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North Cascades Hike

August 17, 2017 – 11:31 am
Posted in hike
Tagged dogs, Harts Pass, hike, North Cascades, PCT
Comments (3)

Yesterday the girls and I joined with Molly (remember Molly from last year?) and Mary for a nice hike, mostly above tree line in the North Cascades. We drove through a layer of wildfire smoke to get to the trailhead and found perfect blue skies with fluffy clouds. Ground squirrels and hoary marmots and pikas gave their warning calls as we walked by. At the end of the hike we could see the smoke column from the Diamond Creek wildfire east of us. In the meantime we were treated to vast vistas of mountains in all directions. We all felt grateful to have this in our ‘backyard’. The dogs were most grateful for the last of the snow and a creek of snow melt leading to a clear refreshing pond for cooling off.

A few wildflowers still blooming

a pika haystack

Views and more views

Cool rocks

Sky tells Molly to stand still

Do it this way Molly

Molly remains defiant

Look! All five of us looking at the camera! Ok. So Luna wasn’t exactly looking at the camera, but almost.

Molly leads the way

We were over there!

Tatie Peak

Wildfire smoke to the left of center on the horizon

Windy Pass

September 1, 2016 – 3:48 pm
Posted in hike
Tagged dogs, ground squirrel, grouse, North Cascades, PCT, wildflowers, Windy Pass
Comments (2)

Last weekend Marcy and I hiked to Windy Pass on the Pacific Crest Trail. It’s a pleasant hike – never steep – with outstanding views all along the way. In addition to the fantastic views of the North Cascades a hiker gets to see evidence from the mining adventures dating back to the 1890’s. Given the rough and narrow road that we have to drive nowadays to get to the trailhead, it is amazing to imagine miners traveling to these distant mountains on foot or horseback and hauling immense loads of equipment too. One spot in the road is called Deadhorse Point and scares the beejebers out of some folks in cars.

Guthrie, Marcy’s dog blew out his knee last year and is just a year out from surgery and injuring his other knee. It’s good to see him running and grinning with the other dogs. Even with three dogs we got to see a little bit of wildlife including lots of ground squirrels and a few grouse.

As we finished our lunch and got ready to head back, we heard a familiar voice and saw a friend from the Okanogan. He had scaled nearby Tamarack Peak and joined us for the hike back to the parking area.

The weather was cool and sunny – perfect for a late summer hike on the PCT.

Slate Peak can be seen from the beginning of the trail

Mount Baker

I have forgotten the name of this mountain

Guthrie

Magenta paintbrush

Magenta monkeyflower

Cool beetle

Anemone seedhead

The yurt is used in the winter for helicopter skiers

He’s a handsome fella!

We have such a long wildflower season

The way back

Ground squirrel with nesting material

Dusky or Sooty Grouse?

Trying to Keep Cool

June 30, 2015 – 4:27 pm
Posted in summer, Uncategorized
Tagged dogs, Harts Pass, Pacific Crest Trail, Patterson Lake, PCT, wildflowers
Comments (2)

This last week has featured temperatures over 100 degrees, Fahrenheit! Our house is not designed for extremes of heat and it is difficult to keep it anywhere near a comfortable temperature. Outside, it’s been too hot to do things that need to be done. While we ignore them, the weeds grow gleefully upward, blooming and spreading their seeds. What’s a person or dog to do?

Ignore the weeds; that’s for sure.

Sunday the thermometer topped out at 110! In the morning we took the dogs and a PFD and some floaty toys and went to the lake. We got an early start so we could find a coveted place big enough for us and the dogs without bothering other recreaters. There were several rowing sculls on the water and a canoe and some people swimming for exercise or fun. The dogs were ecstatic and we threw and threw their bumpers. When I thought they might be tiring, I put them away. Sky disappeared into the bushes and came out with a brand new tennis ball! That dog has a nose for tennis balls. If you ever lose one, call on Sky and she will find it for you. But then you have to throw it for her. Again and again. We floated around in the water with PFD, just relaxing and enjoying the cooling lake. Back at home, we all felt somewhat rejuvenated and got a little bit of work done.

Late in the afternoon we packed up a picnic and drove to Harts Pass at about 6100 feet elevation. It was much cooler up there – in the sixties and it felt SO good. There was a threat of thunder storms and we had a little bit of light rain but nothing that chased us away. Ken chatted with a fellow who had just started the Pacific Crest Trail (PCT), traveling north to south. He plans to arrive at Mexico in November. We wished him good luck. The mosquitoes were annoying when we ate our picnic so we ate fast. Then we headed out for a short walk on the PCT. We were greeted by pikas, hoary marmots, Swainson’s Thrushes and a few wildflowers. There were small patches of snow – nothing like last year. It’s already very dry. Many of the creeks are quite low or even dry and it’s not even July. Compare that with a day on the same part of the trail last year in July here. The flowers are not as floriferous either.

This dog accompanied a long distance swimmer back and forth across the lake

Shooting stars in full bloom

Bog orchid

Elephant head

Heather

Silver forest from an old burn

Silky phacelia

Luna was SO happy to see snow

This is the snow field featured near the bottom of the blog post from last summer.

Clearly, I am equipped for whatever the day has to offer.

Jacob’s ladder

columbine

Something like fireweed but not fireweed

Phlox

Slate Peak. It’s pretty obvious from this point of view that the top was removed before the lookout was installed

Silky phacelia

Did you lose a glove?

Native rhododendron

Rosy pussytoes

Native rhododendron

Phlox with raindrops

A Short Jaunt on the PCT

July 11, 2014 – 7:03 am
Posted in North Cascades
Tagged Harts Pass, hike, North Cascades, Pacific Crest Trail, PCT, wildflowers
Comments (1)

Every summer I try to get up to the Harts Pass area as early as possible to catch the start of high mountain wildflowers. I have to wait til the road is open and passable. There are always new washouts over the winter and the Forest Service works hard to get it open for use. Hot weather has settled into the valley so it was a great relief to get up high and enjoy the cooler mountain air and sweet little creeks flowing with melted snow. The dogs were excited to be in snow too! The Pacific Crest Trail (PCT) crosses through this region and can be accessed at several trailheads. We picked the one that goes generally south towards Grasshopper Pass from near the Meadows campground. It was a good choice with a cool breeze and enough water to keep the dogs hydrated and snow to cool their feet and bellies. The snow and water won’t last long with this hot weather. It’s too early for the through hikers to be here – they are the ones that start at the Mexican border and walk all the way to Canada. We had the trail almost all to ourselves except for the marmots, pikas and ground squirrels. We saw only three other day hikers. The wildflowers were over the top beautiful!