Kaleberg Archive for Keyword: flowers, Page: 1

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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

08/03/11 - Klahane Ridge, But Not Very Far We recently made an attempt to climb Klahane Ridge via the Switchback Trail, but we didn't get very far, only 850' above the parking lot. We did get up into the hanging gardens, past the junction with the trail to the lodge. All told, it was a beautiful climb. There were some flowers, but the hanging gardens were lush and green, not yet in bloom. We turned around at the first patch of snow on the trail, poor spirited. We'll be back again, and we are hoping to go higher. Every season, the challenge begins anew.	Up the steepy mountains
On the trail	Glacier lilies
Another view of the mountains	Windswept
Lupines	Paintbrush
Ants swarming	The umbrella forest
A bog orchid	Spring flowers, yeah in late July

Keywords: flowers, klahane ridge

07/09/11 - Hurricane Hill We were always fond of those mountain climbing movies from the 1930s with their portentious narratives, and their imagined voices always seem to accompany us on our ascents of Hurricane Hill. Maybe it's the park signs for Folded Rock and Lingering Snow. Maybe it's that there is a stretch "so full of dirty sock plant, they call it 'The Hamper'". Well, those voices are back, and we've made our first Hurricane Hill Ascent of the season. The snows are melting rapidly, and most of the trail is clear. The shaded section through the trees (from The Bench to The Hamper actually) still has a fair bit of snow, but it's well packed and the footing is obvious. The area near the Hurricane Hill Trail side spur is also still covered with snow, but melting rapidly. The side spur is already walkable, at least for a ways. The views, as one might expect, are spectacular. There is still a lot of snow on the mountains in every direction, and the alpine flowers are coming into bloom, even near the summit. The fields are adorned with a carpet of glacier lilies, and we saw at least one marmot. It may have been two, or it may have been just one who followed us to the summit. All told, the high country is open for the season and is as spectacular as ever.	The view hasn't changed much. There is a fair bit of snow on the big mountains.
Golden glaciers lilies	Melting snow
More glacier lilies and melting snow	The view from the summit
More view	Even more view - There is lots of view from Hurricane Hill.
The trail through that shady stretch of trees is still covered with snow, though passable.	The marmots are back.
This may or may not be the same marmot.	Marmot the Bold, in profile

Keywords: flowers, high country, hurricane hill, marmots, movies

07/04/11 - Pacific Dogwood

Did we mention the Pacific dogwood on the Lake Angeles trail? There's some right near the parking lot if you aren't a big hiker. There's a lot more further up the trail. We still haven't made it to the lake, but some of that is because we've been exploring Hurricane Hill. More on that, and on Lake Angeles, as the summer progresses.

Keywords: flowers, lake angeles

07/01/11 - Hurricane Ridge to Hurricane Hill We've fallen behind updating our web page. That's because we've been busy. We've been into Seattle a bit - more on that soon - and we've been getting up to the high country. The road between the lodge at Hurricane Ridge and the Hurricane Hill trailhead has been plowed, but not yet opened to traffic, so we've been walking it and a tiny bit of the Hurricane Hill trail. It's rather hypnotic, and the flowers are already in bloom. The avalanche and glacier lilies are among the first, but it is the scent of the phlox that is the real sign of alpine summer. In fact, it seems that everything is blooming at once. Everything is late, but everything is there. We aren't sure when the park will open the road, but until then, we'll use it as a trail. Spring has come to the mountains.	The snow is melting.
Phlox is back.	As are these little violets.
And more phlox	Early lupines
Indian paintbrush	Melting snow on the Hurricane Hill trail
Avalanche lilies	A high country mushroom
A glacier lily	And the mountains

Keywords: flowers, high country, hurricane hill, hurricane ridge, spring, summer

06/24/11 - Lake Crescent Flowers The flowers are out on the Spruce Railroad Trail. We particularly noticed the roses. Their rich scent carries. There are also lots of sedums, growing in the friable rock along the trail. Since there are plans to turn the trail into a paved road, they'll probably be getting rid of a lot of the broken rock and the sedums with them, so enjoy them while you can.	The roses
Some sedums by the side of the trail	Paintbrush

Keywords: flowers, spruce railroad

05/17/11 - Seen on the Spruce Railroad Trail It's definitely getting more spring like.	An abstract painting (Can you spot the salamander and how many didn't we see?)
Actual flowers	Actual mushroom (Sorry, no plural)
Green	Greener
Flowing water	Those spooky old maples

Keywords: flowers, salamander, spring, spruce railroad

05/05/11 - It's Official The sun took its sweet time crossing the equator this year, but spring seems to have arrived at long last. The flowers on the Spruce Railroad Trail prove it. Just last week we had marveled at a lone trillium by the roadside, but now there were lots of trilliums in bloom right on the trail. There were other flowers as well. Sometimes it just takes a few blossoms to get that sun to move in the sky.	The first on trail trillium of the season at Lake Crescent
Wild currant is still in bloom.	Indian paintbrush has already started its season.
There were little purple orchids.	And there were yellow violets.

Keywords: flowers, lake crescent, spring, spruce railroad, trillium

02/01/11 - Hellebores Are Here

Well, it's about time. Usually, the hellebores are out in early January, sometimes even in December. This year we had to wait, and wait, but now, we have hellebores. February is usually the month we start looking for signs of spring, but this year, it's the month we are finally getting one of the great signs of winter.

Keywords: flowers, winter

10/08/10 - Obstruction Point This may be our last trip to Obstruction Point this season. It's October, so it might snow any day. The signs of autumn are obvious now. Most of the great fields of snow have melted, and most of the flowers are gone. Parts of the trail remind us of Edgar Rice Burrough's Mars with brilliant red foliage at our feet. Obstruction Point also seems to be chock full of marmots, particularly in the Marmot Meadow perhaps a half mile before the parking area. Interestingly, this seems to be a bad year for the red algae or bacteria, or perhaps archaea, that mottle the melting snow fields. This year they are still almost white.	Scenery
Welcome to Barsoom	Red Planet Earth
More Red Planet	The lakes
Melting snow
	This looked rather Christmassy. Everyone seems to be jumping the gun this year.
A reminder of summer	One of our marmot friends

Keywords: autumn, flowers, marmots, obstruction point

10/04/10 - Klahane Ridge The Switchback Trail to Klahane Ridge is always a challenge, but the views are always worth it. The colors have been changing a bit, and there are only a few alpine flowers left. Like Hurricane Hill, Klahane Ridge is chock full of marmots this year. We saw at least two of them out catching a few rays and enjoying the view, an inspiration for us Kalebergs.	There's just a bit of snow left.
Some scenery	More scenery
An alpine meadow, a magic carpet	There is nothing like a good rock in the foreground to set off the vista in the background.
Safety orange	Can you spot the marmot?
Another marmot	A well camouflaged marmot
A bit of paintbrush remained	As did a few asters

Keywords: flowers, hurricane hill, klahane ridge, marmots

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