Teri J Pieper

Author Archives: Teri J Pieper

Lost Lake Campout

June 2, 2016 – 7:30 am
Posted in camping
Tagged bald eagle, calypso orchids, campfire cooking, CCC, dogs, kayak, Lost Lake, Okanogan Highlands, western larch
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We got away with our camper for a week or so at the end of May. Last summer there was no time for camping between work and wildfires so we just decided to block out some time early and do it. With a little luck, maybe we can go again later in the summer.

The Lost Lake Campground was created by the CCC. Signs indicated the work was done in 1940 and ’41. There is a cabin and shops and also some buildings at the adjacent Kiwanis camp all built by the CCC workers. The cabin is badly in need of repair. I do hope the US Forest Service can find the resources to preserve this historic building.

Western larch is the predominant tree around the campground. These are tall stately conifers with needles that turn golden yellow in the fall before dropping. In the spring they grow vibrant green foliage. Apparently the area was logged in 1963, taking many of the big old trees. There are at least two remaining and a nature walk will guide you to them. The area was thinned/logged again around fifteen years ago, I think. This thinning has produced a healthy and attractive stand that is also more fire resistant than it was prior to that.

We were joined by Ken’s brother and the two of them enjoyed fishing for brook trout from the short kayaks. We had two good meals of fresh fish cooked over the fire. I enjoyed birding from my kayak. Ken and Carl saw a moose swim across the lake while they were fishing. Of course, I missed it! We all enjoyed listening to the loons calling to each other.

It was nice to get away from home and the ever-present electronic world.

CCC shop

Old fire hydrant

The dogs were pleased that a new sign designates space just for them.

This old dock has seen better times

Nice forest

Sky

900 year old western larch

So tall and straight

Big trees

Luna

Sky

These trees survived burns over the years

Pileated Woodpeckers like the dead trees

Lots of penstemon in bloom

Calypso orchid

Wild violets

Lupine

Wild strawberries were everywhere

Plants growing out of rocks

Snowberry

Swimming float in the fog

Foggy morning

Lily pads

Looks like a good place for a moose

We had some rain

Ahhhhh

Bald Eagle

Carl enjoys a bit of sun

Good morning!

Here is our bird list from Lost Lake.

Canada Goose

Wood Duck

Mallard

Green-winged Teal

Ring-necked Duck

Common Loon

Turkey Vulture

Bald Eagle

Red-tailed Hawk

Virginia Rail

Sora

American Coot

Spotted Sandpiper

Great Horned Owl

Barred Owl

Common Poorwill

hummingbird sp.

Williamson’s Sapsucker

Downy Woodpecker

Hairy Woodpecker

Northern Flicker

Pileated Woodpecker

Olive-sided Flycatcher

Hammond’s Flycatcher

Empidonax sp.

Gray Jay

Steller’s Jay

Common Raven

Tree Swallow

Violet-green Swallow

Black-capped Chickadee

Mountain Chickadee

Red-breasted Nuthatch

Marsh Wren

Golden-crowned Kinglet

Ruby-crowned Kinglet

Western Bluebird

Townsend’s Solitaire

Swainson’s Thrush

American Robin

Orange-crowned Warbler

Yellow Warbler

Yellow-rumped Warbler

Chipping Sparrow

Dark-eyed Junco

Song Sparrow

Red-winged Blackbird

Red Crossbill

Pine Siskin

Evening Grosbeak

Black Lake Hike

May 15, 2016 – 8:09 am
Posted in hike
Tagged Black Lake, Lake Creek, North Cascades, Pasayten Wilderness, wildflowers
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The girls and I hiked to Black Lake on Friday. This hike is more about the trail than the destination. It follows Lake Creek which is really roaring with white water now. I was pleased that the girls stayed away from the rushing stream. The area burned about ten or fifteen years ago and is a recovering forest with standing silver snags, numerous species of shrubs and wildflowers and in some places there are thick stands of small pine trees and aspens. Every year lots of those silver snags fall, often across the trail, and it hasn’t been logged out yet. According to the information at the trailhead, there are 48 downed trees along the route. This certainly slows a person down. Most I could get across; some I had to go under and in at least one case I had to go around a big log.

Another feature is a series of beaver ponds near the lake. These efficient engineers have dammed up a tributary creek and created some really good habitat but also have flooded the trail in places. It proved to be a bit of a challenge for me to get across a series of downed logs over the pond to return to the trail.

The flowers and bird song slowed me down too. I was able to identify four different warblers by their songs alone. I stopped many times when the trail was away from the stream, so I could listen to the birds and photograph the flowers. Needless to say, I did not make good time on this hike but like I said, it’s more about the trail than the destination.

Luna looks happy to be in the wilderness

First log across the trail

Later she would go under logs like this

Paintbrush

Two kinds of lupine

Serviceberry

Paintbrush

Cute tiny flower

maple

Lewisia tweedii

Tweedy’s Lewisia

Mountain ash flower with pollinator.

