Skip navigation

Tag Archives: hike

One More Fall Hike

This is my favorite trail, I’m pretty sure. I can return to it multiple times during a hiking season. It does have the very worst road though. It’s a place where the sub alpine larches are enchanting in their early summer greens and amazing when they turn golden in the fall. Pikas are frequently heard and sometimes seen while crossing the talus slopes. Earlier in the year marmots let loose with piercing calls to frighten even the bravest dogs and people too. Now they are underground. The pikas continue to harvest greens to dry in their ‘hay’ piles and then store under the rocks for the long cold winter soon to come.

At the trailhead, the wildfire smoke was thick – we could taste it as well as smell it. But we’d driven all the way so we headed out and gradually, there was less of it but it was always present. While I am not quite ready for winter to set in, it’s the only thing that will quell the wildfires burning in the mountains throughout the northwest.

A Few Pollinators

Mostly butterflies from a mountain hike yesterday in the midday sun. It seems that there are not enough wildflowers for everyone who wants one.

Jump in a Lake

Sky and I got an early start at a popular hiking trail last week, beating most of the swarms of hikers. We even got a great seat on the rock overlooking the lake and had it all to ourselves. And Sky did her traditional jump into an icy cold lake. Really icy. Most of it was still covered with ice! Much of the trail was snow covered or muddy too. Starting early, we avoided most of the swarms of the mosquitoes too. They were thick when we returned to the overflowing parking lot at midday.

It’s nice that more people are enjoying the outdoors but I wish they’d take better care of it and pick up their messes. And I wish the Forest Service had more money to maintain the popular sites.

Hiking with Sky

We got out in the mountains this past week for a really pleasant hike. The air was cool and fresh. It wasn’t windy which was a mixed blessing. In some places, the mosquitoes were quite annoying but they thinned out after we got above the trees. Clark’s Nutcrackers were everywhere and Horned Larks were singing from lots of rocky perches. Ladybugs were emerging from the rocks and once again I wonder, what do they do all winter? Sky found a stick and she posed, on her own, in front of an old growth juniper, for a portrait. And the clouds were amazing! Fog filled the valleys to the north and east, eliminating half the views but it would pour up over the ridge line making outstanding aerial displays! We found big piles of black bear poop. I wonder what it was eating? The snow only recently melted so there were few flowers. We will have to return soon! With the warm weather, they will pop out in a hurry.

A Damp Hike

Last weekend we went to a new place in a light rain. It burned some years ago and the trail has not been maintained this year so we had many logs to clamber over or get around. At 5500′, we found the small lake still partially frozen. A Spotted Sandpiper did its characteristic bobbing on the ice. We had the place to ourselves til we turned to leave and then we encountered three different parties. Mostly it was quiet in the burned forest.

%d bloggers like this: