Kaleberg Archive for Keyword: flowers, Page: 11

Whiskey Bend Road is usually open all year round, but it has been closed for a while due to fallen trees and nasty ruts. It isn't much of a road by some standards, but it has a good solid one and a half lanes, and the dirt is pretty firmly packed and the drainage is good. In fact, it is so good that there are lots of neat waterfalls that flow down to and under the road. Just a few days ago, we noticed that the Park Service had taken Whiskey Bend off the list of roads that have been closed, and today we rode out in our trusty Honda and had a spectacular hike along the Elwha Trail.

The road itself, as we noted, is in good shape, and so is the trail. There were a number of recently sawn logs by the side of the trail, including one monster on the climb up after Humes Ranch. We only made it to the first crossing, about an hour or so hike from the parking lot. The little stream in the canyon was running full, despite two large trees which had collapsed across its path into the canyon. Our special surprise was the first trillium of the season, blooming early in the shelter of the canyon.

The first trillium of spring

Just pretty

On our way back to the car, there was a blue grouse sitting in the middle of the trail. We had been hearing the deep booming of the male birds lekking, that is, staking out good sites for their bachelor pads. We sometimes see blue grouse on Hurricane Hill, but rarely on a wooded trail like this one, but today was different. The grouse were definitely about and not one bit shy.We even saw another blue grouse crossing the Whiskey Bend Road on the drive down.

Keywords: elwha, flowers, birds, hurricane hill, spring, trillium, grouse, waterfall

03/22/07 - Currants and Curtains of Drips

If you are out at Lake Crescent this week, keep your eyes open for currant blossoms. There were a few just a bit west of the Devil's Punchbowl, and there were lots more buds getting ready to open.

Also, keep your eye out for curtains of drips. There is a lot of water in the earth this spring, and the mosses are loving it. If you look closely, the rock walls are garden nurseries, and some of the flowers are in bloom.

Keywords: spruce railroad, spring, flowers, lake crescent

11/01/06 - Klahane Ridge Ground Frost

The high country is wet but open. We managed to crawl up the Switchback Trail to Klahane Ridge. There wasn't any snow, but there was a bit of ground frost and some pretty ice flowers. Winter is icumen in.

Keywords: klahane ridge, winter, flowers, high country

10/01/06 - Obstruction Point Autumn

Autumn is a wonderful time to visit the high country, particularly the wilderness at Obstruction Point. The growing season is short up there, so the autumn always feels like borrowed time. It has been dry, and most of the flowers are gone, though the pair lurking amidst the warming rocks in the photo to the left are an exception. There is a lot of color in the alpine foliage, some of it brilliant red.

As usual at this time of year, we are hoping to borrow yet one more trip to Obstruction Point before the winter snows. The high country is haunting and it calls to us.

Keywords: autumn, high country, obstruction point, flowers, winter

08/23/06 - Summer Harvest - Johnston Farms

We were out at Johnston Farms today and decided to grab a few items that don't even make it as far as the Farmers' Market. To start with, we grabbed some pumpkin flowers, and we plan to fry them tempura style. We also grabbed their entire basket of Costoluto tomatoes, fresh from the greenhouse. These are a relatively dry, firm tomato, with an incredibly rich, summery flavor. We just had to fire up the grill and make pizza with minced garlic, olive oil, basil, Costoluto tomato slices and grated parmesan cheese. If you have never had a grilled pizza, you don't know the heights to which pizza, nature's perfect food, can ascend. ~~We'd do an entire web page on these pizzas, but the fire is hot, and our hands are full grilling them.~~ We couldn't resist. Check out our grilled pizza guide.

Keywords: food, farms, flowers, farmers' market, johnston farm

08/18/06 - Corn Lilies and Blue Grouses

We were up on Hurricane Hill and spotted those strange looking plants on the left. Not the little yellow flowers on the ground, but the tall spiky plants with little white flowers on the spikes. Apparently, they are corn lilies, if our trail companions are to believed. They are blooming on the side trail that leads down to Whiskey Bend from Hurricane Hill.

We have been noticing blue grice, or perhaps grouses or grouse, alongside Hurricane Ridge Road, but it isn't safe to stop and gawk at them, so we just drive on. Now, we've spotted one on Hurricane Hill, as seen above, and we were glad to have a closer look.

