Kaleberg Archive for Keyword: winter, Page: 2

10/23/10 - Wild Sky at Hurricane Hill Winter is teasing Hurricane Ridge even now. There's already a touch of snow on the lodge roof and a fair bit more fresh on the distant mountain tops. There's still a lot of autumn color, but now that is starting to fade. We started our latest hike with the mountains shrouded in white cloud and a light sleet, but the clouds parted and swirled. The sky was gray, nearly black, then white, then gray again, then blue. It was quite a show. It made up for the lack of marmots, now sensibly drowsing, we presume. It won't be long before the dominant shade is white, and getting to Hurricane Hill will require skis or snowshoes, so this might be a good time to say goodbye to autumn.	An unprepossessing sky
Autumn colors
	Light and mist
Quickly moving shadows	Harvest gold - it looks better here than on one's refrigerator
Early snow	More autumn color
More wild sky	The glow of the sun

Keywords: autumn, hurricane hill, hurricane ridge, marmots, winter

03/18/10 - Lingering Winter

There was a touch of snow on the Lake Angeles Trail the other day. Apparently winter is not quite over, at least not until the 20th, the first day of spring. On the positive side, someone has removed the Christmas ornaments from the tree not far from the bridge. That's a definite sign that winter is passing.

Lingering winter

Keywords: christmas, lake angeles, spring, winter

03/02/10 - Return to the Lake Angeles Trail

We always like the Lake Angeles Trail. It is only ten minutes from town. It offers a good hard climb. You can keep going all the way up to the lake, or you can turn around at a lower elevation. The lower reaches tend to be clear most of the winter, and when they are not, they make for good snowshoeing.

This January, the road collapsed just before the park entrance, so not only was Hurricane Ridge out of reach, but the Lake Angeles Trail was cut off as well. When it reopened, we made our way up a thousand feet or so.

We found the trail is in great shape. There were a few more logs down, but nothing hard to get over or around. In fact, little had changed. Even the Christmas ornaments that someone had put up were still there. It was like coming home.

The creek

Freshly fallen

At least we took down our tree.

Keywords: christmas, lake angeles, winter

02/13/10 - Lake Crescent: Salamander Alert We know this has been a mild winter, but we didn't expect to see salamanders out and about in February. There they were, right in the middle of the Spruce Railroad Trail. They can be tricky to see, so it is a wonder we didn't step on one. We spotted two or three of them. (We may have spotted the same salamander twice.) We also noticed that the big logs that had been blocking the trail had been removed, clearly by the hand, and most likely chainsaw, of man. The trail is in great shape, and rain or shine, it is a beautiful trail.	Salamander #1
Scenery	Salamander #2
More scenery	Salamander #3, or possibly Salamander #1 spotted again on our way back along the trail

Keywords: salamander, spruce railroad, winter

02/04/10 - Dungeness Spit

Dungeness Spit is not always an easy hike. The tides vary by eight feet in a typical day, and during high tide the beach is not only small, but rocky. In the winter it is worse. Not only are there fewer good tides, but the winter tides often wash out the sand, so even at low tide, it can be rough going.

This year, however, is a good year for hiking the Dungeness Spit. The beach is broad and sandy, so it is easy to avoid all the rocky patches. The strait is full of seabirds, loons, scoters, cormorants and many others beyond our limited identification skills. Oh yes, there are eagles, lots of eagles. There's no point in waiting for spring to hike the Dungeness Spit. It's good walking even now, and, as a bonus, the Indian plum is already in bloom.

An eagle

Dungeness Spit

Indian plum in bloom

Keywords: birds, dungeness, dungeness spit, spring, tides, winter

01/10/10 - The Winter Market

We missed the Korean garlic lady last week, but she was back again with her excellent garlic, scallions and Korean goodies including fish soup and kim chi pancakes. Korea gets pretty cold in the winter, so they have lots of good dishes for cold weather, and you can try some at the Port Angeles Farmers' Market.

Another newcomer was the Mystery Bay Oyster guy who sells oysters and clams with lots of garlic and butter. He's usually at the Port Townsend market, but they are closed right now, so he's offering his wares to us Port Angelenos. We had a plate of his oysters, and they were wonderful. We'll miss him when the PT market reopens.

