April 2018May 2018 June 2018

05/27 - Hurricane Hill - First Ascent

This time we made it to the top of Hurricane Hill. Most of the snow has melted, except for a long stretch between the bench and the "hamper". All sorts of flowers are starting to bloom: glacier lilies, yarrows, violets and avalanche lilies. The lupines are getting ready. Spring is here. We even saw some marmots.

Phirst phlox

Glacier lilies and others

One of the marmots

Another marmot

One of the views

That lake to the north of the peak

More flowers

Grasses in bloom

Yarrow

An assemblage with phlox

An avalanche lily

Keywords: flowers, hurricane hill, marmots, spring

05/25 - Elwha River Update

We drove out to Madison Falls, the current end of Olympic Hot Springs Road. We took our usual walk along the Elwha, past the relocated mule camp, over the temporary bridge, and down to the latest washout where the Elwha meets the road. The Elwha won, as you can see in the pictures.

The park is making the best of the situation. They can't conjure a road from nowhere. Along with many of our favorite trails, there's a park ranger station and work area cut off by the river. There is a temporary trail around the wash out, and while it isn't suitable for cars, it is apparently human and mule friendly. We saw a group of laden mules taking the route.

The river is as beautiful as ever, but the trails out of Whiskey Bend and to Olympic Hot Springs are still inaccessible. This will probably be the situation for some time.

You can see two branches of the Elwha crossing the road here.

Elwha versus Road; Elwha wins.

The park service mules in action

The Elwha

Another view of the Elwha

An artfully framed view of the Elwha

White water

Madison Falls, worth the two minute walk

Upper Madison Falls

Snow covered mountains

A last look at the Elwha

Keywords: elwha, olympic hot springs, spring, trails

05/22 - Russian Easter

We held our annual celebration of Russian Easter with lots of champagne, lots of butter, lots of buckwheat pancakes and the traditional burning of Moscow, as represented by a huge baked Alaska decorated with onion domes, to save it from the monster Napoleon.

Home made sausage

French made champagne

The spread

The domes of Moscow

Sorry, Napoleon was too quick for us; no photos of the helpless city this year

Keywords: russian easter

05/20 - Hurricane Hill - First Look

Despite the delays on Hurricane Ridge Road, we made our way up to the Hurricane Hill trailhead. There was still a lot of snow, but some of the trail was clear. The sky was blue and the view of the distant mountains was crystalline. Only the bravest plants, or those lucky enough to have an especially warm microclimate, were out and in bloom, but we could see signs of alpine spring.

Stay tuned. We'll be back, road construction or not.


Snow on the trail - still passable

More snow on the trail

Someone getting a head start

Melting snow on the mountain

The Olympic Range in its majesty

Another gorgeous view

Paintbrush getting out in front

Keywords: hurricane hill, spring, flowers

05/17 - Sol Duc Falls And Beyond

We braved the construction on Route 101 along Lake Crescent and were pleased to only be delayed perhaps twenty minutes on our way west. Our goal was the Sol Duc Falls trailhead where we made our way first to the falls, in full spring rush, and then onward and upwards to the bridge over Canyon Creek. We almost climbed 1000'. Deer Lake was another 600' or so, but we had climbed all we could.

There was no snow on the trail, though we did see patches of snow in the woods. We did see lots of trilliums and lots of running water in the Sol Duc River, in Canyon Creek and seeping from the rocks and pooling on the trail. It's a beautiful but tiring trail. We returned to the car happy but exhausted. We encountered another twenty minute delay on the way back, but we considered the extra time on the road well worth it.


Sol Duc Falls

A trillium

A curtain of drips

Some unmelted snow

Another trillium, artfully arranged

Canyon Creek

A double header

Canyon Creek again

A minor waterway

The forest

Even more trilliums

Keywords: lake crescent, sol duc, spring, trillium, deer lake

05/15 - Just Retired

We saw this car at a trailhead parking lot. Someone was definitely pleased.

Keywords: art

05/07 - Soho and Canal Street

We were big fans of Floyd Cardoz's restaurant Tabla, particularly the bread bar which served wonderful Indian breads and spicy Goan dishes. When it closed, we missed it. Recently, Cardoz opened his The Bombay Bread Bar, and it's basically the old Tabla bread bar. As often happens when we find a new restaurant we really like, we ate there twice. That says a lot.

We also explored Soho. That's the area south of Houston Street (pronounced How-ston.) It was once a manufacturing district. Remember how old cars seem to ride a lot higher then modern cars? That's because the hypoid gear was invented in what is now Soho and transfers power in a flatter package. For a while it was a cutting edge fashion district, but now it's more major designers, the way Madison Avenue used to be. We did find an LA Burdick's chocolate shop, so we stopped in to admire their chocolate mice.

We made our way down to Canal Street. This was once a canal and later a red light district. When the old World Trade Center came in and destroyed Radio Row, many of the shops moved up to Canal Street. Most of them are gone, but we found Color Wire, a shop selling modern lighting gear. This includes a broad range of LED bulbs designed to look like old fashioned incandescents. They also have all sorts of rope lights and LED panels. It was right down the block from the Canal Plastics Center which has been around since at least the 1960s and has a broad variety of plastics. It was like coming home.

Various mice and chocolates

Less conventional Soho

Color Wire lighting options

Keywords: new york city, art, science

05/07 - Even More Trilliums

This is the time of year we post pictures of trilliums. They are a sure sign of spring, and by this time of year, we are eager for a bit of spring.

A trillium

More trilliums

Yet another trillium

That's right. That's the High Line in New York City.

Definitely the city

Along the Hudson

Another Hudson view

Just a little fishing village, with trilliums

Typical New York City - health advice from a truck

Keywords: spring, trillium, new york city

April 2018May 2018 June 2018