June 2014July 2014 August 2014

07/28 - Kale on the Loose

We've always been big fans of kale. After all, kale is a feral vegetable. So, take a look at this photo. That's the first feral kale we've spotted, growing right along the Olympic Discovery Trail between downtown Port Angeles and Morse Creek.

Wild kale by the side of the trail

Keywords: morse creek, port angeles, kale

07/24 - Obstruction Point, Just the Flowers

The glacier lilies and phlox may be passing, and the lupine a bit off their peak, but otherwise, this has been the most amazing year for high country flowers. We won't even bother with captions; we don't even know the names of most of these. They're just beautiful. We'll let the pictures do the talking.











Keywords: flowers, high country, obstruction point

07/23 - Obstruction Point Revisited

Obstruction Point Road opened a bit over a week ago, so we ventured out from Hurricane Ridge. It's a one and a half lane unpaved road, so we drove carefully to the parking lot at the edge of the high wilderness. Most of the snow on the trail had melted, so we made it all the way to where the trail drops off for the descent towards Grand Lake. Here, there was some snow on the trail, but otherwise, it was easy going.

The high country here is wild and austere with dusty trails, cracked rocks and a profusion of wild flowers. There was some phlox and a few glacier lilies left, but there were so many flowers that we'll have to have a separate post just for them. Some years, the alpine lakes in the valleys below are covered with snow, but this year, the snows have melted early, so they are all full of water and almost like distant mirrors.

The view down the staircase

The last few glacier lilies

A last bit of phlox

One of the seasonal lakes

More lakes - the one on the left with icebergs



The mountains

More mountains

Melting snow

The trail

Keywords: flowers, high country, obstruction point, trails

07/15 - Klahane Ridge

The theme of our last climb was critters. This week it is flowers. To be honest, we didn't really see many critters this trip. The sky was crystalline, and the day was warm. The marmots, and even the chipmunks, were most likely avoiding the heat of the day. The flowers have no such desire or option, so they were out in full force. We have never seen so much larkspur out on the hillside. The paintbrush was glorious in shades of red and orange. There were shooting stars, turks cap lilies and bog orchids about. Maybe the lupines were a bit disappointing, but the full profusion more than compensated for it.

Crystalline sky and just a bit of snow left, looking north

We really need to get a flower identification book. You'd think someone would write an app.

The view south with even more crystalline sky

Paintbrush

Another mystery plant

Larkspur

Mixing it up

Shooting stars

This one blooms in the understory

Bog orchids

A slender bog orchid - It's a whole other type.

Keywords: flowers, klahane ridge

07/07 - Farmers' Market Update

Here's another photo update on the Port Angeles Farmers' Market. Now that it is summer, the market is open Wednesdays and Saturdays from 10AM to 2PM, and there are all sorts of wonderful vegetables, berries, fish, meat, bread, sausages and now cider on sale.

River Run Farm has great potatoes and oversized napa cabbage.

Eaglemount Wine and Cider with their wares from Port Townsend

Eaglemount Wine and Cider

Johnston Farm with all sorts of peas and greens, but no oats

Berries at Spring Rain Farm from Chimacum

Keywords: farmers' market, johnston farm, port angeles, eagle, spring rain

07/06 - The New Bridge Over Ennis Creek

It's not really new. It opened back in February, but we finally made our way down along the waterfront to see the new bridge over Ennis Creek. It links the waterfront trail accessible from Railroad Avenue near the Red Lion in downtown Port Angeles and the rest of the Olympic Discovery Trail accessible from the parking lot near Morse Creek off route 101. It was actually possible to cross the creek before, but it required a detour inland. Now, one can head east out of town or west into town and stay along the waterfront.

The area around the bridge is the Rayonier site, once a paper pulping mill, and now a toxic waste site. It's a bit industrial, but industrial softened by time as old metal rusts, old wood crumbles, and brush and plant life take back their own. Unlike the rest of the trail, chain link fences block off the waterfront for about a half a mile, but the water remains in view. The bridge itself is good looking and offers a nice view of the strait. It's not pristine wilderness by any stretch, but it's a definite improvement.

View from the bridge

The town storm water holding tank, protecting the strait from run off

Industrial site

The cordon

A less pretty view of the bridge

Keywords: port angeles

07/05 - McPhee's Bodega

Lurid foods deserve lurid packaging. One of the fun things about traveling is seeing all the stuff that people overseas see as ordinary, but getting to appreciate them as wild, strange, or even outlandish.

Wasabi Iso Peanut - ISO is probably not the International Standards Organization.

Wonderful colors

Who can resist? What are they?

Keywords: port angeles, food

07/04 - Seattle

We made another quick run into Seattle. The fireboat Leschi was saluting a recently passed ferry crewman. When the announcement started we were hoping it was a retirement after 30 years sort of thing. No such luck.

We also checked out the Ballard Locks and fish staircase. There were lots of fish on their way. There was also a seal lying low in the water waiting for supper.

The Leschi

Ballard Locks

Plenty of fish - chinook salmon

Plenty of water, too

Downstream

Keywords: seattle

07/01 - Klahane Ridge Again

We panted and wheezed, but we made it up to Klahane Ridge again. The phlox and glaicer lilies are passing, but the next round of flowers is just coming out. Our theme this post is critters. It wasn't as busy as Hurricane Hill, but there were four, or perhaps five, mountain goats on the crags above us, and at least one marmot about on the ridge itself. The young stag we saw on our last climb was still enjoying the local vegetation, but the real surprise was the black bear we saw. We only saw it because a fellow climber pointed it out, just a black dot below us on the hillside. This is the kind of luck we plan for, so we had or binoculars and modestly priced ultrazoom point and shoot camera handy.

Mountain goats on a misty ridge

The land is green.

Mist at the ridge

But, great visibility - That's Mount Baker.

Looking down to the north

Our marmot friend

Looking up

The young stag

The violets are brilliant this year.

A black bear at a safe distance

Toad lilies

Keywords: flowers, animals, klahane ridge, mountain goats

June 2014July 2014 August 2014