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Category Archives: hike

Blue Lake in August

Last year I went to Blue Lake twice in the fall so this year I wanted to make sure and get there during its short summer season. The snow has only recently receded and still covered the trail in one place – maybe an avalanche chute. There were still a couple of small icebergs floating too. And given that the weather up there on Thursday was cool and cloudy, it was very early in the short summer for Blue Lake. Winter is the major force in the North Cascades, lasting from October through July; well that’s when there is snow on the ground.

 

Looking towards the lake outlet

 

And back at the talus slope still mostly covered with ice and snow

 

Small iceberg. My hiking partner said it would be fun to swim out to it and climb up on it. She didn’t do it.

 

Luna swam

 

Chilly on the trail. Down in the valley it was near 90.

 

These elephant’s head lousewort, Pedicularis groenlandica, were blooming in a bog at the trailhead, along with white bog orchids, Platanthera dilatata

 

 

Hiking on the Pacific Crest Trail

The Pacific Crest Trail (PCT) stretches from Mexico to Canada along the crest of the mountains – from the Sierra Nevada in California to the Cascades of Washington. It intersects roads in many places so day hikers can get a taste of what the through hikers do everyday for months on end. One of my favorite pieces of the PCT follows a ridgeline to Grasshopper Pass. I like this trail for a variety of reasons – one, it’s never steep; two, the views are outstanding; three, the wildflowers are grand; and four – later on the larch trees change to a lovely shade of orange before dropping their needles. Oh, there are also lots of marmots and ground squirells and pikas! Pikas, if you are not familiar with them, live in talus slopes and are the smallest member of the lagomorph family; they are tiny rabbits. They do not hibernate like many of the mammals of the high alpine country. Instead, during the summer and fall months, they gather grasses and vegetation and create little hay piles to keep them nourished through the LONG winter! And it is long. The snow has only just recently melted from this region.

Only 35 miles to Canada. Doesn’t sound so bad.

The trail starts out crossing this rocky talus slope where the pikas live.

Anemone

I do not know this pretty blue flower

I think this is Lewisia columbiana

Its tiny delicate flowers up close

A vibrant red Castilleja (paintbrush)

Really, do I always have to include an image of lupine?

Ground hugging phlox

I think this is a penstemon

I knew this one last year!

Columbine

Maybe a lousewort?

The trail is carpeted with last year’s needles from the alpine larch trees that are now covered in fine green foliage.

Nothing better than finding a snow field on a July hike!

See the smoke in the lower left hand corner? Probably a result of the previous night’s lightning storm.

Bugs do it.

Anyone know what kind of bug does it? The flower is an anemone seedhead.

Looking back on the trail across the talus slope

Ahhhhh.

Thistles are not well liked by most but they are attractive

Cow parsnip?

I think these are non-native daisies but they sure are pretty little things.

Tiffany Mountain

Trying to get in one hike per week is not always easy. Everyday life and work gets in the way, of course, and then there’s the weather. Friday I was planning a mountain outing and the weather forecast was for extreme thunderstorms and lots of rain. I cancelled my plans and was glad of it. We were lucky to have lots of rain, thunder and lightning and wind. Other places also had flash flooding and 80 mph winds that pushed down trees and knocked out power.

I managed to get some work done on Friday and changee my hike to the other side of the valley and headed for Tiffany Mountain, elevation 8242′. It’s a long drive up Boulder Creek from the East Chewuch Road, 22 miles from Winthrop to the trailhead. The valley had scattered fog from the rain the day before and puffy white clouds appeared up high. The Freezeout trail to Tiffany is three miles, one way, with a steep part to start, then a gradual grade and finishing with another steep part to get to the top. The elevation gain is 1740′. This area is great for wildflowers but Luna and I were a couple weeks early for the main part of the bloom. We may have to do it again!

