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Category Archives: Autumn

October Scenes

November 1. How did that happen? October has been very colorful and also very wet. I’ve heard rumours that we have broken records for the amount of rainfall. In the mountains where we hiked earlier in the month, the trails are covered with a foot or more of snow. I’m glad we got out when we did. Here in the valley we should be able to hike in the hills for another month or more.

Patterson Lake
It was hunting season so the dogs wore colorful vests and stayed close.
The view from our house.
Balsamroot leaf
yarrow
bunchgrass
Mosses and lichens enjoy the wet weather
I told this two point buck that he’d better learn to not stand like that in front of a person. Next year he will be a legal deer.
The Sawtooth Mountains separate our valley from Lake Chelan
After rain, we often have a foggy morning
That view
Erosion above Campbell Lake
Lots of elderberries remain on some bushes. These bushes burned to the ground two years ago so this is a remarkable comeback
Douglas sunflowers normally bloom in June.

Walking the Dogs

The power company had a scheduled power outage yesterday. It was a good excuse to go for a long walk in the woods with the dogs.

A Day in the Mountains

Is better than any day spent at the computer.

My life revolves too much around a computer, that’s for sure. Any opportunity I have, I try to get away from it and yesterday was a good day for it. The weather was sunny and pretty warm for September. The fall colors are well underway. The girls and I went to Harts Pass where we enjoyed a good hike in the fresh air and changing colors of the sub-alpine larch trees and small, ground-hugging plants of the high country. We were watched over by numerous migrating raptors. We also walked through the silver forest that burned in 2003. Few of the snags have fallen to the ground and there are even few new trees to take their places. Most of the growth is in grasses and forbs and small willows.

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It was a good day.

There was a group of friendly pack horses and mules
We hiked here
Anemone seed heads linger from early summer
Prairie Falcon
Stunning colors
I’m almost certain this is a Red-tailed Hawk
Sky found a wildlife camera and may have made some selfies!
See the attractant on the tree in the middle?
These little brushes should capture hair from the target animal. Not a labrador, that’s for sure.
A short ways to the ridge
Nice looking dog
Awwww! Snow!
Look! I found a stick!
American Pipit
There was a flock of these American Pipits foraging on the snow
This tiny succulent plant was growing right at the edge of the snow field
Looking towards the Methow Valley
Looking north up the Pasayten river valley towards Canada
Looking west, Snowfield Mountain on the left and Mount Baker 2nd from the right
The Pacific Crest Trail
Buckwheat
Colors in the silver forest

Trees by the River

Yesterday I went to Wenatchee for a variety of errands and one of them took me to Hydro/Billingsly Park on the Columbia River. It is a place where my mom and her dog Kelly, walked every single day, rain or shine. My mom’s been gone now for more than six years now and her dog, Kelly who went to live with Ken before we all moved up here together, died in February. I needed to spread a few of Kelly’s ashes near the shore where she used to run with great abandon along the edge of the big river. I like to think of her and my mom together again – healthy and enjoying the crisp air of fall.

 

The park is a combination of manicured lawns and ball fields coupled with a sometimes tangled shoreline of the river.

Lots of beautiful fall colors among the non-native trees.

Why is one branch bright red while others are yellow?

Mom loved seeing the birds and learned many of them during the years she frequented the park. I saw this fairly tame group of Mallards and a Common Loon in winter plumage.

I was pretty obsessed with this leaf.

This photo of it, from my cell phone was my favorite

 

Leaves, like tears fallen from the trees

Stops Along the Way

As Luna and I travelled from Deer Park (north of Spokane) to home, we made some stops along the way. I always figure there is no point in travelling straight through in the most direct manner if you have some time to spare. After two days of agility trials, Luna was ready for some ground-sniffing walks without leashes. We both enjoyed the fresh air of autumn in the woods.

 

Happy Dog

 

Beautiful Ponderosa Pine trees

 

Love those undulating hills

 

These mushrooms almost looked good enough to eat but I’m not one to experiment

 

Golden Western Larch needles carpet the trail

 

This is a nice boardwalk over a wetland that is probably teeming with birds in the spring and summer. We only heard a few chickadees and siskens.

 

And a cool bird blind but no birds were in sight

 

I wonder how long ago this tree was cut down

 

Near the summit of Sherman Pass, it was quite cold and silent.