Spring Forward?

Well it is time for the annual Spring forward for Daylight Savings Time.  For most of the country I am sure the arrival of Spring is eagerly awaited.  For the citizens of Puget Sound country we wonder what we did; right or wrong, to deserve the non-winter.

I have happy anticipation of an early and potentially brief wildflower season so I started wandering the trails up at Washington Park a few weeks ago.  Oh how I love this park.  It is so diverse that I can wander for a few hours and each time have a somewhat different experience from the time before.  The warm winter we have had appears to have given the flowers a bit of a jump start.

This is simply bad news.  Our snow pack is not going to happen this year.  The reservoirs are full enough, but I am sure we are going to hear lectures on conservation.  The agriculture areas of Eastern Washington are served largely by the Columbia River and our friends to the north have received enough snow so there should be water for most.  The very high mountains have had more snow than the lower watersheds, so that helps as well.

The Daffodil fields of the Skagit are early and the tulips are not far behind.  The beautiful sunny weekends will no doubt drive people to see the fields long before the Tulip Festival starts.  Great for the vendors in LaConnor.  That is Mt Baker aka Koma Kulshan, peeking over the foothills.

The snowiest place on earth.  This record, long held by Mt Rainier was turned over to Mt Baker several years ago.  I think the rangers at Paradise on Mt Rainier are still recovering.  They held the record for what seems forever.

The park is waking up and the most reliable early bloomer is the Red-flowering Currant, Ribes sanguineum .  This plant along with Salmonberry, brings the Rufous Hummingbird.  I am not yet seeing the Salmonberry bloom and have yet to hear the zing of a Rufous.

I typically walk the park in a counter-clockwise loop.  It is bad of me to ignore the inner part of the peninsula with its deep woods, but I am drawn by the wildflowers that lurk on the stony edges,overlooking  the Salish Sea.

Today I had a darn lucky hit.  I can out of some trees and looked down at the water.  I noted a splash and revved up my camera.  Another splash and I took aim.  A third and I fired...

I was way up there and they way down.  Harbour Porpoise, Phocoena phocoena.  I took down my camera and they were gone, beyond that tree , around the point.

The moss woods along my favorite little trail is filled with promise of Calypso Orchids and Fawn Lily.  I am seeing the leaves but no sign of buds yet.  They are a few weeks off. perhaps.

A scientist interested in moss could spend a few hours counting species here.

Out on the south facing slopes the early flowers are here.  They are not bountiful but you never know what you are going to find.  These slopes are braided with trails that wander along.  Years of people following trails blazed by the likes of these little darlings

The tiny Small-flowered Blue Eyed Mary , Collinsia parviflora is always first to appear.

Another figwort, Yellow Monkey-flower Mimulus guttatus is just getting started.  It almost feels too dry for them.  They seem to like a soggy ground.

I found a few Gold Star, Crocidium multicaule and was happy to catch a busy fly on this one

The cooler woods still have a surprise.  I love mushrooms in all their detail and was very happy with these pictures.

Some day I would love to learn to stalk the savory mushroom.  For now I leave them for the Douglas Squirrels.

Speaking of stalking

He was watching Harbor Seals probably hoping for some leftovers.  The Harbor Seals were probably enjoying smelt, which are running now.  Yum smelt.....  I have not made smelt is such a long time.

I am sure I will be up here almost every week waiting for the orchids and lily to appear.  I need to think about when to tackle the slopes of eastern Washington.  They have much colder nights, but warmer days and in a week or two it may be time to travel back to Snow Mountain ranch near Yakima.  Last time I went I was caught in a snow and hail shower.

Might have to wait for real Spring for that trip.

Waterworks Canyon

Early last Sunday I left The Dalles and headed for Yakima.  I found a series of caches placed in a canyon west of town which would take me to someplace new.  I had never heard of Waterworks Canyon .  This is just the thing I had hoped Geocaching could do for me, take me to new and different areas.

The trail head is just past the junction where Hwy 12 and 410 split on their way to Mt Rainier and the trail climbs Waterworks Canyon up into the Oak Creek Wildlife Management Area.  I was happy to find early blooming Balsamroot.  There are always bugs in the Balsamroots and yet again, the olive drab spotted bugs were here in abundance.  I have still not been able to find the name of these bugs, but they are everywhere in the Balsamroots.

Low in the canyon the slope is softly edged and grassy.  They is a noisy creek that the trail follows and today it is sunny and absolutely windless.  A fine change from the day before.

It is early in the blooming season yet, but I did find a few violets and some pretty vetch.  Got another happy bug photo, too!

Further along, Mertensia bluebells were just getting started.  There are several types that grow in the state, I believe these are long flowered , longiflora

The placer of many of the caches along this trail made sure to point out areas of interest and things that might be seen.  He warned about rattlesnakes and I made sure when reaching into holes and rock piles to use a poking stick to rouse a snake that might have slept in.

I didn't see a single slithery thing except a Horned Toad.  Better luck next time, I guess.

But at the box called "A Good Place To Rest" I did spy some gems.  He mentioned that seeing Big Horned Sheep was possible and sure enough, high on the ridge line I saw one, then two then more and more.

Across the canyon I saw deer, equally high up.

The way continued up and the land form transitioned from soft rolly slope to sharp volcanic stone.  There were some stone arches and many spires.  Footing was sometimes rubble with pumice and other rock types

One cache was hidden in a ledge in a rock wall.  It required a little climb up.  All the stone here is covered in lichens.

I can imagine a native hunter spending a safe night in this alcove.

One fun discovery along the way was Chukar.  These game birds are reluctant to fly and usually run away.  If you are lucky they will make a small gabbling type sound and you can spot them, otherwise they blend in pretty well.  Poor Chukar, they are not the brightest of birds and often then will fly down a hill then walk back up.

Can you spot him there in the rocks at the bottom?

About half way along the trail someone had placed a box high on a ridge than branched off from the canyon.  As this is fine open country, you do not really need a trail and I decided to try a bee-line navigation straight up the ridge.  It was a good solid workout and just the thing I need.  The view down to the canyon floor was pretty impressive.  It is hard to appreciate it here, but those trees along the creek are actually pretty tall.  This was a good solid 1000+ feet up.

I followed a lot of hoof prints figuring the sheep and deer likely knew the best footing and the easiest way.  They were pretty correct.  When I got to the top I saw where the canyon trail actually rose to parallel the slope, so I could have gained some elevation a little easier by following the trail further before attacking the slope.  Ah well that is hindsight, I guess.

I trekked to the end of the line.  From there I could see that you could simply climb out of the canyon and camp on top of the plateau.

It was a fine hike.  I met one other couple along the way and they went as far as I did, reluctant to proceed up the final slope without a trial.

What a great end to the weekend.  As I descended the sun started to make its presence known.  This dry area always feels extra warm and when I hike over in this area I always like to finish before the blazing heat of 2pm.  These little lenticular clouds are not going to help block the sun.

A great little hike.  A little excitement as I attacked that tough slope.  A little challenge of navigating some tricky rocky places.  Fun animal sightings, some pretty flowers and even some bugs.

I evicted a tick, found walking along my steering wheel.  Clearly it climbed from my arm and I am sure the good people of Ellensburg will not mind that I ejected this freeloader on the freeway interchange.

I still feel a little creepy crawly.