Kaleberg Archive for Keyword: flowers, Page: 1

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04/28/13 - Spring Changes on the Elwha Trail We were back on the Elwha Trail out of Whiskey Bend and couldn't help noticing a lot of changes. To start with, there were trilliums everywhere, or at least everywhere with enough water. (Trilliums like streams and drainage ditches.) There were also a lot of other flowers, but the real change was the light. The Northwest isn't noted for its sunny days, but when we have them the forest floor is transformed. The tree trunks are steely pillars and the undergrowth just glows.	The usual view of the Elwha Valley from the trail
Trilliums	More trilliums
Even more trilliums	The trail in sunlight
One of the orchids	More of the trail in sunlight
Another orchid	More of the trail
Violets and a strawberry flower	Sap running from a tree

Keywords: elwha, flowers, trillium, spring

12/18/12 - Christmas at the Volunteer Park Conservatory One of our favorite places in Seattle is the Conservatory at Volunteer Park. It takes a bit of climbing up Capital HIll to get there, but the display there is always amazing. It's even more amazing around Christmas.	A winter scene in Seattle with the Space Needle in the distance
There are always orchids at the conservatory	But, around Christmas, they do the place up proud.
Christmas trees, poinsettas, and a model train set	More Christmas flora, decora, and wonderful, steamy greenhouse warmth
We dropped by to visit the cactus.	A nautical scene
Another view - so cozy	A plethora of Christmas trees - our kind of place
Winter foliage	There is always something even more amazing at the conservatory, like these flowers growing from the edges of this air plants leaves.

Keywords: christmas, flowers, seattle, winter

10/18/12 - Hurricane Hill in the Autumn Unlike New England, the Northwest is not known for its autumn colors, but Hurricane Hill tends to put on a good show. The fields turn a rich gold, and there are bursts of red and gold. The flowers of the alpine summer are now dried specimens waiting for their winter covering of snow.	Golden fields and - oh yeah - mountains
More golden fields	Another view to the west
Red gold	More gold
Red and gold in the valley	More red and gold
Dried flowers	The hanging gardens, ready for winter
A touch of gold	A touch of red

Keywords: autumn, flowers, hurricane hill

08/12/12 - Klahane Ridge, Hurrah! This time we made it up to Klahane Ridge. We were horribly slow. We kept having to stop and rest, but then we pushed on. The hanging gardens were lush and green with lupines, turks cap lilies, yarrow, cow parsnip, larkspur, paintbrush and even some phlox in bloom. The usual summer drought has not set in yet, and might not this year. The view from the top was as spectacular as ever. To the north we could see the Dungeness Spit, the San Juan Islands and Mount Baker rising above the Cascades. To the south were the grand Olympic Mountains clad in their glaciers. Like many things this year, we were late in our return to Klahane Ridge, but we did it.	Mount Angeles and a bit of snow
The view north	The view to the east
A view north	Another view north
The trail through the green	Lupines
Did we say lupines?	More of the trail
More wildflowers - an amazing season	The little waterfall near the trailhead

Keywords: flowers, klahane ridge, mount baker, summer

07/25/12 - Hurricane Ridge and Sunrise Point We are usually more adventurous, but now and then we need to take it easy. We just weren't up to a real serious hike, so we parked at Hurricane Ridge and climbed Sunrise Point. That's maybe a 200 foot climb, and we never got out of key clicker range of our car. This year spring came late and summer came later, and that meant that the rains lingered into July. Cool wet weather make for lush green vegetation and lots and lots of alpine flowers. Some years the lupines barely grow as they race to bloom before drying out in the summer heat. This year, they've grown and grown, and while they are blooming now, they are still early in the cycle with many flowers yet to come. It's like this for all the flowers: a late start, a lot of green, and a lot of flowers. This may be one of the best years in a while for high country blossoms, and you don't even have to walk very far.	A great view of the mountains and the fields
Lupines in the foreground	Lingering snow
Avalanche lilies	Phlox
More avalanche lilies	Guess
A very lush field of lupines	We aren't sure about these, but they're pretty.
Another lupine view	A lot of lush green means more to come.

