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Author Archives: Teri J Pieper

We were at Tiffany for the peak of the fireweed (Chamerion angustifolium) bloom! This tall lavender-pink perennial often comes in after a fire. The Tripod fire burned there nearly ten years ago and the fireweed is still very abundant. I was surprised to learn that its pollen turns blue as the flowers mature. The dogs were spotted with the fine powdery blue pollen. Lots of the wildflowers had mostly finished blooming but we did find some colorful blooms to entertain us along the way.

It seems to be a tradition for me to hike to Tiffany Mountain in July. Earlier this year would have been better for the wildflowers and possible patches of snow but this was the soonest I could get up there. Yesterday MA and I and our pack of dogs made the short steep hike. It was a cool day, thankfully. There is nearly no water along the trail so we had to carry our own water and water for four dogs. We did notice early on the hike that three of them went off trail and came back with muddy feet. On the way down we found the well-used mud hole where they’d managed to wet their whistles and cool their toes.

There were quite a few wildflowers and I will put most of those images in another post. The fireweed was outstanding! Heading up the trail MA noticed that Sky had bits of blue powder, like eye shadow on her face. We determined that it must be some sort of pollen and eventually I found it on the fireweed. It looked like the older the blossoms, the more chance that the pollen was blue. It started out orange on the fresher flowers.

Sky found a stick that she was particularly fond of and Quincy soon decided he had to do everything in his power to get it away from her. He’d grab onto to one end and Sky would just stand there and hold her ground while he jerked one way and then another. After a bit, Sky would take off running and he’d lose his grip and take off as fast as he could to catch her. She’d slow down and then he’d grab on again. They had great fun. At one point, Quincy tumbled repeatedly head over heels!

All the dogs were pooped when we returned to the car and three of them had to share the back seat. It was a pile of pooches!

Here is a post from exactly three years ago about the same hike!

Living in the Methow there is no shortage of fun stuff to do and often a person needs to make a choice between various planned events. This weekend is the big Rhythm and Blue Festival outside of Winthrop so there are lots of people in town. And motorcycles too. We did not go to the festival. It’s a BIG event. We stuck to smaller things.

There was the Farmers Market in Twisp in the morning. In the afternoon we went out to the Methow Valley Ciderhouse to listen to Danbert Nobacon and Anna Dooley perform in the relaxed atmosphere under the big tent. After that we went into Twisp to enjoy a couple of gallery receptions – at the Confluence and also Donna Keyser’s D*SIGNS. Later in the evening Ken did go visit some friends who live across the river from the Blues Fest and he enjoyed the music from afar.

Just a few images from our hillside. Lots of baby birds this time of year.

A couple days ago, the dogs and I got up and out early in the morning to find some respite from the heat. We made the short drive to the Blue Lake trailhead and were on the trail by 7:30! The forest was cool and damp and there were dew drops on the shrubs. We haven’t had dew in the valley for quite a while. At home the temperature continues to linger in the high 90’s and low 100’s during the afternoon so we needed a break. ‘They’ say there will be a break in this heat but with that break we have the promise of lightning.

Wildflowers were lush along parts of the trail. Crossing an avalanche chute, the views opened up into the North Cascades. At the lake we enjoyed the sight of the back of Liberty Bell, the iconic rock formation that dominates the horizon at Washington Pass.

We were the first to make the 2.2 mile hike that morning and had the lake nearly to ourselves all the time we were there. Going down, after we passed the halfway mark, we saw numerous hikers going up in the growing heat of the day. I imagine a few of them enjoyed the waters of Blue Lake almost as much as Sky did.