The Korean garlic lady

The Mystery Bay Oyster guy

The Johnston Farm lady

Keywords: farmers' market, johnston farm, oysters, winter

01/03/10 - The Elwha River We hiked out of Whiskey Bend down to the Elwha River, or rather, to just above the Elwha River, but low enough to get a good view of the flood plain. It was a wonderful green trail, and the Elwha River was wild and full. The winding road to the trailhead does get closed now and then, but it is open for most of the winter, and the Elwha River walks are beautiful this time of year.	On our way down to the river
The river	Our favorite overlook
Click for a bigger version of this panorama

Keywords: elwha, winter

01/02/10 - Winter Market Just because it is the middle of winter doesn't mean that the Port Angeles Farmers' Market is closed. It's open every Saturday from 10-2 at the Gateway Center, and the farmers are there including Westwind, Johnston and Nash Huber stands along with Tuna Dan, Bell Street Bakery and the guy with the mushrooms and seafood whose name we have forgotten. We bought a lovely piece of black cod from the guy whose name we forgot, so he is worth a trip to the market in his own right.	Johnston Farm
Westwind Farm	Nash Huber
Tuna Dan	Bell Street Bakery

Keywords: farmers' market, johnston farm, nash huber, port angeles, winter, westwind farm

12/09/09 - Return of the Icicles The icicles along the Spruce Railroad Trail are back. We last noticed them back in March. They are as beautiful as ever, especially with the lake's blue waters behind them.

Keywords: spruce railroad, winter

11/04/09 - Snowy Mountains

The Elwha trails out of Whiskey Bend are still wide open, and they offer great views of the snowy mountains across the river. We had to push on to the overlook just for a peek.

Keywords: elwha, winter

10/09/09 - First Snow at Klahane Ridge Winter has been creeping in for a while now. We ran into the first snow of the year on Klahane Ridge. It was a mere dusting, but it was a sign of the changing seasons. The air was brisk, and the views were as spectacular as ever. The flowers of the hanging gardens were dried to silver and gold. The summers are short in the high country, so we must make the most of these trails in their season.	Snow at the junction
The trail and silver	A view of Mount Olympus
Snow down towards Heather Park	Snow on the slopes
Snow on the trail	The fingers
Dried flowers	More hanging gardens
More dried flowers	Last paintbrush

Keywords: klahane ridge, winter

09/29/09 - First Snow at Hurricane Ridge

We checked the webcam at Hurricane Ridge this morning, and look, there's the first dusting of snow. The seasons are changing.

Webcam photo of the first snow at Hurricane Ridge

Keywords: hurricane ridge, winter

05/28/09 - The Trail To Lake Angeles The trail to Lake Angeles is open and nearly snow free save for a few patches right near the lake. There is still ice on the lake, but it is melting rapidly, and the view up there is spectacular. The frogs were out and chirping loudly. Click here to hear them. We've never made it up to the lake this early before. Who knew what we were missing?	There is still a fair bit of snow on the mountains.
The ice is melting rapidly.	There are buds on the trees, but the scene is still wintry.
Melting snow at the campground	Another view of the mountains
A panorama of the lake
The trail is in great shape up to the lake and lined with trees like the aisle of a cathedral.	The creek is rising as the snow melts.
We love the mosses.	Our obligatory trillium photo, while the trilliums hold out

Keywords: lake angeles, winter, spring, trillium

03/13/09 - Barnes Creek Update - It's Still Winter It is still winter on Barnes Creek. We took the trail down a ways, and it was less wintry than last time, but still wintry. On the other hand, there was wonderful light. The trail along Barnes Creek passes through some almost magical rain forest. The sun seemed to have a particular tone that brought out the rich greens and browns of the trees, ferns and salal.

Keywords: barnes creek, winter

03/11/09 - Late Winter On The Spruce Railroad Trail

It was wintry this morning on the Spruce Railroad Trail along the north shore of Lake Crescent. On the way out, the trail was crunchy and covered with ice crystals, but otherwise quite passable. There was some melting in the heat of the day, such as it was. The trail was a bit muddy on the way back.

Even better, there were some great icicles as you can see in two of these pictures. There was an amazing set dangling from a tree branch down towards the lake and another set on one of the logs over a stream. The trail might have been cold, but again, it did not disappoint.

Icicles down by the lake

Icicles over a stream

Not much snow on the trail

Keywords: lake crescent, spruce railroad, winter

03/08/09 - Seen At the Port Angeles Farmers' Market

We love the vegetables at the Port Angeles Farmers' Market. We're still in the winter, but, hey, they have cauliflower, and are supposed to be having more over the next few weeks.

Hey, cauliflower

Keywords: farmers' market, port angeles, winter

03/06/09 - Second Beach Update

We were back at Second Beach the other day. There weren't exactly signs of spring, but winter seems to be receding. To start with, there was a lot more sand around the entrance to the sea cave. There are still a lot of rocks, but the summer sand is coming in. Also, there were lots of starfish, hanging out on one of the rocks for the low tide.

As we said, not quite spring, but things are changing.

There was more sand around the entrance to the sea cave.

Keywords: second beach, spring, winter

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