Skip navigation

Wildflowers, Birds and Butterflies

The girls and I had a good hike this week. We covered a whole variety of habitats and saw lots of great wildflowers, some baby birds and beautiful blue butterflies. I had hoped the fireweed would be in full bloom but it was too early. The buckwheat and paintbrush were the real stars of the wildflower show. There were Mallard and goldeneye ducklings and I found two Lewis’s Woodpecker nests in burned snags. The aspens were full of bird song. I came across an active burrow that is home to what? Maybe a badger? The girls enjoyed cooling off in a lake and tussled over a stick too.

Who recognizes the location of the first photo?

Another Day, Another Mountain

This is not one of my favorite hikes and I seldom do it anymore but it does offer great views of the valley and of the mountains to the west. It’s not a long hike but it’s steep and the trail has a lot of loose rock. It turns out, those were the least of my worries. As I was getting close to the top, a couple coming down warned me about a mountain goat at the top. Mountain goats are potentially quite dangerous. They have killed hikers in the Olympic National Park and last year, our friends’ dog, on a leash, was gored by one on a popular hiking trail near here. So I don’t like to see them when I am out hiking with my dogs.

As I approached the top, I leashed Willow, the youngster, and kept Sky by my side. Soon I saw the goat walking down the trail towards us. I leashed Sky and we got off the trail to let him pass. But no, he was curious about us and peered over the edge where we were trying to be out of his way. I yelled and pretended to throw something and he backed off and then popped up in another place. Finally, he moved on and we went back to the trail. Of course, I didn’t see where he went. It was soon obvious; he was next to the lookout and stamping his foot and huffing at us. At that point, I figured we were not going to the top so we moved over to a rock outcropping and had a break, ate our snacks and drank some water. The dogs did not get off the leash. They were very aware of the goat and he continued to watch us, stamping and huffing but he did not move away from the mountain top. After our short break, we hurried down and away from him. The close ups of the goat were made with a 600 mm lens. We were not as close as it appears.

The flowers were beautiful. I especially liked the western clematis and the buckwheat. I don’t know the species (there are lots), maybe it’s thyme-leaf.

Hiking Season

The snow melted quickly in the mountains (sadly) so the girls and I are starting to get out on the trails. It’s Willow’s first hiking season and she is enjoying all the new sights and smells. Willow is ten months old. She is a big water drinker so I need to remember to bring extra dog water when there are no streams to cross. Wildflowers are coming along and the conifers are putting on lots of new growth. Few snow patches remain and when they find them, the dogs get to roll and cool their bellies.

Common Loons

Their name says loons are common, but in this part of the world, they are not. Some do breed in the Okanogan Highlands and it’s always a highlight for me to see and hear them when I am camping. We saw two nests and hope the eggs are hatching now and hope the youngsters can survive the summer and migrate away before fall gets here. Bald Eagles are a primary predator for loons eggs and chicks. It’s hard to not like eagles but their numbers seem to be growing while loons seem to be struggling. All these images were made with a long lens at an appropriate distance from the birds. They are very tolerant of non-motorized boats and often pop up close to my kayak.

Spring Camping

The girls and I and our friends, Beth and Fern, went to our favorite camping place in the Okanogan Highlands last week and had a fun time despite lots of rain. One day, it rained for five straight hours, not just a light rain, but hard rain where you don’t even want to consider going outside. The trailer stayed dry inside, well, maybe it was damp from wet dogs and people and condensation but we were more or less dry. All that rain is good for wildflowers and green growing things. We did manage to do quite a bit of walking and birding and botanizing. And we read books. One day, we sat under a tree with a big canopy and stayed dry while it rained and hailed and then the birds came to us.