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Backyardnotes

~ All things botanical in photos and words—in my West Seattle garden and elsewhere; seeing and creating art and assorted musings.

Backyardnotes

Tag Archives: hiking

THE MUSE WENT ON VACATION

04 Saturday Oct 2014

Posted by backyardnotes in At the beach, Camping, Clouds, Ephemera, Flowers, Fun in the Garden, Growing, Photography, Vegetable garden

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Tags

blues festival, Garden seating, hiking, Ice Caves, Musings, vegetables, wildfires

A late summer afternoon walk on the beach.

A late summer afternoon walk on the beach.

IT HAS BEEN A GOOD LONG WHILE SINCE MY LAST POST.  At some point I felt like I had run out of topics to write about. The muse went on vacation. How many times can I write about the same plants in the same place in my garden with continued enthusiasm? If it is tiresome for me what about you, the reader? Best to take some time off and gather some new experiences, tackle some small projects, do some canning (a bumper crop of snap beans and apples), do a little local traveling and connect with the people and things I love. So here, is a short review in words and pictures.

Big Four Mountain and waterfalls

Big Four Mountain; waterfalls, and snowfield

In July I had a birthday and it was my wish to do the short hike to the Ice Caves at Big Four, about 90 minutes northeast of Seattle, with our grandchildren. The snow slides off of the shear, vertical face of Big Four mountain and piles up at the base over the winter. As summer comes along, the snow at the top of the mountain melts, water cascades down the faces creating numerous waterfalls that undermine the piles of snow. The snow mounds melt from the inside-out creating caves. They are cool to stand in front of on a hot summer day, but notoriously unstable and known to collapse, so going into them is a bad idea. IceCaves_v   IceCaves_1

One of many Winthrop area fires seen from the fesival grounds.

One of many Winthrop area fires seen from the fesival grounds.

A week later we were off to the Winthrop Blues Festival where we heard great muscic (Charlie Musslewhite; Shemekia Copeland, Homemade Jamz, Too Slim & the Taildraggers) and watched fires burning in the Methow Valley; that part was strange. For a couple of days the only route to and from the area was Hwy 20 through the North Cascades. Scores of people lost their homes and the fire burned up 300,000+ acres.

Fire and smoke influenced the sunsets.

Fire and smoke influenced the sunsets.

A member of Homemade Jamz playing his Muffler Guitar! (They were great.)

A member of Homemade Jamz playing his Muffler Guitar! (They were great.)

BACK ON THE HOME FRONT…

A quiet spot in the garden to sit and reflect

A quiet spot in the garden to sit and reflect

Back in April I shared a post about the redwood tree rounds that were saved from the cutting of our neighbor’s 60 year old redwood. In August I made a visit to my sister (RedClothespin) in Long Beach, WA and she sewed up the covers for the seat top cushions; she is a whiz with a sewing machine.

Weather resistant Sunbrella fabric. Only one drawback–they are under the canopy of a large pine and susceptible to pitch drips.

Weather resistant Sunbrella fabric. Only one drawback–they are under the canopy of a large pine and susceptible to pitch drips.

The view into the vegetable garden from the redwood seating.

The view into the vegetable garden from the redwood seating.

I finished the second of the Steelcase chairs. I haven’t quite decided where in the garden they will take up residence. For now they are mobile.

Steelcase chair #2

Steelcase chair #2

ChilipepperChair

Hibiscus hybrid "Cranberry Crush"

Hibiscus hybrid “Cranberry Crush”

Two years ago I purchased a new perennial, this Hibiscus/Rose Mallow. It bloomed in August for the first time. It was spectacular. I was SO excited, I ran into the house to get the groundskeeper!

Hibiscus_Cranberry

Too bad the flower lasts only one day. However, there were a total of five blooms. I am hoping for more next year. The plant should reach 3-4 feet in height at maturity; currently is it at about 24 inches.

The fall planting of snow and snap peas.

The fall planting of snow and snap peas.

A late blooming poppy.

A late blooming poppy.

Lady's Eardrops, hardy fucshia.

Lady’s Eardrops, hardy fucshia.

Dahlia "Awe Shucks"

Dahlia “Awe Shucks”

Akane apples.

Akane apples.

The muse is slowly returning. More later.

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MYSTERY MUDBALLS DISCOVERED IN DEATH VALLEY!

08 Friday Mar 2013

Posted by backyardnotes in Desert, Hiking, Travel

≈ 2 Comments

Tags

Death Valley, Death Valley wash, discovery, hiking, mudballs, nature

Mystery mudballs

Mystery mudballs

WE SPENT OUR LAST DEATH VALLEY DAYS AT MESQUITE SPRINGS campground, at the north end of DVNP. Just a few miles south of Ubehebe Crater, it is easy to walk the wash as far as your legs will last. On our first afternoon at Mesquite Springs, my friend Lynn and I walked south in the wash. The wash was caked with thick, cracked and dried mud. This was the third week of January, and we had not encountered any rain so far, so there was no telling when the last real rain event occurred.

Little meatball sized mudballs stuck in place

Little meatball sized mudballs stuck in place

About ten minutes into our walk, we started seeing little balls of mud, “stuck in the mud”! Very curious sight. As we walked farther south and downslope from the campground we found ever larger balls. It was thrilling to see them and then try to figure out their origins. Forty minutes on, we started seeing balls nearly the size and weight of bowling balls!

