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Author Archives: Teri J Pieper

Spring Hike in the Mountains

The girls and I enjoyed an early mountain hike on Friday. The weather forecast was perfect and we’ve had so few perfect weather days, it seemed silly to stay home and work. I had heard the road was snow-free to the trailhead and beyond. We had little snow so Spring has come early to the high country.

This area burned nearly twenty years ago and many of the dead trees are still standing. Of course, some fell over during the winter. We had to make our way around, under or over them. The young trees coming in are primarily lodgepole pine. Lodgepole cones are serotinous, meaning they need fire to open and release their seeds. There are also some spruce (Englemann?) and subalpine fir. Willows are the main deciduous trees. I think the little blue flowers are Polemonium (Jacob’s ladder), the pink ones are Geum triflorum (prairie smoke) and the white ones are an Anemone. Along the road to the trailhead, multiple kinds of penstemon were in full bloom, many growing right out of the rocks.

Moose poop littered the trail but we did not see any of them. Also, there was some carnivore poop.

The dogs were delighted to see snow. I struggled to keep Willow off the ice. It was thin along the edges. She did practice her log walking and only fell in once!

Spring at Home

A few wildflowers and garden flowers and dogs too.

Northern Lights

The girls and I were camped at our favorite ‘secret’ lake last week and on the last night, I made a plan to photograph the Milky Way. I went to bed at 10 with the alarm set for 2 am when the Milky Way would be stretched above the horizon. Of course, when I was awakened at 2, my body only reluctantly went outside to make sure I had the plan correct. Well, being offline for several days, I did not get the message that instead of the Milky Way, I was going to see the biggest Aurora Borealis of my life. At first I was puzzled because it was so light out and I could not see the stars but then my mind began to wake up and focus and I could see the waves of light filling the night sky, even as I looked to the south! I had no view to the north because the forest was right behind me. The waves of light seemed to come from directly above me, like a revolving kaleidoscope! And then some major waves came from the north east. I can only imagine what the view would have been beyond the trees.

Spring Scenes

A few things I saw last week.

Dark Skies

There are few places in the world where we can truly see the night sky anymore. I returned to this place in eastern Oregon knowing that I could really see and photograph the milky way, assuming the weather cooperated. And it did for two nights when it was calm and clear.