My Everyday Photos

Last week the girls and I took the pop-up camper 300 miles away to the very scenic Takhlakh Lake in the Gifford Pinchot National Forest. The lake is at about 4300′ elevation on the NW side of Mount Adams. The nearest towns are Randle and Trout Lake and the roads to get there are not exactly what I would call good. I think it was 32 miles from Randle and that last bit, after driving 270 miles, seemed endless. Despite its remoteness, the campground stayed nearly full the five nights we were there.

For the first three days, the temperature was well into the 90’s in the afternoon and the black flies loved it. Our campsite was mostly sunny so there was no retreating to the camper in hopes of escaping the flies. It was like an oven in there. We walked often to the lake so we could cool off. Even our morning hikes were pretty warm and the insects were relentless – the worst I have seen in many years.

The area is known for lush meadows and numerous lakes and streams. This year, it’s been very dry and the meadows and trails were dusty. Our morning hikes were a struggle for Luna. At nearly 13, she doesn’t handle the heat very well and welcomes any bit of water she can find. So we had to spend our afternoons taking it easy. I was ready to leave Wednesday night but Thursday morning it was cool and misty so we stayed another day.

There is a shady one-mile trail around the lake and we walked it twice a day. It really was quite nice with lots of points to access the water. Most campers had some kind of people-powered watercraft from small fishing boats to every kind of inflatable imaginable to SUP’s to pool toys and I really wished I had one too. They said the bugs were not nearly so bad when they were on the water and I noticed a difference when I was wading in the water. I’ll know next time.

I saw a fair amount of birds in the area and a Barred Owl woke me up one night with its distinctive call. I wondered how many other campers heard it and wondered what it was.

Lily, a rescue goldendoodle

Free-range boat

Lots of people fishing

That’s the morning tiny bug hatch

Canada Jay, also known as a Camp Robber

This is what they did in the afternoon heat if we weren’t at the lakeshore

Osprey

Rufous Hummingbirds fed on the fireweed around my campsite

The around the lake trail

Morning angler

Puffball

Interesting fungus

I think this is pinesap, Monotropa hypopitys. It came up the morning it was misty and damp.

This what the dogs do when I am making photos or studying birds or wildflowers.

They are good dogs

Here is a list of birds I observed while I was there: Mallard, Barrow’s Goldeneye, Hooded Merganser, Ruffed Grouse, Common Nighthawk, Black Swift, Rufous Hummingbird, Spotted Sandpiper, Osprey, Cooper’s Hawk, Bald Eagle, Barred Owl, Belted Kingfisher, American Three-toed Woodpecker, Hairy Woodpecker, Canada Jay, Steller’s Jay, American Crow, Black-capped Chickadee, Golden-crowned Kinglet, Red-breasted Nuthatch, White-breasted Nuthatch, Brown Creeper, Pacific Wren, American Robin, Evening Grosbeak, Dark-eyed Junco