Keywords: flowers, high country, hurricane ridge, summer, weather

07/17/12 - Assault on Klahane Ridge We made our first assault on Klahane Ridge for the year, and we made it up about 900 feet from the parking lot. The whole climb to the ridge is about 1450 feet, so we made creditable progress, but we still have a way to go. It also means we didn't get high enough to run into any mountain goats, which was just as well. There were a fair number of flowers in bloom - bog orchids, lupines, cow parsnips, phlox, indian paintbrush and all too many that we don't have names for. (We do look them up now and then, but then we forget them.) There were even a few golden glacier lilies, rapidly fading. On the other hand, the hanging gardens on the hillside were quite lush and very green. Over the next few weeks we expect to see a lot more blooms. We also expect to climb all the way to the ridge. We shall see.	Lupines in full bloom
A lot of green, but not all that many flowers	The view
We were not high enough for a real view of the Olympic Mountains.	More of the trail
Phlox - We can't capture the wonderful scent here.	A melting river of snow
We forgot what these pretty flowers were, or maybe we never did look them up.	A bog orchid with yet another wonderful scent

Keywords: flowers, klahane ridge

06/23/12 - The Pacific Dogwood is in Bloom We've been building up on the Lake Angeles Trail. That's a 2400' ascent from the Heart of the Hills to the lake itself that we're quite fond of. It's just quite a climb, and during the winter we get out of shape. We haven't gotten to the lake yet, but we have been following the seasonal changes. Right now, the Pacific dogwood are blooming. Unlike the eastern version, these are a ground cover, not a tree, but they have those distinctive flowers.	The trail
In bloom	More bloom
Even more bloom	There's lots of water in the stream.
At the end of trillium season, the flowers turn purple before forming seeds.	Another late season trillium

Keywords: flowers, lake angeles, trillium

06/19/12 - Hurricane Hill Despite the cool spring this year, we made it up to the top of Hurricane Hill before the solstice. We took advantage of one of those great sunny, un-June like days we've been having and drove up to Hurricane Ridge. The Hurricane Hill access road was open and most of the parking lot cleared. There was some snow on the trail, but we had our trusty YakTrax and hiking sticks, so we had extra traction on the trickier stretches. The hard part was really that we weren't used to the altitude, but the blue sky and amazing vista pulled us upwards. Marmot Rock, a rock that looks like a marmot, had survived the winter, but we also saw a real marmot chittering and playing sentinel now that we humans have returned to the high country. There was some phlox in bloom along with a bit of Indian paintbrush, some yarrow and a lupine or two, but otherwise the landscape had just melted. It took us a fair bit longer than usual, but we made our way up to the summit and admired the views of the Olympic Mountains, the San Juans, Vancouver Island and the great white meringue of Mt. Baker.	One of the views
Last summer's grasslands, now faded	This is sort of what the trails look like, but the snow is melting rapidly.
Another view, this one from the summit	The real marmot - Click this caption for some shaky video, marmot calls and our heavy breathing.
Blue sky	The view east from the summit
Phlox	Indian paintbrush
Another view	Yet another view

Keywords: high country, hurricane hill, spring, animals, flowers

06/12/12 - Mount St. Helens from the Johnston Ridge Observatory The eruption of Mount St. Helens was front page news way back when, but it is hard to grasp the sheer scale of a mountain exploding from photographs or even video coverage. We drove a fair ways from the interstate through flat lands and hills and forest to the Johnston Ridge Observatory to get a better sense of things. We saw glimpses of the volcano from along the road, but what impressed us even more was the land between us and the mountain. It was hard not to see that the topography had been recently altered by volcanic floes and ash, and that material had been carved by rivers and was only recently being recolonized by grasses, shrubs and trees. This was not a long settled landscape, but a new one. We climbed the final hillside to the observatory proper and enjoyed the exhibit, but we were drawn again and again to the view. The building had great glass windows, but we had to go outside with the wind and rain and snow. (Just flurries, but snow nonetheless.) We explored the landscape of burned tree stumps and fallen trunks and gazed in awe at the fresh land in the river valley between us and the volcano. We were never really that close, and the clouds hid the upper reaches for most of our visit, but now and then the winds would blow, cold and hard, and we could see a bit more of the mountain that had blasted and charred the trees on Johnston Ridge and reformed the land.	One of our better views of Mt. St. Helens
The Toutle River and the new land below	More valley
Another glimpse of the mountain	Mountain and valley
Johnston Ridge, today	A story is told here.
A canyon carved in volcanic ash	A herd of elk
The flowers are coming back, but only the hardy ones.	Another view of the mountain and valley

