May Valley Loop, Phil's Creek, East Side Trail, Bullitt Fireplace Trail & Bullitt Gorge — Sunday, Apr. 30, 2023

Did the May Valley Loop on a nice cool, cloudy day. Arrived at the May Valley TH at 7:45. Allready a few cars there. We went counter-clockwise, heading east from the lower intersection. We took the boundary loop for a little extra mileage. It's a narrow brushy trail marked with orange flagging. There two turns back to the May Valley Loop. We passed the obvious turn. Following the flagging the trail got brushier and mor narrow. There was a tree with Christmas ornaments! Shortly after that the trail petered out. We back tracked and found the turn we missed. Back on the May Valley Loop we took Phil's Creek to the Eastside trail and tried to find East Peak. Another narro brushy trail. We made the first knob. Lost interest in finding the secoond knob. We didn't find a place for a break or views. So we went back to the Summit Trail and took the road to Central Peak. Then we took the Central Peak Trail to Bullit Fireplace, Bullet Gorge and the May Valley Loop back to the trailhead. Most of the trails were in great shape. Just occasional mud, not bad. The wild flowers were nice! Trillium, Oregon grape, yellow violets, miner's lettuce and others all in bloom. Recorded 8.3 miles x 1930 gain. The trail was quiet until after lunch. TH was totally parked up when we got back at 1:30.