I know, I do this every time we go to the beach. But really, is there anything prettier than a beach sunset?
Last week we got away for a few days of socially distanced camping. Yes, we did non-essential travel out of our county. We were not alone. There was a family from our community in an adjacent campsite! Of course, the campgrounds are full. It seems that everyone is trying to be socially distant and out of doors.
We were at the coast and got to watch shorebirds in their ‘fall’ migration! Yes, fall. They all went to Alaska for breeding season, leaving or passing through Washington in April and May and the males turned around as soon as their job was complete and are now arriving on the Washington coast. Most of the little sandpipers are in a group commonly referred to as peeps. Peeps include Western, Least and Semi-palmated Sandpipers and a few other species. There were also plovers. I saw one Semi-palmated Plover for sure and perhaps some Pacific Golden Plovers in flight. I seldom get to see all of these beautiful shorebirds so I am not very good at identifying them. There were also Willets with their dramatically striped wings. They are easy to identify.
Getting up at 3 am is worth it once in a while.
It is quite an opportunity to see a comet from my own place. The first two images are from yesterday and the last one is today.
My husband wrote a song called Climb to the Top of the World and I thought of that when we reached this mountaintop on Tuesday.
It was a chilly day and the wind was blowing pretty hard at home and I almost didn’t go. Then I remembered that Luna does much better on hikes when the weather is not the best in my mind. She just doesn’t tolerate the heat well anymore. So off we went with a rain jacket for me and carrying extra water for the dogs. It was 48 at the 6560′ trailhead and I was glad to have a warmer jacket too. The dogs thought it was perfect.
The trail goes steeply through a burned forest and then into high meadows before going straight up through the rocky mountainside. Just before the last big ascent, there is a rock that holds any water from recent precipitation and I don’t know if Luna remembers it or if she can smell it but long before I got there, she was slurping up the remnants of the dirty puddle. I gave her clean water too and used some of that to replenish the puddle.
The views at the 8245′ summit just can’t be beat. Mountains everywhere. The flowers are just beginning. In a week or two, they will be glorious.
Yesterday, the girls and I enjoyed our first outing over the pass this year. It’s hard to believe we are staying so close to home all the time. And we barely got over the pass so maybe it doesn’t even count, even if we did leave our county. There were a fair number of cars in the parking lot when we arrived and many of them had out of state plates – it seemed like more than usual.
The trail is muddy in places but more of it is snow-covered and icy. Normally I would not take my hiking poles for this hike. This time I did and I was glad to have them. They made the downhill part of the day much easier. Lots of little streams crossed the trail. Luna appreciates having water to drink regularly. Her old body seems thirstier all the time. She did lead the way and did more exploring than Sky so at 13 1/2 she is still going strong. The lake is mostly ice-covered and Sky was disappointed I did not throw the stick in it for her. Next time. There was a little bit of rain but no wind like at home where we’ve been buffeted by high winds for days.
Sky did get to swim in the pond near the trailhead so her day was complete. It was a good outing.
My Everyday Photos 