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Tag Archives: hike

End of Summer Hike

The days are growing shorter and this week the forecast promises cooler temperatures and rain again. Fall is coming. Summer is always the shortest season here in the Methow. Luna and I got up high in the mountains once more this past week to enjoy the sunshine and warmth before fall’s chill settles in.

I always have to stop and take in this view
That’s where we are going
A group of three ravens kept us company
Luna runs for joy
She’s wearing a colorful scarf because hunting season has started. I would not want anyone to mistake her for a bear or mule deer
We hiked across and down that talus slope and through the basin
Blue gentian – one of the few blooming wildflowers
A few creeks were still flowing, probably from the previous week’s downpour
Aster with pollinators
Two of these Red-tailed Hawks soared above us – kiting in search of food
There were few mushrooms along this route
And the view down valley from up high
Mountains looming above the ridge where we started
Slate Peak
Are we going that way?
Canada is only twenty miles away, thirty if you are on the nearby PCT.
A disappearing snow patch
Old, dirty snow
Ravens watch
We went up this trail to return to the road
Mt Baker
We made a little detour to the lookout before walking down the road to the car
I always like to take a walk through the silver forest. There are usually good birds
Another hawk
It could have been the same one we saw earlier
Tiny Campanula flowers

A Magic Garden

Along the Blue Lake Trail

Ken and Luna and I did the short hike to Blue Lake Sunday afternoon. After the previous week’s torrential rain storms, highway 20 is once again closed so hikers can only access some of the trails from the east side. It was a good time to go. And then when we started on the trail we were amazed by the dizzying array of mushrooms we saw! Their spores had waited patiently for the big rains and then they burst through the surface of the soil, moss, bark, dead wood – where ever they could find an opening.

 

The lake is up there
This log bridge always makes me nervous
Blue Lake not in color?
It’s that blue.
A tiny tarn
A small pond near the trailhead
Boardwalks for the muddy areas

Wildflower Walking

Kim and I hiked up to the top of Tiffany Mountain and then around it, crossing Whistler and Honeymoon Pass and then around Tiffany Lake before leaving the trail at Tiffany Springs Campground where we had left my car in the morning. Ken had generously shuttled us from there to the Freezeout Pass trailhead before going fly fishing. The temperature was comfortably cool most of the day; clouds built up with the threat of thunder storms. Luckily the storms did not materialize.

Most of this area was burned in the 2006 Tripod wildfire. Many people would look at this now and see nothing but dead trees. However the grasses and forbs and shrubs are thriving. Wildflowers are abundant and vibrant this month. In wetter areas we found young aspens and willows – perfect habitat for moose and other animals.

 

The trail begins by climbing steeply up from Freezeout. Fireweed blooms in the understory
Ken started up the trail with us
The first glimpse of Tiffany Mountain from the trail
It’s a gorgeous route through the flowers
Red paintbrush
A dried up puffball
More gorgeous meandering
The view from the top. Tiffany Lake and Little Tiffany Lake
Looking down at Salmon Creek. Later we walked up that valley to get to Honeymoon Pass.
And looking down towards Winthrop
Fabulous delicate rock gardens on top of 8200′ Tiffany Mountain
Walking through another field of wildflowers
We saw lots of these butterflies
Cool rock formations
Whistler Basin after we crossed Whistler Pass
Geum sp
These were common on the east side of the mountain and nowhere else.
The trail goes sidehill on the east side before dropping into Salmon Creek
Oh yeah, I liked these.
Geum sp
Geum sp
Geum sp
You can see Honeymoon Pass in the distance
In the creek bottom, it seemed like we went a long time in the wrong direction but finally after crossing the creek, we found the burned sign that said we were headed towards Tiffany Lake.
Can you see the trail through all that lush undergrowth? There are orange diamonds on the snags, marking the way. Sometimes those snags fall.
Woodpecker holes
Looking back UP at Tiffany Mountain where had been just an hour or so before.
Almost to Honeymoon Pass, looking down Salmon Creek
Columbine
A glimpse of Tiffany Lake on the other side of Honeymoon Pass
The end of the trail

 

Blue Lake Views

The trail to Blue Lake is easy to get to and the short distance – 2.2 miles – makes it a popular destination. From my house, it’s less than an hour to the trailhead, all on paved highway. No bumpety bump roads to contend with. Yesterday’s weather forecast showed thunder and lightning all morning and into the afternoon but, like as often happens, the forecast was wrong and the storm passed by ten am. I met Juliet in town and we were off to relish a few moments in the mountains together before we both get busy going in opposite directions.

 

 

The lake is just over that ridge
Blue Lake lives up to its name
White heather flowers
Considering a swim
We can’t get enough of this view
Whistler Meadows
This is where the mosquitoes come from
Backside of the iconic Liberty Bell formation
Heather
How old was that tree when it died? What kind was it? How long ago since it died?
Backing up to get the shot
The outlet
An old cabin. What an amazing place to spend the short summer.
Two boys and their dad watch trout in the small outlet stream
This image does not do justice to these delicate flowers
Lupine
White rhododendron, a native wildflower, very unlike the rhodies seen in NW gardens
Hemlock with its telltale tipping over top
The outlet stream
On the trail
A lousewort
Polemonium, Jacob’s Ladder
A little pond near the trailhead
Elephanthead, another lousewort

Back to the Mountains

Life has kept me busy here at home with lots of work in June followed by visitors for ten days. While I am grateful for lots of work and happy to have our visitors from far away, I missed getting out in the mountains in the early summer when the snow first began to retreat leaving wildflowers in its wake. Yesterday I got up to Harts Pass and hiked on part of the Pacific Crest Trail and enjoyed vast views and flowers and a few remaining snow patches. Luna and I were joined by her pal Wyatt Ann, my friend Lindsey and her three dogs – Moose, Mavi and Little Bear. We were a pack. The weather was perfect – not too hot and we had a lovely day in the mountains again.

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Fabulous rocks with wonderful lichen patterns

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Slate Peak lookout in the distance

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Buttercups

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I think this is a Veronica or Speedwell

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A succulent sedum

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Polemonium sp?

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Such a beautiful shade of blue

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One of the many penstemons

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Lewisia Columbiana

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Great patches of the Lewisia

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Contrasted with burned trees on the far hillside

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Castilleja or paintbrush

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The creeks in this valley are already drying up.

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Little Bear is both playful and independent

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Wyatt Ann is a deep thinker

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Cairns don’t always point out the way

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Mavi is happy for the snow to cool his belly

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Wyatt Ann is wondering where do we go next?

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Phlox

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Dead trees tell stories

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Rocks are maps

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What stories do you see?

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Anemone

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A waterleaf

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Crossing the big talus slope where the pikas and hoary marmots live. Little Bear is leading the way. Behind Lindsey are Mavi, Luna, Moose and Wyatt Ann who has come back to check on me. Normally Moose and I lagged far behind.

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An old log with character

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