February 2022March 2022 April 2022

03/31 - Lake Angeles Trail

We are trying to get into climbing shape. In the winter, most of the trails we travel only climb a few hundred feet, but, in the summer and fall, we want to climb higher. That means building up, and the only way to build up is to climb. The Lake Angeles Trail is a great trail for this. It is steep, so it means that even a short climb is a solid work out, it is beautiful, and, if we ever get into proper shape, it climbs for over two thousand feet to a beautiful lake. Well, we have to start somewhere.

The bridge where we turned around

The last snow

The forest

A lot of the scenery is vertical.

More trees

Excelsior

The big rock at 500' apl

Below the big rock

More vertical forest

Keywords: lake angeles, trails

Keywords: lake angeles, trails

03/29 - Cherry Blossoms at the University of Washington

We try to see the cherry blossoms at the University of Washington every year. We missed a year because of COVID, and we almost missed this year because of the ferry staffing shortage. Usually, the ferries run frequently with waits less than an hour, but, this year, they are often and unpredictably running on half scheduling meaning that the time between ferries is nearly two hours.

We watched the schedule and the webcams carefully, and then we made our plans. We arrived early for the Kingston to Edmonds ferry and made our way to UW. The cherry blossoms were beautiful. There was the usual crowd of tourists, couples, friends and families taking in the scene. We made our circuit pausing to admire this view and that tree in the brilliant sunlight.

We had timed our ferries well, but we hadn't timed the weather. By the time we had finished our circuit the skies had darkened and a light rain had started. The crowds vanished leaving us and few other die hards. Raincoats are wonderful things. We wandered around some more. The trees and their flowers were as wonderful as ever.

Then, we headed off. We made a quick stop at Din Tai Fung at U Village to grab a load of dumplings and scooted down to the Bainbridge ferry which was running on full schedule. We made the first boat and ate our dumplings on the crossing. Our lightning trip had worked out perfectly. In this part of the world, one can't afford to let rain be a spoiler.


Our wake on the way over

The cherry blossoms

More cherry flowers

Another view of the cherry trees

A cloud of cherry - thesaurus, please - blooms

A view down the aisle

No caption needed here

It is sort of magical under the trees

More magic

Even more magic

Dark twisted old branches

Graying skies

See, the blossoms are still beautiful.

The quad starts to empty.

Looking upward

Looking across

Even emptier

A raindrop, captured on camera

The wet quad

Keywords: flowers, seattle, weather

03/19 - Elwha to Altair Again

We took another hike up to the Altair Bridge. It is getting even more spring-like. This time, there was serious skunk cabbage and a few currants were in bloom. It's a slow spring, but it's starting.

The Elwha River

Another view of the Elwha

More Elwha

Overgrown logs

This used to be an easy way to get down to the river, but those logs washed ashore.

The trail

The road

A maple

View of the river

Skunk cabbage

and more skunk cabbage

Snow lingers on the mountains

Snow again

Currant blossoms

Even more skunk cabbage

Keywords: elwha, spring

03/14 - Marymere Falls and Barnes Creek

There is a lovely little loop from the Barnes Creek parking lot just off of route 101. It takes one to Marymere Falls, and, all told, it is less than an hour's walk. When we want to explore a bit more, we leave the loop and head up Barnes Creek. We rarely go all that far, but this stretch of trail is less crowded and less known but just as lovely. It follows the river heading up and down through lush green forest. Our goal is a little spring that flows down the hillside and across the trail. It is nothing like Marymere Falls, but it is a good turning point for that little extra.

Rainy day forest

Marymere Creek - Note the drop of water on the lens.

The base of the falls

Marymere Falls

Along the trail

The bridge over Barnes Creek

Barnes Creek

Seen by the trailside, details

Fern forest

More of the forest floor

The muddy, but easily passable, trail

Another river view

Yet another

The little spring, our goal

You can step over this one, easily.

Another view

More ferns

More Barnes Creek

Another wide view

Keywords: barnes creek, marymere falls, spring

03/12 - Delicata Squash Hash

That's delicata squash hash with cubes of delicata squash, lion's mane mushrooms, some egg, scallions, and parsley all cooked in olive oil and topped with chunks of iberico ham. We don't have a recipe, so you'll have to improvise. It tasted as good as it looked.

Delicata squash hash

Keywords: food

February 2022March 2022 April 2022