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Author Archives: Teri J Pieper

Summer 2021

Now that it is almost officially fall, it looks like fire season might be over in our little corner of the world. We hope.

I did not do much photography this summer. Most days were filled with smoke and it was often unbearably hot. Much of the public land was closed and our main access to the North Cascades, Highway 20, was closed.

Here are a few images of the summer. Most from home. But some from Pearrygin Lake, before they closed it to the public. We got to see LOTS of firefighting aircraft. Our friend from Montana even got to visit the valley to drop water from a big bucket attached to a huge helicopter. We were able to visit him at the airport one day when he wasn’t flying. The little fire boss planes are pretty amazing the way they fly in formation, scooping water and then dumping it on the fire and the giant retardant jets are a sight to see when they fly low over the fire spilling their contents to halt the spread of flames.

No houses were lost and no one died in our fires. We are grateful for firefighters, on the ground and in the air.

Getting Out Again

After a long hot summer of smoky skies and temperatures often exceeding 100 degrees and major public lands closures, our world is beginning to return to normal. The smoke is mostly gone and the forest fires are nearing containment. Temperatures are moderate and sometimes there is a feeling of fall in the air. No one is complaining about these changes. We still worry about covid and masks and who is vaccinated or not but that is all out of our control.

Since Luna can only tolerate short hikes on cool, preferably cloudy, days we have to pick and choose where and when we go. This four and a half mile hike was quite pleasant and the sun gave way to mostly overcast skies so she could enjoy it. Sky was ecstatic to be out in the woods with a lake as our destination. She also enjoyed picking her own huckleberries. I did too, only picking as many as I could eat along the trail. Luna was happy to smell all the smells and drink from small streams. She doesn’t seem to get in front of the camera much anymore. I will have to work on that.

There were a few flowers – fireweed, gentian, pearly everlasting, asters – and lots of mountain ash berries as well as the huckleberries. Some of the fireweed had aphids and if you look close, you can see the ants ‘farming’ the aphids. Quite a bit of color after our dreary summer. It was a relief. Also, lots of ferns, devil’s club and a few mushrooms, most past their peak.

Wildfire Sunset

Two fires are burning in our watershed right now, both out of control. The Cub Creek 2 fire is burning to the north and generally away from people and homes. Hopefully everyone was evacuated from the wilderness backcountry. The Cedar Creek fire is advancing at a steady pace towards many homes. It has crept down the mountains towards highway 20 in the upper valley where it is meeting up with bulldozer lines put in to stop it. Hopefully those lines held overnight. And it has crossed Lucky Jim Bluff and now Virginia Ridge and is bearing down on neighborhoods just outside of Winthrop. Many people were put on level 3 evacuation notices overnight. Hazardous smoke fills the valley and I cannot see across to the other side.

We have not received an evacuation notice. I imagine we will be doing more firewise stuff around our house today and packing in case we decide to leave. The fire is less than ten miles from here and covering more ground everyday.

Last night there was a brief reprieve from the smoke and I saw the northern horizon for the first time in a couple of days. The fire to the right is Cub Creek and to the left is Cedar Creek. You can read about these fires on Inciweb.

Another Day, Another Hike

The next day was also overcast so we headed for a trail along a river. It is a relatively flat trail and easy for the old dog to navigate plus there was water for all of us to cool off. And there were cedar trees, enormous cedar trees. And big leaf maples too. It clearly rains there, a lot! The long foot bridge is a giant cedar snag that conveniently fell across a creek where a trail crew turned it into a substantial bridge. And the girls may have inadvertently walked into a National Park but I quickly called them back to pose at the boundary. I thought there would be a sign saying ‘welcome to the park, no dogs allowed’ but it was just a simple marker.

Someplace Green

Last week, the girls and I took the camper over the mountains to camp in the shadow of one of the iconic northwest volcanoes. After the massive heat dome that brought us record-breaking high temperatures recently, it was good to be someplace cooler and greener. We even had a couple of overcast days and Luna was able to do two six-mile hikes! At her age, she cannot tolerate the sun and temperatures much over 70°. She (and Sky too) had great fun in a new place smelling all the smells and exploring everything. And wouldn’t you know it, Sky discovered a much-abused tennis ball three miles up the flank of the volcano. It was just one of four balls that she found on this trip.

I noticed that this trail started off as an old road. Farther up the trail, I began to notice large old stumps, reminders of the old growth that once blanketed much of western Washington. Later I read that the area had been logged all the way to the tree line, back in the day. When I was out on my kayak, I could see the outlines of the old clear-cuts.

Since it was an overcast day, we did not get to see views of the big mountain. We did enjoy the cool temperatures and even some fog. Back at home temperatures remained in the 90’s and a lightning storm ignited several forest fires. I am glad we got away for bit.