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Tag Archives: Methow River

A Fine Walk

Our favorite dog walking trail has been off limits for months to protect nesting Sandhill Cranes. It was their second attempt to nest there. Last year, predators got their colts. A baby Sandhill Crane is called a colt and it is orange! This year, they lost one to a coyote but the other survived and the three of them have moved on. It is great news to have cranes nesting in our valley.

The girls were happy to get back to the wide flat trail through the woods, to the river. Luna can no longer negotiate steeper, rough trails, even with her braces. The braces give her good support and she gets along ok but not for far. Her back legs are growing weaker with the laryngeal paralysis and the braces are relatively heavy but they support her damaged Achilles tendons. It’s hard to get old. She still has an optimistic attitude most days and really WANTS to be her old self.

This was earlier in the month after we’d had a bit of rain. Lately we’ve had endless sunny, dry days.

Morning Skiing

Sunday was a glorious day to be outside. I headed to the Methow Trails Community Trail and classic skied a few miles. Few others were out on the trail, maybe because the temperature was 9° F? It was incredibly beautiful – blue skies forever, powdery snow groomed to perfection, birds chirping their winter calls, and some white-tailed deer slowly walking the packed pathway. I crossed the suspension bridge and stopped in a (cold) warming hut to adjust my boots. The frosted windows framed a lovely view of the river.

Birds I heard, and saw, included Pileated Woodpecker, Red-breasted Nuthatch, Golden-crowned Kinglet, Black-capped Chickadees, American Dipper (formerly known as a water ouzel) and Common Redpolls.

It was a fine morning.

A Slow Walk in the Woods

The girls and I enjoyed a short, slow walk in the woods last week. Luna has missed her outings and was so happy to be on a trail again. She sniffed all the sniffs, saw all the sights and drank deeply from the river. Her attitude is good despite injury and old age.

River Scenes

I had a nice walk near the confluence of the Twisp and Methow Rivers last week. New snow blanketed the ground and the sun was shining brightly. Fortunately I remembered to bring some filters.

Lights of Winthrop

I started a class in After Dark Photography last night. It is sponsored by The Methow Conservancy and taught by Ryan Bell. A group of eight of us listened to Ryan talk about exposure and how to use it create our own images with limited light and went outside at dusk to see what we could do. We started at the Conservancy office and then walked across the river to the Winthrop Ice Rink and then back to downtown Winthrop. It was fun to get out and make photos with other enthusiastic people, not afraid of the dark. There are many lights around town so it hardly seemed dark. Our next assignment is the full moon. Hoping for clear skies.

Winthrop Ice Rink
Spring Creek Bridge
Highway bridge across the Methow River
Of course, I peaked in the windows of The Winthrop Gallery

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