MBs_lg_nview

This was our fourth winter trip to DVNP and we had never seen anything like this. We tried to imagine the force and volume of water needed to create and propelled these balls. And, how far had they traveled to gain such size? They sort of resemble dorodango dirt balls, without the smooth finish. These were brittle, with cobble embedded. We broke open some of the smaller ones, thinking that there might be a central pebble but found none.

Mudball in hand for scale

Mudball in hand for scale

A couple of days later the four of us took a wonderful hike above the wash to the west and south of the campground and ended up a little farther south than our initial discovery. Plus, Lynn and I had to show off our discovery. You can see from the photo how large some of the are. Amazing!

When we all parted ways, us home to the north and our friends continuing on south, they stopped in at the Furnace Creek visitor center and asked if anyone had seen this phenomenon previously. The rangers said they had not, but were excited to hear about them and see Lynn’s photos and planned to have someone go and take a look. So far, no word from the rangers. The mystery remains.

 

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STEPPING INTO THE PAINTING

20 Thursday Oct 2011

Posted by backyardnotes in National Parks, Sunset, Travel

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Tags

Gros Ventre River, hiking, moose, sunsets, Taggart Lake, tetons

WE HAD A GRAND TIME IN GRAND TETON N.P. We could see the Tetons from our campsite and watched them light up mornings and evenings. The yellow leaves of the aspens and cottonwoods were absolutely luminous. The evening light just after sunset was ethereal; soft and gauzy with hints of lavender. I felt like I was sitting in a Thomas Moran painting. Just have to share a few photos.

The campground is alongside the Gros Ventre River (grow-vant) where we walked in the mornings looking for moose–along with dozens of photographers as it turned out. Our first morning out we got lucky–twice.

The first encounter was a young bull moose who looked to be bedding down for the morning.

Farther on, out at the river we spotted a full grown bull standing in the water.

As we slowly and quietly moved in a little closer we found a glut of photographers, some of whom had just witnessed a fight between this bull and another. This challenger was apparently soothing his wounds. We saw the dominant bull a couple of days later; he had broken part of his antlers in the scuffle.

One afternoon we took a hike up to Taggart Lake at the base of the Tetons. I don’t think that a hike gets much better than this.

Taggart Lake, payoff number two!

Back at the Gros Ventre campground with late afternoon shadows adding a little more drama to the scenery.

And the setting sun. It was so beautiful, made for painting.

When we were in Yellowstone we met some friends quite by accident and they joined up with us in Teton NP. On our last full day in the park we all did a hike around Two Ocean Lake. It seems that there is nowhere in the park where the Tetons are not visible. We even saw a group of three otters fishing in the lake! A wonderful way to end our trip.

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WE FOLLOWED THE SUN

19 Wednesday May 2010

Posted by backyardnotes in Native plants, Rain, Spring flowers, Washington travels

≈ 2 Comments

Tags

desert, Eastern Washington, fava beans, hiking, sun

I’VE GOT THE TRAVEL ITCH, so last Thursday we headed for the other side of the Cascades to explore the Potholes Reservoir, in the Columbia Basin and the national wildlife refuge. Just just three hours away from home the weather was near 80°. We camped at Potholes State Park, went looking for birds and did some short hikes in the refuge south of the reservoir.

Some fair bird watching although most of the spring migration is over. We did see quite a few yellowheaded black birds which we do not see on the west side of the mountains, so that was exciting for us. Also, at the north end of the reservoir is a very large rookery for Great Blue Herons, Great White Egrets, Black-crowned Night Herons, and Cormorants. The rookery area is closed at this time of the year and the birds can be viewed only with binoculars or a good scope.

This is rumex venosus, or winged dock and we spotted it growing in sand dunes and near the rookery. This was new to me and I was able to identify it and other flora spotted on this trip thanks to this website, a real find with beautiful photographs of wildflowers found in the Pacific Northwest. A common culinary variety of rumex is sorrel, a perennial, tart garden green.

Before we left I picked enough fava beans for a salad dressed with lemon juice, a fruity olive oil, and some shavings of pecorino cheese for our first night out. They were sweet, small and green…heaven! Today, I was scanning DigginFood and saw a way to use the green fava leaves—new to me—so I will give them a try since I have two long rows of plants.

Since I am interested in plants wherever we travel, this trip was no exception. The plant life in a shrub-steppe-desert environment is vastly different from the wet side of the Cascades. A lot of sagebrush, many types of grasses, and wildflowers. On Sunday we hiked up to the Goose Lakes Plateau for a splendid view of the seep lakes and channeled scablands. Vertical basalt walls rise about two hundred feet above the marshlands and lakes.

Salvia dorii. On the left the pre-bloom stage, on the right in bloom.

As we pulled up to trailhead parking on the Morgan Lakes road we saw these tumbleweeds piled up at the bottom of east facing cliffs. Where did they come from? We saw no evidence of tumbleweeds growing in the vicinity. It was a curious and oddly beautiful tableau.

Alas, the weather turned on Monday and we headed back west to Vantage for a side trip to the Ginkgo Petrified Forest, only to meet rain from Vantage to the east slope of Snoqualmie Pass, but found sunshine at home in West Seattle. More to see around the Potholes in another trip. Maybe some fishing next time too.

This afternoon we we’re back to spring rain.  Good for the garden and indoor art projects.

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