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Author Archives: Teri J Pieper

Yesterday’s Dog Walk

Yesterday afternoon we walked here on our hill. It was nice to get up into the tall bitterbrush and sage that did not burn four years ago.

Seasons have changed. Generally speaking, we have three seasons defined by color – white, green and brown – and we are officially in the brown season now. Or maybe it’s more of a golden season. That sounds nicer. Most of the foliage that grew vigorously in the late spring and early summer has dried to a yellowish tan with a few sparks of color here and there. Remnants of wildflowers and berries. Aspen leaves – some still green, many yellow and some more orangish.

Knapweed, a noxious invader but still pretty.
My girl Luna turns 12 on Sunday.
Snowberry. Who eats it?
Mariposa lily, the delightful lavender flower of June. This is its seed pod.
Balsamroot sunflower, dormant til next spring
A nest built in the spring but never used.
The green grass grows where the vernal pond was in spring and early summer.
Yarrow flowers, bloomed white, not so long ago
Sage, dead from the fire
Who is watching who?
Oh, maybe he was watching her
Sky didn’t want me to use this image.

Perfect Fall Hike

This hike had just about everything – stunning fall colors, lingering wildflowers, grand vistas, perfect weather, wildlife sightings. Oh my.

We got out early and made the long and arduous drive to the Freezeout trailhead in order to hike up to 8000 plus foot Tiffany Mountain. The road is rocky but passable for most cars. It just takes a while. And I took even longer because I kept stopping to look at and photograph the fall colors. Some of the aspens were a vivid orange red instead of yellow. The dogs were getting anxious since I wasn’t letting them out. At the trailhead, while I was fiddling with my gear and before the dogs were out of the car, I heard a strange bellowing sound. It was something I’d never heard before. Bigfoot? I didn’t hear any thrashing around in the brush and wasn’t sure what to make of it but I had an idea of what it was.

The dogs wore their orange vests because it is hunting season for bear and grouse and also archery deer season. I had hardly seen anyone along the way but I figured it was better to be safe. The car said it was 45 degrees in the sun and on the shaded trail I found frost. There were some migrating raptors, mostly accipitors that I identified – Sharp-shinned and Cooper’s Hawks. There were lots of Clark’s Nutcrackers gathering seeds and making raucous calls. Chickadees and kinglets and bluebirds and juncos too. I saw a pika in the rocks near the mountain top.

The larches were vivid. The golden needles against the blue sky takes my breath away. The views that unfolded as I walked above the treeline were also breathtaking. I could see the North Cascades all the way to Mount Baker. Farther south, there was Glacier Peak. And I could see the continuing smoke from the Crescent Mountain wildfire. It will burn til the snow falls.

When we were returning to the trailhead, I heard some thrashing through the brush ahead and to the right. And then a cow moose crossed the trail not 100 feet ahead of us and she was followed by a bull moose! So that was the sound I heard earlier. The bull moose was bugling! It all happened pretty fast so no photos. There are moose in various places around this region but you just don’t see them very often.

Roger Lake
Frost on the lupine
Moose sized!
Come on! Let’s go!
The Crescent Mountain fire
Rock Mountain and Middle Tiffany
Mountain top register in the can
Upper Tiffany and Tiffany Lakes
Paintbrush
Lupine
Fireweed
Many feet use these trails

Last Week’s Hike

Summer has come to an abrupt end. The good news is that wildfires no longer threaten people and their homes and soon the smoke will be gone from the valley.

Last week Mary and I and our pack of dogs headed for Harts Pass and the Pacific Crest Trail. We had a good hike to Grasshopper Pass, going past many PCT thru hikers who were anxious to keep walking. If everything went well for them, they’d be in Canada, 35 miles away, the next day. A few flowers were still blooming and we heard marmots and pikas and we ate a few huckleberries along the way. We had a little sunshine, some breezes, a little misty rain and ever-changing light. It was really lovely.

huckleberries
Ever-changing light
paintbrush
Buckwheat
Pearly everlasting
larch trees
thru hiker
thru hiker
thru hiker
thru hiker
Hot dog tights?
No one wants to sit next to Sky. Can you see the brown stuff on her shoulder?
The route back to the trailhead
Larch madness season is coming
Molly gets a drink.
Mary taught Luna to get a drink from her hydration pack. Sky would not even try it.

A Day at the Beach

 

Morning choices
Sky is a big fan of local artists
Donna made lots of wonderful paintings
Ken in Vinny, the one person dinghy
Pulling up the crab trap
Donna helped supervise
I don’t know what we would have done if he’d tipped it over
There’s a good one
Ken said we could all have a crab for a pet. Kim’s crab was named Tyrone.
Maybe Laura had Barnacle Bill?
Mine was Buster
An Outward Bound group spent a lot of time looking out at the water before finally getting in their kayaks for a camping trip.
Rosie and Kim supervised the afternoon crab trap pull
Not that one
Oh boy, we got limits!
The red one is a rock crab
Rock crab and Dungeness crab
Hey, where’s my guy going in Vinny?
Don just took Vinny back to the dock.
Another good day at the beach.

 

And then it was time to go home.

One Tennis Ball, Three Dogs

Molly is now two years old and she pretty much owns this game. She knows to watch the person with the ball and keep track of where it goes. Sky gets too excited and jumps into the water and doesn’t track the ball. Luna just wants to have fun so sometimes you have to make sure she has a chance to get it.