Keywords: flowers, birds, high country, hurricane hill, hurricane ridge, grouse

07/09/06 - Mountain Goat Update There were mountain goats in the news this morning. The local paper, the Peninsula Daily News, had an article about the upcoming aerial goat survey. We Kalebergs decided to check out the situation ourselves, but lacking the requisite light aircraft and helicopters, we took one of our favorite hikes, the Switchback Trail to Klahane Ridge. We had spotted one fine specimen back in June, so we had our hopes for this fact finding expedition. We started the arduous ascent from the parking lot. The bog orchids were in bloom, and their rich scent permeated the waterfall climb near the start of the trail. Hikers descending reported goats on the trail, raising our hopes. Indeed, as we neared the 1000' apl (above parking lot) mark on our altimeter, there they were, two goats, a nanny and a kid, skulking in one of the shady corners of a switchback.
	After a suitable pause to take some pictures and share in the mother-child intimacy, we resumed our ascent. Two goats! We had already broken our old record of one mountain goat sighted. The day was auspicious, and our hopes were high. We did not hope in vain. As we neared the rocky outcrops near the ridge itself, there we saw him, well above us on the bare rock cliffs, the billy goat. Well, that made our day. Three goats! This was quite a successful survey, and we had more to climb and explore. We pressed onward to the ridge and looked north, at the great fields of rock and snow, now covered with fog and rising cloud, in contrast to the sun and calm to the south through which we had ascended. The snow had been melting rapidly, so we tried for the high alpine gardens, but in this we failed. We were too tired to deal with the big patch of snow at 1600' apl (above parking lot).
As we returned to the trail junction at the ridge, we reaped a new reward for our muscle cracking efforts. (Our muscles crack more easily than most). There they were, an entire nuclear goat family, billy, nanny and kid, taking it easy and enjoying a snack on one of the rocky outcrops. We had to smile. We must report that the alpine flowers were spectacular, and judging from our goat friends, quite delicious. The avalanche lilies have passed, but the lupines are just coming in, as are the turk's cap lilies and the pink paintbrush. Whether you go for the goat spotting, or just for the alpine flowers or the spectacular scenery, this is a great time for a survey of Klahane Ridge.

Keywords: animals, high country, klahane ridge, flowers, kale, waterfall, mountain goats

06/20/06 - Clear Trails, Almost, To Klahane Ridge

The Klahane Ridge Trail, via the Switchback, is more or less clear of snow. There are a few patches left, but nothing serious. We qualified this using the Kaleberg scale as a milli-adventure.

The hanging gardens are getting green, but most of the blooms are avalanche lilies, until the ridge proper. There, the phlox is coming out, and a fair bit of it.

(Click some of the pictures for closeups)

Keywords: klahane ridge, high country, flowers, kale

06/13/06 - Return to Rialto Beach

We have been missing Second Beach, which is still closed due to a failure of our government to complete a sensible land swap with the Quillayute tribe. So, we decided to go back to Rialto Beach, and it turns out that we have forgotten just how beautiful it is there. We explored up past the first headland and had a little jungle journey, and we took lots of pictures. While we still miss Second Beach, Rialto Beach has a lot to offer, even to us Kalebergs.

UPDATE 06/21 - We've added a panorama of the beach for those who have wondered what the seastacks must look like from a helicopter.

Keywords: rialto beach, beaches, flowers, hurricane hill, second beach, kale

06/11/06 - Spring Comes To The Hurricane Hill Trail

The last time we were on the Hurricane Hill Trail, it looked quite different, but spring has arrived. The snow is melting and the flowers are blooming. The air is redolent of phlox. The trail is passable, but as you can see below, there are a few snow covered patches left.

Keywords: hurricane hill, high country, spring, flowers, kale

05/19/06 - An Awful Lot of Triliums

There seem to be an AWFUL lot of triliums on the Lake Angeles Trail this year. We've always seen triliums on our way up towards the lake, but this year they are all over the place, sometimes in clusters of six or eight, and each time we climb, there seem to be more of them.

Being Kalebergs, we have several theories about this. The most obvious explanation is that there was an AWFUL lot of deadfall over the winter. There were serious windstorms and the trail seems to be much more open. The various streams, usually only heard, are now often visible, and a lot of the trees seem to be horizontal rather than vertical. This means that there is more sunlight, and while triliums are not sun lovers, the additional sun might encourage them.