Keywords: flowers, washington state

05/19/12 - Whiskey Bend and Above the Elwha We've gotten out to Whiskey Bend a few times lately in hopes of getting back to Lilian Camp. This time we made it to the overlook where we could see the snow covered mountains on the other side of the river. The spring flowers are coming out in force, so we'll be back again soon. Maybe we'll even get across the second crossing or down to the Lilian River. Who knows?	The mountains as seen from the overlook
A typical stretch of trail	An older trillium, turning pink
Tiarella	Mahonia, oregon grape, in flower
Wild strawberrys - We've never seen any fruit, but they are pretty flowers.	A fresher trillium

Keywords: flowers, spring, trillium, elwha

04/27/12 - Elwha Open Again We are building up again after a long slow winter. The trail out of Whiskey Bend is open again, so we pushed ourselves past the cabin and up 400 feet to the first crossing. This is maybe halfway to Lilian Camp, our eventual goal, but one must crawl before one can walk, though in our case it feels as if we walk first, then crawl back. There were a couple of trees down, but the trails are in great shape. Even better, the trilliums and other spring forest flowers are coming out. Next time, the second crossing, for sure.	Self portrait
Trilliums	The green way
The stream at the first crossing	Spring waterfall
The forest	Another trillium

Keywords: elwha, flowers, spring, trails, trillium

10/20/11 - Our Last Klahane Ridge Climb of the Year Well, probably. There was a bit of snow and ice on the trail, but it was melting rapidly, so we might try to climb Klahane Ridge one more time. Already snow is building up on the north face and Mount Angeles, and all but a few flowers are gone. There is moisture, but not the green moisture of spring. It's the cool gray moisture of approaching winter. Right now the trail is clear, so we have hopes, but conditions can change rapidly, so we'll have to see.	Snow to the north
Snow on Mount Angeles	Snow on a sheltered tree
The mountains	More mountains
The trail, good footing, no longer just dust	Folded rock
Cow parsnips in passing	A few stragglers
More stragglers	Shadows

Keywords: flowers, high country, klahane ridge

10/06/11 - Hurricane Hill in Autumn This year the high country grasses stayed green until almost the last minute. Usually they turn to gold by late August, but this year was much moister, and the snows melted much later. Now, they are turning golden with a vengeance. We were a bit disappointed with this year's crop of corn lilies. We took the side spur and found a number of spikes, now dried and brown, but the taller corn lilies were fallen with no signs of their blooms. Even the mouse on a stick seemed a bit dispirited, but there were a few flowers left including yarrows and harebells.	Scenery
more scenery	and, good grief, more scenery.
The little snow melt lake is gone. The snow you see is old snow that never melted.	Golden grasses
A last harebell, almost translucent	Some corn lily spikes
We love the way water beads up on the lupines.	Wild flowers
Wild fields	Yarrow and harebells

Keywords: flowers, high country, hurricane hill, autumn

10/01/11 - First Snow on Klahane Ridge This has been a short season for the high country. Already, there is snow on Klahane Ridge. Granted, it was just a sprinkling and seems to have melted in all but the shadiest areas, but it was snow none the less. The recent rains and snow made climbing much easier. The trail was turning into soft sand as it does late in the season, but this time the footing was good. We saw three bucks chowing down for the winter, trying to put on some weight. They largely ignored us, shuffling a few steps away as we passed. Their attention was on the vegetation, and we weren't vegetation. We're hoping for one more visit to the ridge, but a lot depends on our oomph. That and the weather.	These towers of stone are always inspiring.
A peephole view	Enjoying the buffet
It's still very green. The grasses and the like never turned golden brown.	Mountains and clouds
A bit of snow by the trail	Old snow and new snow on the north face
A bit more snow	The last fields of flowers
More inspiration	A few late harebells

