The girls (dogs) and I walked along Bear Creek earlier this week. It was the one weekday without rain in the forecast and I’m glad we took advantage of it. They were right – we’ve had rain four of five days this week. Of course, we need it and it does help me get inside tasks done but really, folks around here are unaccustomed to gray drippy weather. And it has brought much needed snow to the mountains.
This particular area of Bear Creek burned in the Cougar Flats fire in July – part of the infamous Carlton Complex, the biggest wildfire in Washington’s history. I remember at that time saying to a friend of mine “all of our favorite spring and fall walking areas are on fire”.
I was happy to find that the landscape around the trail suffered mostly a ground fire and most of the trees look like they will live! The fire stimulated new growth in plants that would have been dormant in the mid-summer heat and I saw sunflowers, yarrow and a tiny vetch in bloom. It’s nice to see their color at this time of year. And the trees are providing lots of color as well. The deciduous trees are all shades of orange, yellow and green and the pines that are partially burned are even pretty with their dark orange needles.
Ken and I walked this trail on New Years. You can photos from that day here. Sky was still a puppy then.
This area will be beautiful in the spring.