Looking up at the mountain I could always see white clouds behind it. At the top, looking down the other side towards Tiffany Lake, all I could see was cloud – no view of the lakes or even towards the Okanogan. The clouds were piled up against the ridge. It was mostly sunny for us with a few sun blocks off and on. The temperature was comfortable and I needed my windbreaker at the top where it was breezy and cool.

Fog in the river valley before I left home.

This area is part of the Tripod fire from 2006.

I have to confess – I saw this piece of wood from a long ways away and was convinced it was a grouse.

 

I think these are dead whitebark pines. Whitebark pines are in decline around the west for a variety of reasons. You can learn more about them here.

 

The ‘easy’ part of the trail, with the summit in view. In a couple of weeks, the meadow will be ablaze with wildflowers.

 

From the top, looking south along the ridge. The Okanogan and Conconcully are on the other side that is covered in clouds.

 

And looking northwest; down to the right in the mist, way down, is Tiffany Lake. I did get a glimpse of a pika in the rocks and heard their high-pitched calls

 

Ladybugs clustered on lichen covered rocks near the summit.

 

Good Luna – look at the camera!

 

Even with several tries, I never did get her to look at the camera with me!

 

Heather is just starting to come in to bloom

 

Close-up of a whitebark pine

 

I learned a long time ago from a botanist that flowers like this are commonly referred to as DYC’s – darned yellow composites.

 

Asters – another member of the composite family

 

Sedum lanceolatum, maybe. Definitely a sedum.

 

Luna and I took a side trip to look at First Butte Lookout. Only five miles the sign said. Five rough miles. Now I’ve seen it and don’t have to wonder about it anymore.

 

Always have to remember to cool my feet after a good hike.

 

And the reason I picked a hike on that side of the valley? Ken was playing music with his friend Bill at the Methow Valley Ciderhouse! A cold glass of Howling Wolf Cider really hit the spot!

More Images from Blue Lake

Ken has been wanting to go for a hike for weeks but his schedule has been busy and now with fishing season going again, it’s hard to fit in something we want to do together. Blue Lake was high on his list after I went there recently so off we went for a short day hike.

It really is a beautiful place and now with the larch, also known as tamarack, trees going into their glorious yellow phase, it is a must see place. I know of two kinds of larch trees in our region – the western and the alpine. I’m not sure where the dividing line, elevationally, is for them. There is probably some overlap and we may have seen both around Blue Lake at 6250′. Larches are the only conifer type tree that has needles that turn yellow and fall to the ground each year. Well, it’s the only one I know about.

 

Ken imagined he could see the glacier coming out of this round valley.

 

 

A small shallow pond near Blue Lake

 

 

Ice remained on the pond at midday

 

 

Just can’t quit photographing these trees.

 

Ken can’t quit either

 

Mountains to the north

 

 

 

It’s either the world’s tiniest mountain goat or a feral jack russell terrier

 

The outlet

 

 

 

Down the trail.

 

Blue Lake

The trailhead for Blue Lake is right on the highway between Washington Pass and Rainy Pass. Easy to get to and very popular. So why did it take me so long to visit this beautiful little lake?

Yesterday was a nice day for a hike – cool and sunny. Frost in the valley. I think I may have seen the first larches beginning to turn color. Luna and I had the place to ourselves til about lunch time when other folks began to arrive and on the way down we saw lots of hikers. Lots of climbers on the Liberty Bell rocks were shouting back and forth to each other too. I saw a few birds including a big flock of Gold-crowned Kinglets, an American Three-toed Woodpecker, a Sooty Grouse and numerous finches. Also, lots of pikas, chipmunks and squirrels

 

Luna liked swimming in the deep clear water

 

 

She wore a bandana so hopefully, no one would mistake her for a bear in the woods

 

I could easily see trout swimming in the shallows

 

Surprisingly, even after first snow and hard frosts, there are still flowers blooming including arnica, lupine, blue gentian, yarrow and others including this one I don’t know

 

A shallow pond near the trailhead

 

Now I know why this lake if often painted and photographed