, maintenance area and a home which appears to be unoccupied now. There is a porta potty in the parking area. We took the trail from the parking area to the first sign with the trail names. We took the Nature Trail left to the Lady Slipper Loop Trail which we completed for a total of 2 miles with 250 feet gain. The bursitis in my left knee told me I had walked too far, but it was worth the pain to see the many lady slippers! We saw no other hikers.