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Author Archives: Teri J Pieper

A Photo Walk

I spent part of yesterday with a high school senior who is interested in pursuing photography. Kayla already has a good eye for composition and color and hopes to go to college to learn more. She particularly likes nature photography so we started out walking to the park near the confluence of the Twisp and Methow Rivers. The weather has been dreary and gray and the ice around Twisp is treacherous for walking. Along the rivers, there is much less ice than in other years. Kayla has explored this area for years and she said normally there is enough ice to walk across the Twisp River. Every year is different and I expect these are the kinds of changes we need to get used to.

Thin ice along the river’s edge
Thin layers of ice show the weather patterns we’ve had this year.
Mountain ash berries
Sapsucker holes
Love this tree!

You can see more photos of Kayla here at my Reflected Light Images blog.

Sunshine for Skiing

The Methow Valley has been socked in with fog for a few days now and it’s not very pleasant. Gray and feels colder than it is. The light is flat. This morning I had lots of choices for skate skiing on groomed trails and I could tell from a web cam that one of them had sunshine and it’s a dog trail. Sky has not been to Gunn Ranch but she’s doing well at Big Valley so I figured we could give it a try. This trail is a long gradual uphill climb of 5k, or more. I just went the 5k and that was enough for me today. And then it’s down, down, down back to the trailhead. With perfect grooming it was lots of fun but when I got going pretty fast, Sky would come too close and cut me off or step on my skis. Twice she caused me to fall. I did figure out how fast to go and keep her out of my way after that and also I kept my eyes on her pretty closely. And we stopped and took pictures too. It was beautiful in the sunshine just barely above the sea of clouds in the valley below.

First tracks
Sky watches for other skiers sneaking up on us, or so she thinks.
Ponderosa pines in glorious winter sunshine
Lucky to be here!
Running with stick
She carried the stick all the way to the car.
Looking up valley
The fog is rising
Back towards town, somewhere under the clouds.
Probably should have stayed longer.

Big Valley Fun

Last week we took the dogs to Big Valley for a spin around the 8k loop. Sky and Frida were happy to be hooked up to long leads and pull us along the trail – as long as someone was ahead like a carrot on a stick. Luna and Nancy just ran alongside their dog and people friends. They are more sophisticated than those other dogs. Or smarter, or something. Sky didn’t quite ‘get it’. She thought we should run hard and fast to catch Frida and then she just wanted to trot alongside and back and forth and generally be in the way rather than pull. If she got ahead of Frida, then she wanted to hang back so Frida could catch up. We still have some work to do to perfect this.

We followed Laurie and Nancy til they got out of sight.
At the river, Sky was the only one to test the water. Imagine that.
Nancy has the curliest tail!
It’s not cold.
I think it’s cold.
Got treats?
Methow River
Looks like MA is working and Frida is not.
Holding Sky back.

Out of the Fog

The top of the fog was just a few hundred feet above here yesterday. I took advantage of that headed to the Methow Trails Chickadee trailhead and enjoyed a couple of hours of skate skiing on perfectly groomed trails in the sunshine. Despite a few cars in the parking lot, I seldom saw any other skiers. It is amazing to have such a terrific trail system in my own backyard!

No ghost trees here
As the sun warmed the snow-covered trees, heavy drops of snow hit the ground. I avoided stopping under any trees and didn’t get that unwelcome feeling of snow down the back of my neck.

Just an Everyday Dog Walk

My husband has decided to tell everyone that I’m a crazy dog lady and I have a bunch of friends that are also crazy dog ladies. Hmmm. Do you think that’s because I make so many of my images are of dogs? He does say it with a smile and he isn’t really complaining; at least not that I can tell. I think he’s just jealous that I get to spend so much time with these dogs.

Here are some images from today’s foggy dog walk.

Little icicles.
We were close to the top of the fog but the sun never showed this morning.
Ghost trees in the fog.
What’s she up to?
I love the little hoarfrost on her eyebrows and ears
Luna collects more hoarfrost
Hoarfrost on dead pine needles
This is the sunflower that grew out of the gravel in front of our garage. It is still standing. The finches have gotten most of the seeds from it.
Single ghost tree in the fog.
Ice from last weekend’s freezing rain.
Tag – you’re it!
I think she’s laughing.
Ready to go in?