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Mostly a Dog and Her Stick

I walked my dogs with two friends and their dog, Bailey this morning at Big Valley. It was a rainy, kind of gray morning but not too cold. The dogs didn’t seem to mind and the rest of us were dressed appropriately for the weather. Bailey is a small dog and her thick coat sheds water. She never really got wet. Sky has taken over as star of the show and she is in just about all of the photos. Luna seems to steer away from the camera and lets Sky have her fifteen minutes of fame. We saw a pair of American Dippers in the river. Belted Kingfishers chattered back and forth and we saw a Bald Eagle fly overhead.

Bailey likes to have her picture made
American Dipper
Mushrooms growing out of a dead tree
Dignified?
Not so dignified
Shake
Throw the stick, Camille!
Ok, Kim, you throw the stick!
Uh oh, looks like it’s my turn to throw the stick
Throw it now. I’m not kidding.
I’m not the only person who photographs her dog.
Drips off of a gate

Fall Hike

I have to admit I wanted summer to come to an end as soon as possible but now that fall is here I am sorry I missed out on so much hiking this year. The summer was sort of a lost season. I look back at posts from June and early July and it seems like eons ago.

Now life is better and the weather is perfect for hiking. A person does need to remember to take her extra layers and if it’s sunny she will be putting them on and taking them off regularly.

The girls/dogs and I hiked to Tiffany Mountain earlier this week. It started out gloriously sunny with bluebird skies so as I climbed through the burned trees I soon had to shed my jacket. In the open I was able to see migrating raptors including a Golden Eagle! Mountain Bluebirds and Clark’s Nutcrackers entertained me along the trail. As we made the final push to the top, the wind picked up and gray clouds rolled in. It tried to rain or snow or something wet and cold. We hunkered against a rock and I tried to make some selfies with dogs and quickly had lunch before making the descent. It warmed up again as we neared the trailhead but never got as nice as when we started. I found a few lingering small flowers and some slow butterflies.

After the hike we stopped at Boulder Creek. Along the way we saw an aspen with unusual coloring. Instead of its leaves turning yellow, they were a reddish-orange. I have seen this occasionally in the past but it is pretty uncommon.

I always wonder when these burned trees will fall and hope it’s not when I’m on the trail
The round top of Tiffany Mountain
A natural watering hole
American Pipit
The Pasayten Wilderness in the distance
A distant smoke from a fire on the Conconully side
Tiffany Lake
Alpine larch trees with fall colors
Clark’s Nutcracker
Growing lichen
Fireweed seeds. We hope some will grow on our place.
An unusual aspen showing reddish orange fall foliage
Boulder Creek

 

Pollinators in the Garden

In a normal year I’d have lots of blog posts from my garden. Needless to say, this hasn’t been a normal year and I have rarely been out to the garden except to do maintenance or harvest. Last week I took a little time to really enjoy it. It was a warm day and lots of pollinators were active in the sunflowers and catnip. I imagine they are building stores for the fast approaching winter months. I love seeing them all covered in pollen. The bees in the catnip moved quickly from flower to flower so they were much harder to photograph. In the sunflowers, they move slowly, savoring the abundance of the blossoms. Most of these insects are honey bees but there are some natives as well as a moth. Do let me know if you can identify them since I really don’t know insects very well.

Random Images

This is a selection of random images from our hill over the last couple of weeks.

These honeybees set up housekeeping in the neighboring cabin a year ago
I could see these three guys crossing the river from our porch
new growth
This enormous volunteer sunflower needs a post all its own
Harvesting the honey. There was more than seven gallons! This was a highlight of our summer.
There have been lots of looky loos but only one was a Great Blue Heron
80 bushes and trees to start the restoration of our landscape
Eric and his co-worker from Methow Natives worked hard to get everything planted, mulched and caged.
Sky helped. A lot.
new growth
new growth

Two Hikes to Two Lakes

My uncle invited me to join him for a hike to Rainy Lake in the North Cascades earlier this week. He wanted to search for interesting mushroom species and walk his dog and oh, he asked if I wanted to bring a cooler because he and his friend were having such a good crab season! How could I turn down any of that?

The weather was unseasonably cool for early September but here in the mountains we should expect that. The forested trail was pleasant and there were numerous mushrooms. His dog, Chopper, found lots of sticks that he urged us to toss for him. Sky liked swiping his sticks and Luna was busy looking for chipmunks. Waterfalls poured into the lake from the remaining snowfields far above us. The cloudy skies reflected in the water made it look dark and ominous and the breeze and a smattering of rain drops didn’t help much so we returned to the trail. In addition to the non-edible mushrooms we found a few boletes that Bill took home for supper.

After he filled my cooler and we had a cold drink we headed off in our opposite directions. As I drove back I decided to try for another lake. It’s only a two mile trail to Cutthroat Lake and an easy one too. Last fall it was Sky’s first real hike as a tiny puppy. It’s hard to believe she’s a 62 pound dog now. Where does the time go? Along the trail I passed the sight of a huge winter avalanche that had buried the place with broken trees. Luckily the Forest Service found the resources to clear a path though the devastation. I ran into friends near the lake and we had a nice visit. Cutthroat and Rainy Lakes are similar with cliffs lining much of the shoreline. On the way back I had the good fortune to see a pine marten! I don’t know how rare these little cuties are but this is only the second one I’ve ever seen.

Liberty Bell from the Washington Pass overlook
Mountain Ask berries
There were lots of these mushrooms that remind me of wood grain
Tiny little ones that grew in colonies
Rainy Lake
Chopper
Sky shows off her muscles as she contemplates Rainy Lake
Cutthroat Lake
Luna wears red so no one thinks she’s a bear
Two dogs on a log
Avalanche debris
The pine marten watches Luna
And then it watched me too
Dinner!