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Tag Archives: wildflowers

What Happened to June?

June 25, 2016 – 8:21 pm
Posted in summer
Tagged birds, fawn, home, lupine, mariposa, raven, smokejumpers, sunrise, sunset, vernal pond, wildflowers
Comments (1)

June 25 and what have I done this month? One hike. Two sets of visitors. Designed the cover for Ken’s soon-to-be-released CD. Walked my dogs. Two weddings that you can see here and here. Time flew by and now it’s nearly July.

We had one week of hot weather and then it returned to often windy and cloudy and even some good June rains. The grasses on our hill are taller than the dogs. Lupine continues to bloom along with the beautiful mariposa lilies that I cannot quit photographing. Bluebirds and swallows have fledged. A raven family spent a couple of weeks terrorizing the nesting birds. I do admire ravens but really I wish they did not eat eggs and other baby birds. Smokejumpers from the airport across the valley trained in the hot weather and in the windy weather.

Sunrise

dew drops on spider web

Tiny fawn

Raven breakfast

The vernal pond is still there

Eastern Kingbird

Sky

wild aster

Lupine and a dusting of new snow on the mountains across the way

Serviceberries

Currants

Dusky Grouse displaying to me and the dogs

Tree Swallow

Western Bluebird

Buckwheat

Mariposa

New growth on sage

Lupine and yarrow

tall grasses and yarrow

Lush grasses and dead trees

sunset

Goat Peak

On Saturday there was a lot of rain and I was able to finish up most of my work inside. Sunday I worked outside. And so that gave me a free day yesterday to go for a hike! What a relief to get out in the mountains again. Isn’t that what summer should be all about?

I guess today is the first day of summer and yesterday didn’t feel particularly summer-like, but on this hike, it is good to have a cool day. The trail climbs steeply, going pretty much straight up the north face of the mountain. It’s not a long hike – five miles round trip but for me it seems grueling even going down. My knees complained with every step on the downhill stretch.

But the views. They are terrific. And that’s fitting for the site of a historic lookout that continues to be staffed in the summer months. The trail also provides lots of opportunities to look at wildflowers early in hiking season. Later it will be dry and dusty. And there was lots of old snow to satisfy the dogs.

Rather dismal trailhead

That’s the mountain but you can’t see the lookout.

North Cascades

I enjoyed watching this bee on a flower that looks like groundsel.

Noisy Hairy Woodpecker. I wonder if she had a nest nearby.

Glacier lillies tell you that the snow just melted

Nice to see you on the trail Luna

Yellow-rumped Warbler

Finally past the steep part and now a view of the lookout

Mt Gardner. I was worried about the misty rain that moved around but never did get wet.

Looking down valley, more light rain

This took about ten tries.

Outhouse with a view

Crazy clouds

Penstemon

Larch

Buttercup.

Spring beauty and glacier lily

Buckwheat

How many kinds of plants are in this small patch of ground?

Forget me not

Clematis

For more information about this hike the WTA website.

Black Lake Hike

May 15, 2016 – 8:09 am
Posted in hike
Tagged Black Lake, Lake Creek, North Cascades, Pasayten Wilderness, wildflowers
Comments (2)

The girls and I hiked to Black Lake on Friday. This hike is more about the trail than the destination. It follows Lake Creek which is really roaring with white water now. I was pleased that the girls stayed away from the rushing stream. The area burned about ten or fifteen years ago and is a recovering forest with standing silver snags, numerous species of shrubs and wildflowers and in some places there are thick stands of small pine trees and aspens. Every year lots of those silver snags fall, often across the trail, and it hasn’t been logged out yet. According to the information at the trailhead, there are 48 downed trees along the route. This certainly slows a person down. Most I could get across; some I had to go under and in at least one case I had to go around a big log.

Another feature is a series of beaver ponds near the lake. These efficient engineers have dammed up a tributary creek and created some really good habitat but also have flooded the trail in places. It proved to be a bit of a challenge for me to get across a series of downed logs over the pond to return to the trail.

The flowers and bird song slowed me down too. I was able to identify four different warblers by their songs alone. I stopped many times when the trail was away from the stream, so I could listen to the birds and photograph the flowers. Needless to say, I did not make good time on this hike but like I said, it’s more about the trail than the destination.

Luna looks happy to be in the wilderness

First log across the trail

Later she would go under logs like this

Paintbrush

Two kinds of lupine

Serviceberry

Paintbrush

Cute tiny flower

maple

Lewisia tweedii

Tweedy’s Lewisia

Mountain ash flower with pollinator.

Mountain ash flower with pollinator

Mountain ash flower with two pollinators

Wild clematis

Oh gosh, I’ve forgotten this one

Elderberry

Beautiful little flower on a thorny shrub

Douglas sunflowers

penstemon

ferns unfurling

columbine

fungi

A log that was cut out of the trail last year

Talus slopes like this had pikas in them

Aspens growing out of the galus

Big boulder in the trail

Avalanche debris strewn across the trail

Hmmmm

Lake Creek

Beaver pond

Beaver pond

Black Lake

Cooling off

And here’s the list of birds I heard and saw:

Ruffed Grouse

Mourning Dove

Calliope Hummingbird

Hairy Woodpecker

Pileated Woodpecker

Olive-sided Flycatcher

Hammond’s Flycatcher

Dusky Flycatcher

Warbling Vireo

Common Raven

Black-capped Chickadee

Pacific Wren

Ruby-crowned Kinglet

American Robin

Nashville Warbler

MacGillivray’s Warbler

Yellow Warbler

Yellow-rumped Warbler

Chipping Sparrow

Dark-eyed Junco

Song Sparrow

Spotted Towhee

Black-headed Grosbeak

Red-winged Blackbird

Pine Siskin

Small Views

May 9, 2016 – 9:47 am
Posted in spring
Tagged bitterroot, groundsel, Methow Valley, phacelia, western bluebird, wildflowers
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We live in this house because it has an incredible view from the river valley to the high peaks of the Pasayten Wilderness. Besides that, there is no practical reason to live here.

Additionally, their are pretty good small views – wildflowers and birds too. This year, the flowers are all coming fast and furious – early with bountiful foliage and intense colors. Without some late spring rains, in a month from now we will be facing brown, crinkly hillsides. So we enjoy the colors and scents now.

Western Bluebirds are using this nest box

Every year I need to remember the name of this flower.

Cat’s ear lillies. Funny name for a beautiful flower

Groundsel

Groundsel is about the same color as balsamroot and has replaced it on our hillside, keeping the yellow theme for a little while longer

Larkspur adds a bit of blue

I think this is an Erigeron sp. but I could not tell you which one

Bitterroot. A perennial favorite. Lewisia rediviva

This Phacelia is much reduced compared to last year when it grew vigorously and everywhere.

April Highlights

April 28, 2016 – 5:59 am
Posted in spirng
Tagged grouse, snow capped mountains, spring, sunrise, vernal pond, wildflowers
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The month is almost over and I don’t know where the time went. It has been full of wildflowers and spring tasks and walks in the hills and birds and good times. At the start of the month there were large piles of snow and ice covered puddles. All that is gone now. Here are a few highlights.