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Tag Archives: #hikewithdogs

Not Yet Summer

The weather here remains unsettled. The wind frequently howls, clouds come and go, the temperature doesn’t go much above 70 and there are occasional thunderstorms. It’s June and feels very cold. But why should we let that stop us? I woke Ken up yesterday and told him we needed to go for a hike. There are lots of projects around here to do and he continues to work from home and now he has to travel again so there’s no time like now.

It was a LONG bumpety bump drive to get to the trailhead at 6800 feet elevation and given that it had rained hard at home the previous night, we should not have been surprised to see new snow. Not a lot but I imagine that the folks camped up there were not real happy about it. Along the trail little and big rivulets and small streams were running joyfully down the mountainside. Flowers bloomed in snow and standing water. Anemones were everywhere. Water dripped from evergreens as the snow melted.

Ken fished for brook trout while the girls and I explored a bit around the lake and Sky took great joy in swimming for sticks despite the cold water. She shivered when she sat still.

It was a lovely short hike despite the long bumpety bump drive.

Lupine
Brook trout, just before it got away
So much anemone
Buttercups!
Water everywhere
Happy, happy dog!
Last year’s aspen leaf. The trees haven’t even leafed out up there now.
Some odd fungus
I think this is elephanthead. Maybe Pedicularis groenlandica
Moss spores
like abstract art
Willow leaf buds
Looking SW

Late Winter Hike

The girls and I ventured out into the hills last week. Our path was sometimes covered with crusty or soft snow, mud and occasionally dirt. The steep south-facing slopes are bare and dry but other locations not so much. At the top of our climb, it was windy. Very windy. No flowers yet and very few birds but that’s changing quickly.

Remnants of an old foundation
Watch out for old barbed wire
New growth
Looks like she could fly right into that wind!
bunch grass
Last year’s balsamroot
Too much knapweed, or barnaby as they call it around here
Looking down valley
Squalls in the mountains.

A Snowy Hike

Last week’s hike – a mixture of fall and winter.

Sky is pretty excited to be out in the snow

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Luna knows it’s good to have a more sedate pace

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Not Yet Fall

But it sure feels like it, looks like it, smells like it. Temperatures have plummeted and there’s been significant rain for the last week or so. The dust is gone, replaced with dampness and even mud. Some things seem greener but maybe it’s just that the rain rinsed off the dust and debris of summer days. It is good hiking weather as long as I remember a hat and gloves.

It was 41 degrees when we got out of the car today and everything was wet from yesterday’s rain. Skies were kind of blustery looking with no real patches of blue. The sun made a brief appearance on the uphill part of the hike. There was no need to carry water for dogs today. I wasn’t planning on Sky going swimming today but she rolled in something unmentionable and it seemed like a good idea at the time.

A family of Canada Jays had a fondness for dog treats and when they dropped them, Sky and Luna managed to get them before another bird scooped them up. Don’t tell the Audubon Society.

Luna will be 13 years old in less than a month!
Oops.
Why are you letting those birds eat OUR treats?

Dogs and Wildflowers

We did this hike a month or so ago with Molly and Mary. It’s fun to see the changes during the season. There was less water and different wildflowers and it maybe wasn’t as green but it was still beautiful. Rozie and Kim joined us this week.

White rein orchid
Fringed grass of parnassus
Streams of wildflowers
Blue gentian, one of my favorites
What is this one?
Pink monkeyflower
Heather
Ground squirrel
Red-tailed Hawk
Here comes Rozie!
Sky and buckwheat
Part of the Good Girls Club