Mountain ash flower with pollinator

Mountain ash flower with two pollinators

Wild clematis

Oh gosh, I’ve forgotten this one

Elderberry

Beautiful little flower on a thorny shrub

Douglas sunflowers

penstemon

ferns unfurling

columbine

fungi

A log that was cut out of the trail last year

Talus slopes like this had pikas in them

Aspens growing out of the galus

Big boulder in the trail

Avalanche debris strewn across the trail

Hmmmm

Lake Creek

Beaver pond

Beaver pond

Black Lake

Cooling off

And here’s the list of birds I heard and saw:

Ruffed Grouse

Mourning Dove

Calliope Hummingbird

Hairy Woodpecker

Pileated Woodpecker

Olive-sided Flycatcher

Hammond’s Flycatcher

Dusky Flycatcher

Warbling Vireo

Common Raven

Black-capped Chickadee

Pacific Wren

Ruby-crowned Kinglet

American Robin

Nashville Warbler

MacGillivray’s Warbler

Yellow Warbler

Yellow-rumped Warbler

Chipping Sparrow

Dark-eyed Junco

Song Sparrow

Spotted Towhee

Black-headed Grosbeak

Red-winged Blackbird

Pine Siskin

Small Views

May 9, 2016 – 9:47 am
Posted in spring
Tagged bitterroot, groundsel, Methow Valley, phacelia, western bluebird, wildflowers
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We live in this house because it has an incredible view from the river valley to the high peaks of the Pasayten Wilderness. Besides that, there is no practical reason to live here.

Additionally, their are pretty good small views – wildflowers and birds too. This year, the flowers are all coming fast and furious – early with bountiful foliage and intense colors. Without some late spring rains, in a month from now we will be facing brown, crinkly hillsides. So we enjoy the colors and scents now.

Western Bluebirds are using this nest box

Every year I need to remember the name of this flower.

Cat’s ear lillies. Funny name for a beautiful flower

Groundsel

Groundsel is about the same color as balsamroot and has replaced it on our hillside, keeping the yellow theme for a little while longer

Larkspur adds a bit of blue

I think this is an Erigeron sp. but I could not tell you which one

Bitterroot. A perennial favorite. Lewisia rediviva

This Phacelia is much reduced compared to last year when it grew vigorously and everywhere.

Someplace New

May 7, 2016 – 7:11 am
Posted in birding
Tagged birds, creek, garter snake, ruins, spring, wildfire
Comments (1)

I went birding with a friend last week, visiting an area not far from here but new to both of us. We had a pretty good birding day, seeing more than seventy species! One of the first birds we observed was a Lewis’s Woodpecker – first one of the season for us. They are really beautiful birds with striking reddish bellies and iridescent greenish black backs. Before the day was over we had seen three of them. I guess they all arrived at once.

At one stop, I was caught up with the patterns in the water while Juliet was searching down a bird with an unusual song she could not identify. We looked at a new burn area from last year and tried to find morels with no luck.

Willow and moving water

Garter snake

Ruins of a cabin

Here is a list of the birds we saw:

Canada Goose
Mallard
Green-winged Teal
Ring-necked Duck
Barrow’s Goldeneye
Common Merganser
Ruddy Duck
California Quail
Pied-billed Grebe
Great Blue Heron
Turkey Vulture
Osprey
Red-tailed Hawk
Sora
American Coot
Killdeer
Eurasian Collared-Dove
Mourning Dove
Rufous Hummingbird
Calliope Hummingbird
Belted Kingfisher
Lewis’s Woodpecker
Williamson’s Sapsucker
Red-naped Sapsucker
Hairy Woodpecker
Northern Flicker
American Kestrel
Hammond’s Flycatcher
Dusky Flycatcher
Pacific-slope Flycatcher
Say’s Phoebe
Western Kingbird
Warbling Vireo
Black-billed Magpie
American Crow
Common Raven
Tree Swallow
Violet-green Swallow
Northern Rough-winged Swallow
Black-capped Chickadee
Mountain Chickadee
Red-breasted Nuthatch
Pygmy Nuthatch
House Wren
Golden-crowned Kinglet
Ruby-crowned Kinglet
Western Bluebird
Townsend’s Solitaire
American Robin
European Starling
Nashville Warbler
Yellow Warbler
Yellow-rumped Warbler
Townsend’s Warbler
Spotted Towhee
Chipping Sparrow
Vesper Sparrow
Savannah Sparrow
Song Sparrow
Dark-eyed Junco
Lazuli Bunting
Red-winged Blackbird
Western Meadowlark
Yellow-headed Blackbird
Brewer’s Blackbird
Brown-headed Cowbird
House Finch
Cassin’s Finch
Red Crossbill
Pine Siskin
American Goldfinch
House Sparrow

A Long Ways for a Short Trip

May 6, 2016 – 10:45 am
Posted in Uncategorized, Virginia
Tagged Balls Bluff, C&O Canal, civil war battlefield, hardwood forest, Leesburg, Whites Ferry
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We spent last weekend in Virginia to attend Ken’s niece’s wedding. It was a GORGEOUS wedding in a beautiful setting – Riverside on the Potomoc. Wonderful photos from the wedding can be seen at Natalie Franke’s blog.

The photos here are from the time we spent exploring the countryside in between wedding events. Ken and his brother Carl and I were not directly involved in the planning or the wedding party so we had some spare time to enjoy the Virginia and Maryland countryside. The weather was cool and cloudy unlike home where it’s been unseasonably warm and sunny. We walked around historic Leesburg where we stayed for the weekend. We visited Ball’s Bluff Battlefield regional park and enjoyed a lovely walk in the woods to the shore of the Potomoc River and learned a bit about the battle. We crossed the river on White’s Ferry, a cable ferry quite unlike the Washington State ferries we are used to. And we walked along the C&O Canal along with hundreds of others. It was the date of the annual Sierra Club 25 and 50 mile walk that took participants all the way to Harper’s Ferry. We did not go that far. It’s a great place to walk or bike or bird with a nice path overlooking the unused canal and the deep hardwood forest.

After all the wedding events and staying up too late and over indulging, we were ready to come home. It’s always good to get away and travel often makes me appreciate what we have here ever so much.