Day Hike - Tieton River Nature Trail

This hike is a favorite in the fall because of the colors and in the spring because of the wildflowers.  In addition to the fall color, another highlight of the day was hiking for about 1/3 of the trail through an area that was burned by wildfire just a year ago.  For it being just a year out from the fire, the recovery and number of plants in the burn area was impressive.  We were able to sit on large logs adjacent to the river in the meadow for a comfortable and scenic lunch spot, and this meadow, which holds the locally popular "Wedding Tree" makes a great turn-around point.  Seven of us started out about 9:15 with a temperature of about 37, and by the time we finished we were in the sunshine with temperatures in the 50's.  There were many cars and plenty of room in the large parking lot that also serves as the Oak Creek Wildlife/Elk Feeding Station.  While there is an office area with nice bathrooms and running water, they were closed at 9:00 a.m., but we were able to take advantage of two outhouses adjacent to the parking lot; when we returned to the parking lot around 1:30 the "nice" bathrooms were open.