My Everyday Photos

Fire Season in the Methow Valley

July 17, 2014 – 9:11 am
Posted in wildfire
Tagged Cougar Flats, fire photos, Methow Valley, wildfire, Winthrop
Comments (2)

Around here, we worry about wild fires. These fears have been confirmed this week. On Monday a small lightning storm went through north central Washington leaving behind small fires in the tinder dry grass and ponderosa pines. One fire quickly flared, south of here in Texas Creek causing mandatory evacuations. It grew quickly and yesterday it crossed the highway and the Methow River at the bottom of Libby Creek. As I understand, it is now burning south towards Gold Creek.

Another fire, directly across the valley from our house, burned slowly. It was named Cougar Flats for the area where it started. Tuesday afternoon the wind picked up and it grew quickly on state and federal land. Yesterday it grew by leaps and bounds and last night it made a run south towards homes and farms. More evacuations this morning.

Here are some photos I made last night from my porch. I think the glowing horizon is the timber in Pipestone Canyon.

Here is another small fire that so far, has not attracted much attention. It is located up valley from the Cougar Flats Fire.

As of this time, we are in no immediate danger. I worry about those that are.

This Dog Can Fly

July 15, 2014 – 3:55 pm
Posted in Labrador retriever
Tagged Blue Lake, labrador retriever, North Cascades
Comments (1)

Yesterday we hiked to beautiful Blue Lake in the North Cascades. What a relief from the 100 degree heat here in the valley! We saw some snow (much to the dogs’ delight) and found the lake still had a little bit of ice so that clear blue water was cold! That didn’t stop Sky from jumping off the rock in pursuit of sticks!

Beautiful Blue Lake, behind the Liberty Bell spires

A Short Jaunt on the PCT

July 11, 2014 – 7:03 am
Posted in North Cascades
Tagged Harts Pass, hike, North Cascades, Pacific Crest Trail, PCT, wildflowers
Comments (1)

Every summer I try to get up to the Harts Pass area as early as possible to catch the start of high mountain wildflowers. I have to wait til the road is open and passable. There are always new washouts over the winter and the Forest Service works hard to get it open for use. Hot weather has settled into the valley so it was a great relief to get up high and enjoy the cooler mountain air and sweet little creeks flowing with melted snow. The dogs were excited to be in snow too! The Pacific Crest Trail (PCT) crosses through this region and can be accessed at several trailheads. We picked the one that goes generally south towards Grasshopper Pass from near the Meadows campground. It was a good choice with a cool breeze and enough water to keep the dogs hydrated and snow to cool their feet and bellies. The snow and water won’t last long with this hot weather. It’s too early for the through hikers to be here – they are the ones that start at the Mexican border and walk all the way to Canada. We had the trail almost all to ourselves except for the marmots, pikas and ground squirrels. We saw only three other day hikers. The wildflowers were over the top beautiful!

The trail starts out across this big talus slope

Happy hiker

Happy dogs

Slate Peak lookout can be seen on the far left

Anemone occidentalis or western pasqueflower

Western pasqueflower

Phlox and pasqueflower

Buttercup

Walking on the PCT towards Grasshopper Pass

The meadows really are that green!

Cairn

What is Luna thinking about now?

Pack with a view

Inukshuk

Antennaria rosea

Tiny bell-shaped flowers of heather

Jacob’s ladder, Polemonium sp.

the heart of the North Cascades

Shooting stars

Lewisia columbiana

I like Lewisia

There was lots of Lewisia!

Oh look – Sky found a stick!

How many kinds of plants?

Silver snags from an old forest fire

Silky phacelia

Jacob’s ladder

The snow is soft

Alpine larch trees with their fresh green leaves

Ballhead waterleaf

Frida enjoys a cool creek after the hike

Twisp Independence Day Parade

July 5, 2014 – 12:34 pm
Posted in Twisp
Tagged dogs, Fourth of July, parade, Twisp
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Twisp has the best parade! Every Fourth of July folks are encouraged to dress up, bring a float of some kind or a horse or a wagon or whatever strikes their fancy and join the parade. There are no marching bands or fancy flower-covered floats – just home grown and mostly locally designed parade entries. A few horses, fire engines, sports cars and local organizations and lots of kids. Dogs too. Folks seem to want to bring their dogs to the parade. It’s better than leaving them in hot cars in the summer but most dogs don’t seem all that entertained by the show unless they are part of it.

Line dancers entertained parade goers before the main event on Glover Street

Lots of flying candy

This guy looked old and hot

This one seemed to be enjoying the show from his front row seat

Hot

The Spartan Art Project makes its way down the parade route and then to the Arts Fest in the Twisp Park

The big dog barked a lot.

This little guy was part of the show

Interesting costume

Shouldn’t this child be wearing some safety gear?

Uh oh. Luckily the only hill is downhill

The mayor made an appearance

What’s better than a trailer full of kids playing violins?

Marti and two of her dogs

This is my favorite sports car because it has a dog in it.

The dogs from Mazama got their own float.

Proudly showing her colors!

Our favorite plumber and banjo player

Immediately following the parade, The Methow Arts Fest happened in the Twisp Park at the confluence of the Twisp and Methow Rivers. You can see my photos of that other fun Fourth of July event here.

Early Summer Fun

My dear friend came to visit from Wenatchee early this week and we got to enjoy good times spent outdoors. She and I learned to paddle kayaks on the Columbia and now she is a competitive paddler while I simply enjoy a day in my boat whenever I can. I do miss the water of the big river. Up here I have small lakes and they have their own charm, that’s for sure. On Monday we took our boats over the North Cascades to Diablo Lake, a reservoir on the Skagit River. Diablo and Ross Lakes both have greenish-colored water from all the glacial deposits of the high Cascade Mountains. They are deep and cold. We had smooth glassy water to begin and as we went up the gorge we had a nice wind behind us. Of course that was a wind we had go against on the return trip. As we got to the big open water, it was pretty stiff and we had an interesting swell when we turned up the Thunder Arm of the lake. It was lots of fun!

The next day we had planned a hike to a lookout but after a big rain storm and the threat of more rain showers we decided to stay closer to the valley bottom and enjoyed a nice three mile walk in the woods. The early morning rain left everything fresh and fragrant. The flowers were outstanding. The scent of the wild roses was enough to make a person swoon. Well, maybe not so much. It was lovely though. I managed to lose my lens cap along the way so if you are on the Patterson Lake trail and find a small lens cap, please let me know.