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Category Archives: hike

Puppy’s First Mountain

On Wednesday, the dogs and I hiked to the top of Patterson Mountain. It’s not a long hike or particularly challenging but if you are a three month old puppy, it might be a big event in your short life! According to the hike report it is 1 1/2 miles from the lake to the summit, gaining 1100 feet elevation. Enough to warm you up. Sky was a trooper, staying on the trail and keeping up with no problem. We encountered one other group of hikers on our way up – the Wednesday hiking ladies. We stopped and had a nice visit with them and I was warned that if my puppy went missing that I might want to check in Chris’s backpack! As usual, Sky attracted a lot of attention. We started and ended the hike with a visit to Patterson Lake and Sky almost, inadvertently, went swimming!

 

Sky considers leaving her comfy crate
Following big sister Luna
Look! I got you a stick!
Wait for me
Hurry up youngster
Tug
Finally heading up the trail
Don’t get lost
Magic forest
I was the only one that had to use the stile
Mt Gardner. I love when the snow returns to the mountain
Gardner over Patterson Lake
It was a glorious day!
On the mountain top
No puppy in her pack
Sun Mountain in front of the upper Methow
Luna
Watching Luna swim
I can catch her
Ooops. Maybe not
I’ll watch from here
Now I’ll get it!
Hey! Wait up!

Tiffany Lake with Puppy

Sky is going to be a good hiking dog. So far she has been to Cutthroat Lake and Tiffany Lake in the North Cascades. They are both short hikes but for a ten week old puppy, they are real expeditions. We were surprised to have Tiffany to ourselves on such an outstanding fall day. Here are a few photos from last Saturday’s hike to Tiffany Lake.

This late season butterfly was on a firewood trailer we passed along the road
It should be easy to identify
A very late blooming wildflower. It’s stem was maybe an inch long. I think it is an agoseris.
Tiffany Lake through the snags
A light coating of ice
Sky likes the water
Snags from the Tripod Fire in 2006
Watching Luna
Something stinky that Sky found. Maybe a baby beaver skull?
Beautiful brook trout
Cute
Gorgeous fall colors
Luna doesn’t mind cold water
Sky isn’t so sure about that
She’s a retriever!
Splash
Hmmm, a fish
Helping
I can get over this
Nothing to slow down Luna
She’s getting taller
Another late bloomer. Aster?
Lots of brook trout
Ice
A puppy’s got to rest now and then

End of Summer Hike

The days are growing shorter and this week the forecast promises cooler temperatures and rain again. Fall is coming. Summer is always the shortest season here in the Methow. Luna and I got up high in the mountains once more this past week to enjoy the sunshine and warmth before fall’s chill settles in.

I always have to stop and take in this view
That’s where we are going
A group of three ravens kept us company
Luna runs for joy
She’s wearing a colorful scarf because hunting season has started. I would not want anyone to mistake her for a bear or mule deer
We hiked across and down that talus slope and through the basin
Blue gentian – one of the few blooming wildflowers
A few creeks were still flowing, probably from the previous week’s downpour
Aster with pollinators
Two of these Red-tailed Hawks soared above us – kiting in search of food
There were few mushrooms along this route
And the view down valley from up high
Mountains looming above the ridge where we started
Slate Peak
Are we going that way?
Canada is only twenty miles away, thirty if you are on the nearby PCT.
A disappearing snow patch
Old, dirty snow
Ravens watch
We went up this trail to return to the road
Mt Baker
We made a little detour to the lookout before walking down the road to the car
I always like to take a walk through the silver forest. There are usually good birds
Another hawk
It could have been the same one we saw earlier
Tiny Campanula flowers

A Magic Garden

Along the Blue Lake Trail

Ken and Luna and I did the short hike to Blue Lake Sunday afternoon. After the previous week’s torrential rain storms, highway 20 is once again closed so hikers can only access some of the trails from the east side. It was a good time to go. And then when we started on the trail we were amazed by the dizzying array of mushrooms we saw! Their spores had waited patiently for the big rains and then they burst through the surface of the soil, moss, bark, dead wood – where ever they could find an opening.

 

The lake is up there
This log bridge always makes me nervous
Blue Lake not in color?
It’s that blue.
A tiny tarn
A small pond near the trailhead
Boardwalks for the muddy areas

Idaho Peak

From Sandon, we drove the long, narrow, bumpety bump road to the trailhead for Idaho Peak. This road system is a result of silver mining and logging in the region. I did not find the elevation at the trailhead; the peak itself is 7480 feet and the trail to it is about a mile. Much of it is a gentle grade with a steep section to get you to the mountaintop. The wildflowers were prolific and quite beautiful. The BC Rockies stretch out in all directions. They are incredibly tall and steep and the valleys below all seem to have long deep lakes, reminiscent of coastal fjords.

There were two trails and we took this one
Fireweed
Our destination in the distance
Ground squirrel. We heard quite a few these cuties.
Fireweed
There’s the steep part
Silver mining scars
Signs said to watch for silvery lakes
aster
sedum
Polemonium
lichens
Getting closer
Slocan Lake
Incredible mountains where ever you look
buckwheat
I don’t know this one’s name.
Castilleja sp; paintbrush
Campanula
anemone seedhead
paintbrush
I think this is a white penstemon
aster and bee
fireweed
Sedum
Pedicularis sp
Pedicularis sp, similar to elephant head which is found in the North Cascades

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