Kaleberg Archive for February 2015

We were out hiking on Dungeness Spit when we saw an unusual piece of driftwood up ahead. It still had most of its bark on and it had an unusual shape. As we approached we realized that it was a bunch of logs tied together with steel cables. They were pretty big logs too. Presumably it was a shipment of some sort that found its way into the water. It's a long way from being proper driftwood. It was probably going to get washed out with the next tide for some aging.

That curiosity aside, the real high point of our hike was seeing a young eagle perched on a log with a crystalline view of the mountains in the background.

A strange parcel

Viewed up close

Recently marked

The spit and the mountains

A young bald eagle

Keywords: dungeness spit, eagle

02/11 - Marymere Falls We recently went out to Marymere Falls to stretch our legs and see how our winter rains have been affecting the falls and Barnes Creek. Well, there was lots of water, but there were also a lot of downed and damaged trees. Even before we could hear the creek, we started noticing the winter's toll on the forest. One tree split vertically, with half remaining upright while the other half had fallen across the trail. The park service had cleared the trail, cutting out a section of the fallen tree. We stopped to take a closer look, because the inner wood of the fallen tree looked particularly smooth and fine grained. It was heartwood. It has a different look, a different feel and even a different sound when struck, as opposed to the younger wood in the outer layers of the tree. We could even see the color gradient as the outer layers were paler, almost yellow, but the inner layers were increasingly dark before turning into heartwood. There was also lots of flowing water. Marymere Falls was in full spate. Click on the picture to check out the movie. Barnes Creek was roaring. This is a great time to check out Marymere Falls.	Marymere Falls - Click the picture for a video.
Barnes Creek	The rainforest
Tree damage	The park service at work
An old stump shattered	Rain drops - They add up.
Heartwood - Note the color gradient from the outside in.	The split tree
Barnes Creek	More tree damage

Keywords: barnes creek, marymere falls, winter

02/10 - A Very Wet Lake Angeles Trail We haven't had much snow this winter, but we've had lots of rain. We walked a little ways up the Lake Angeles Trail, to the little bridge, and we haven't seen the trail so wet and so much water flowing in at least ten years. Since we're still playing with slow motion video, here is some running water for your viewing enjoyment: Flowing Water 1 Flowing Water 2 Flowing Water 3 Flowing Water 4	There was lots of white water.
There were also a lot of green things growing.	White water near the little bridge
An underground stream - bubbling visibly near the boardwalk	Downstream from the little bridge
The wet trail	A curtain of drips
More drips	Funghi

Keywords: lake angeles, winter

02/05 - Salmonberries Salmonberry flowers are one of the first signs of spring out here. This is about as early as we've ever seen them.	Salmonberry flowers
More February flowers	Is it spring already?

Keywords: flowers, spring

January 2015

February 2015

March 2015