Keywords: flowers, high country, klahane ridge, weather, winter

09/24/11 - Hurricane Hill Was Crawling With Critters Hurricane Hill was crawling with critters on our last visit. There were marmots, chipmunks, and blue grouse wandering about. The flowers of summer have passed for the most part, but our big disappointment was the corn lilies on the side spur. We had hoped to, at long last, catch them in bloom, but they don't seem to have blossomed this year. Still, there seem to be a lot more of them.	A golden marmot
Chipmunk alert: watch your shoelaces!	A plump blue grouse
A couple of marmots	The disappointing corn lily crop
Early autumn colors	More golden grasses
and mountains	and more mountains

Keywords: autumn, flowers, grouse, hurricane hill, marmots

09/03/11 - The Flowers at Obstruction Point There were so many wonderful alpine flowers at Obstruction Point that we took too many pictures to fit in one post. Think of this as the overflow post.	Phlox
Glacier lilies	Lupines by the path
Stonecrop?	We have no idea.
Harebells	Ghost flower - We made that up.
We really do need to take a course or something.	This isn't mouse on a stick. (We didn't make that one up. There really is a flower called that.)
More pretty	Lupines and dirty sock plant, oh, and some mountains that sort of sneaked in

Keywords: flowers, obstruction point

08/16/11 - Hurricane Hill Corn Lily Update We took the side spur off the Hurricane Hill trial to check out the meadow where the corn lilies grow. They are most definitely growing. They are even spreading with corn lilies appearing in areas we had not seen them in before. The views, not surprisingly, were spectacular. The corn lilies have not yet bloomed, but lots of other flowers have.	Corn lilies of the field
The corn lilies are not blooming yet.	We always take a picture or two of these rocks for some reason or another.
It pays to look closely.	The snow is melting and the water is trickling down this part of the trail.
Some anemones	Among the other flowers, a glacier lily, a sign of recent melt.
Corn lily shoots coming through the snow	More scenery - There is more to life than corn lilies.

Keywords: flowers, hurricane hill, summer, high country

08/15/11 - Hurricane Hill Revisited We took the trail up Hurricane Hill again today. It has been a few weeks, so we expected the snow to be gone and the season to be passing. It is mid-August. In fact, the snow was more or less all gone, but the flowers are still blooming in earnest.	There are still some pretty spectacular views, even this late in the season.
Yep, another spectacular view	The blue seasonal snow melt lake is forming
Is this sweet cecelia? We aren't sure.	Lupines, apparently good for the memory
Pink paintbrush, or so we believe	There are lots of flowers
There are avalanche lilies under the pine trees where the snow lingered.	Bright colors
Our camera does not do justice to the scent of wild roses.	Those masses of white flowers are dirty sock plant. We call this area the hamper.

Keywords: flowers, hurricane hill, high country, summer

08/13/11 - Klahane Ridge Success This time we made it up Klahane Ridge. We really didn't think we were up for it being a bit out of shape, but we dragged ourselves up, stopping often to catch our breath. The high country flowers are in magnificent bloom, though the glacier lilies are gone. Still, we have no reason to complain about lupines, paintbrush, yarrows, and the hosts of others the names of which we still haven't learned and memorized. We even saw a family of mountain goats safely perched on a snow ledge far away and above us. That's about the right distance. That's why we bring binoculars, not that the Klahane Ridge climb is in need of scenery what with the distant mountains, alpine flowers, rocky crags and great sky.	The climb
Look carefully at that snow ledge to the upper right.	There are mountain goats there, at a safe distance.
The view from the ridge	Sunrise point and the high Olympics
Mountain flowers	Rock flowers
The mountain goats on the move	More flowers, fields of them
Even more flowers	Lupines, among others

Keywords: flowers, high country, klahane ridge

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