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Tag Archives: wildflowers

First Campout of the Summer

We spent last week at Lost Lake in the Okanogan Highlands in eastern Okanogan County. If you’ve followed this blog for long, you know we go there just about every year. What is it about this place that we find so inviting? Let’s see: old growth western larch forest, Common Loons, wildflowers, historic CCC structures, peace and quiet, wildflowers, perfect small lake for paddling and relaxing, brook trout in that lake, good birding and much, much more.

Weather was kind of chilly and we enjoyed our campfires each night. Fishing was off from other years but Ken was able to bring in enough for two meals. A friend joined us for a couple of days. We did some serious birding and she got to paddle Ken’s fishing kayak. The dogs were happy and busy and they slept like rocks each night. I think we all slept well with the frogs in the background. We woke to singing Swainson’s Thrushes and Ruby-crowned Kinglets each morning.

camp life
Good dogs on a walk
Calypso orchid
Luna waited patiently while I crawled around looking at the wildflowers.
Clematis
Snowberry
Western larch needles
Mountain ash
Watching us paddle back for breakfast

A New Place

Last week the girls and I stopped at a location down valley to scout for possible morel hunting grounds. We had limited success but a pleasant walk.

Dog and bluebells
Dog and balsamroot
larkspur
Micranthes sp. Saxifrage
morel

Relief from the Heat

Yesterday was the hottest day of the year here. So far. It reached 100 on the valley floor. Sheesh. Did I mention that we are completely without air conditioning for at least another couple of weeks? It’s enough to make a girl and her dogs crazy.

We drove up Boulder Creek to the Freezeout Pass trailhead and headed up the trail to 8242 foot Tiffany Mountain. It was 73 when we started. I was soon sweating on the steep trail through the burned forest. Many trees have blown over since last summer (sort of like the situation at my house) so there was quite a bit of clambering over and around the deadfall. Once we got out of the trees, it was the same steep, rocky ascent to the summit. Horned Larks were all around us. This is a place where they nest each summer. The snow has only recently melted up there but already it’s very dry and dusty most of the way along the trail. Wildflowers are just getting started. They could use a little bit of rain but none is in the long range forecast. At the top, the view was the best I’ve ever seen up there. Not a cloud in the sky and little haze either. I could see Mount Baker and Glacier Peak to the west and Moses Mountain to the east. And there wasn’t much wind either. On the way down, the wind picked up and I didn’t linger in the burned forest. The trees groaned and creaked and swayed in the wind.

We stopped at Boulder Creek to cool our feet on the way home. The dogs probably enjoyed that part more than the hike. I experimented with using my knee as tripod to get some pretty water images.

Back at home, it was 87, in the house.

In the burned forest
Prairie smoke
I don’t know this flower
Or this one
Looks like a short jaunt
Is it too bright for you Sky?
Looking over the Sinlahekin and Okanogan valleys.
Luna is always on the edge.
Ahhh.
The trail leads easily to the road. Or so it seems.
Paintbrush
Ahhh, the best
Sky.

Mountains and Wildflowers

The girls and I have not been getting out enough lately. Both of them are still in bed, not even asking to go outside or have breakfast. That is nearly unheard of around here. We had a lovely outing to Slate Peak yesterday but I didn’t think it was overly strenuous. Must have been all that fresh mountain air and the cold streams.

I was told that the road to Harts Pass was open although not all the way to the trailhead near Meadows or to the lookout parking lot. Sure enough, that was the case. Several cars were parked at the last PCT trailhead with lots of hikers and walkers heading north on the well-worn path. Luna and Sky and I simply walked over the snowbanks and up the road to the lookout. It’s only a mile and a half walk and we had it all to ourselves. The flowers were amazing and the mountain views were beyond beautiful. Later we walked near Meadows and saw more wildflowers and clear mountain streams.

It was a nice day.

Looking north to Canada
Silky phacelia, one of my favorite wildflowers
Buckwheat, phacelia and mountains
I don’t know the name of this DYC (darned yellow composite)
Lomatium
Glacier lily
Forget-me-nots
Anemone
Shooting stars
Anemone and buttercups
Buttercups
A field of anemone!
Phlox and lichen
A cooling stream

Sweet Creek Falls

I had a chance to explore a little bit of western Oregon last week following a wedding near Eugene. You can see photos from the wedding here.

Afterwards, I visited my cousin at her place in Florence and of course, the girls (dogs) and I spent time at the beach, but the highlight may have been a hike with my cousin and her husband to Sweet Creek Falls. It’s a Forest Service trail near Mapleton and you can learn more about it here.

The falls are really worth the trip. It seemed that around every corner, there was another cascade of flowing water. I was glad I had packed a tripod and polarizing filter. They made all the difference in the world. Even though we were there in the mid-afternoon, the water was often shaded by the tall Douglas fir and maple trees that dominate western Oregon’s forests. Sweet wildflowers were sprinkled in with the thick ferns and other undergrowth.