wildflowers | My Everyday Photos

Tag Archives: wildflowers

Back to the Mountains

July 14, 2013 – 9:35 pm
Posted in hike
Tagged dogs, hike, Pacific Crest Trail, photography, wildflowers
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Life has kept me busy here at home with lots of work in June followed by visitors for ten days. While I am grateful for lots of work and happy to have our visitors from far away, I missed getting out in the mountains in the early summer when the snow first began to retreat leaving wildflowers in its wake. Yesterday I got up to Harts Pass and hiked on part of the Pacific Crest Trail and enjoyed vast views and flowers and a few remaining snow patches. Luna and I were joined by her pal Wyatt Ann, my friend Lindsey and her three dogs – Moose, Mavi and Little Bear. We were a pack. The weather was perfect – not too hot and we had a lovely day in the mountains again.

Fabulous rocks with wonderful lichen patterns

Slate Peak lookout in the distance

Buttercups

I think this is a Veronica or Speedwell

A succulent sedum

Polemonium sp?

Such a beautiful shade of blue

One of the many penstemons

Lewisia Columbiana

Great patches of the Lewisia

Contrasted with burned trees on the far hillside

Castilleja or paintbrush

The creeks in this valley are already drying up.

Little Bear is both playful and independent

Wyatt Ann is a deep thinker

Cairns don’t always point out the way

Mavi is happy for the snow to cool his belly

Wyatt Ann is wondering where do we go next?

Phlox

Dead trees tell stories

Rocks are maps

What stories do you see?

Anemone

A waterleaf

Crossing the big talus slope where the pikas and hoary marmots live. Little Bear is leading the way. Behind Lindsey are Mavi, Luna, Moose and Wyatt Ann who has come back to check on me. Normally Moose and I lagged far behind.

An old log with character

Walking in the Rain

May 30, 2013 – 7:15 am
Posted in hike
Tagged Frost Road, hike, Methow photography, Thompsons paintbrush, wildflowers
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This month started out unseasonably hot and we worried that the green hills would soon be brown. The weather gods have taken care of that worry. There has been rain most everyday for the last couple of weeks, it seems. Maybe I only remember the wet days and have forgotten that some were sunny? I have gotten used to wearing my rain gear. Yesterday by the time we returned to the car, my shoes sloshed. But still, it was gorgeous – green lush grasses and lots of wildflowers still in bloom. Our dogs enjoyed the temperature and ran and ran and ran.

Mary Ann has told me about these delicate flowers that are found along the lower part of the trail

Geum triflorum also known as prairie smoke or old man’s whiskers

A large patch of balsamroot

Old aspen trees

Frida

This majestic pine tree is slowly dying

Aphids on a Lomatium seed head

Another seed head without aphids on the same plant

Looking back, to the south. You can see tiny Deadhorse Lake in the distance

Tiny yellow composites with bitterroot buds surrounding

Blue penstemon and the yellow composite

And with a buckwheat

Same type of buckwheat with tightly closed buds

Blue gray sky. Green hills. In the foreground, the pale pink spots are all bitterroot about to bloom.

Frost Lake, known by other names is just one of several lakes that dot these hills

Grouse droppings

Thompson’s paintbrush

Two

May 25, 2013 – 3:03 pm
Posted in wildflowers
Tagged anniversary, cows, Methow photos, wildflowers
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Tuesday was our second anniversary! Two years already! Can you believe it? This one was kind of bittersweet because our old dog, Sam died on Monday. It’s hard to celebrate when you are missing one of your best friends. The weather didn’t help. We were scheduled to have a hot air balloon ride however it wasn’t to be. Curt, from Morning Glory Balloons said ‘it’s better to be on the ground wishing to be in the air rather than in the air wishing to be on the ground’.

Mid-morning we set out to walk to our wedding spot. The forecast promised rain; there was no doubt of it. The overcast skies said that too. It’s a short hike and the wildflowers are still beautiful up there. We started out enjoying the colorful displays and the greens that were enhanced by the light and rainfall. The birds sang their songs of spring and showed off their colorful plumages too.

After we crossed the first gate on the wildlife area, that all changed. Cows were already pastured up there. Their looming dark square bodies were everywhere with small calves following them around. The spring scents were replaced with the acrid stenches of fresh manure and urine all along the trail. Green grasses and wildflowers were trampled. Their loud mooing covered the bird song. We kept Luna on a leash in order to prevent any cow/dog incidents that might arise. She probably felt safer close to us. The cows had not reached the knoll where we were married so we enjoyed a few minutes and relished the happiness we have shared for two (well more like eight) years now and tried not to think about the cows and Sam too. Then we retraced our steps and went to town for lunchtime pizza at the bakery.

What causes this red on maple leaves?

They only reluctantly got off the trail to let us pass.

The view from the wedding spot. Moccasin Lake with Patterson Mountain in the background.

Early buckwheat flowers

Pensive

Happy

Lupine

I could not pick a favorite

Ken reads an anniversary poem to me

Two!

We walked to the same place a year ago. You can images from that day here.

Another Hike with Dogs

April 25, 2013 – 4:02 pm
Posted in hike
Tagged dogs, hike, Lewis Butte, lupine, wildflowers, Winthrop photography
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Yesterday four women and five dogs set out for Lewis Butte, a popular spring trail near Winthrop. It’s on a south facing slope so the snow melts fast and the wildflowers come early and may not stay long in a dry year. All the dogs, except mine were on best behavior. Well, maybe Trip was ready to help Luna in her quest to scare every bird on the butte. Other than that, it was a good day, topped off with lunch at the Rocking Horse Bakery.

On the way up we were passed by two other women with four dogs! Here are two of their dogs and four of ours

Boomer stuck around long enough for a better photo before re-joining his group

A water break for people and dogs

Juniper takes it all in

Cassidy wonders why all the paparazzi?

Three dogs keep an eye out for anything that moves.

Up the Rendezvous

We love our mountains here

One tree on top of Lewis Butte

It’s quite a view from Pearrygin Lake to Winthrop to Patterson Mountain

Cassidy has Trip’s tennis ball. Later Luna stole it and eventually hid it.

Juniper travels a well-trodden trail

Sulphur lupine

Lomatium dissectum – Fern-leaved desert parsley

A vetch

Lupine – one of my favorites

Everyday Walks

April 21, 2013 – 7:47 pm
Posted in spirng
Tagged Methow photography, Methow River, wildflowers, William Stafford
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Luna and I walk on our hillside everyday. Sometimes we get away and walk other places. Spring is a season of change. Everyday, everywhere you look, you can see something new. Here are some images from recent walks.

This vernal pond above our house has not had water this year. By my reckoning, that makes this a dry year. Maybe today’s rain and snow will change that.