Our other explanation is that there was more snow cover this winter, and that means that there is more water in the soil. For the first time in several years we seem to have a proper snowpack in the high country, and while this trail has never been particularly dry, it is possibly moister this year.

No, we have still not made it up to the lake, but we have enjoyed the lower portions of the trail and all those triliums.

Keywords: flowers, lake angeles, high country, winter, kale

04/28/06 - Lake Angeles Trail Report

The trilliums are out. The one right near the Lake Angeles trailhead is in bloom.
We haven't made it up to the lake, but we spoke to a couple, more intrepid than we are, who had. The report: the snow starts about a quarter mile from the lake proper, so bring boots or be prepared to get wet feet. The snow was fairly deep, 12-18", depending on where you stepped, but the lake was partly thawed and they reported much melting going on. In fact, they could hear the snow and ice melting in chunks off the "walls" that surround the lake. It sounds worth it, but as we said, they were much "more intrepid than we are".

Keywords: flowers, lake angeles, trillium

04/17/06 - Spring Flower Report

Last week the salamanders were back at Lake Crescent; this week the are returning as well. Not only are the trilliums back and in bloom, we saw the first Indian paintbrush and a toad lily. The park service has been cleaning up the dead fall, and there was a lot of that this year, so the trail is easy going. If you are a trillium fan, or want to look for other signs of spring, the Spruce Railroad Trail is ready for the season.

Keywords: flowers, spruce railroad, lake crescent, salamander, spring, trillium

03/01/06 - Hellebore Blogging

We've seen a lot of web sites lately that are into "cat blogging", or even "ferret blogging", but we don't have any cats or ferrets. The animals around here don't like to sit still and get photographed, so instead, we've decided to photograph some of our favorite winter blossoms, hellebores. This is the 2006 batch. We really have to get a nicer bowl for them.

Keywords: flowers, winter, animals

10/31/05 - Great Year for Madrona Berries on the Spruce Railroad Trail

This has been a great year for madrona berries on the Spruce Railroad Trail. When we first saw madronas, years ago in Bothe Napa State Park, we thought they were mutant magnolias because of their smooth bark and glossy leaves. It turns out that they aren't even related, but we found out other things as well. For example, madronas are coastal plants, so they are almost never found more than 75 miles from the sea. The plants we saw in Napa Valley were in a high pass west to Sonoma.

The Olympic Peninsula is surrounded by sea, so we have lots of madronas, some quite old and large. There is a great cluster near the Devil's Punchbowl, the swimming hole about a mile west of the Spruce Railroad Trail trailhead. This fall they've been full of berries. If anything, the red and green are a bit Christmassy for this time of year, so we guess that even nature, not just retailers, are getting set for the season.

Keywords: flowers, spruce railroad

07/15/05 - Obstruction Point Marmots

They're back. We're back. Obstruction Point Road has been open for a few weeks now, and we finally made our way eight miles down the one and a half lane road to some of the most wonderful alpine high country accessible by car in Olympic National Park. We took our usual walk to the rim of the great descent to Moose Lake and promptly turned around and made our way back to the car. The air was thin, most of the snow had melted and all the flowers were out in bloom.

Also, there were marmots, the Olympic golden marmots, who looked well fed and were quite active. We could hear them whistling from some distance, probably warning the other marmots about us human invaders.

Keywords: animals, marmots, high country, obstruction point, flowers

05/25/05 - Signs of Spring

We were up at Hurricane Ridge today and were pleased to see that the road to Hurricane Hill was open, despite the snow on the ground which was rapidly melting. The high country wild flower seasson is starting early this year. We have already missed the glacier lilies, but the avalanche lilies are out and the scent of the phlox was everywhere. It looks as if the lupines are getting ready.

This is typical of the high country. The season is short and the flowers are in a hurry.

If you plan on seeing the wildflowers in the Olympic Mountains this year, this is a good time to get up to Hurricane Ridge.

Keywords: flowers, high country, hurricane hill, hurricane ridge

	05/13/05 - The White Slug Returns The flowers are coming out at Lake Crescent. As we noted earlier, the trilliums are definitely out, along with a host of others. Also back for the year, the white slug. We've been seeing some of the local Olympic salamanders, but none were out for this photo session.

Keywords: flowers, animals, slugs, lake crescent, salamander, trillium

05/07/05 - Triliums The picture to the left is from our files.

Keywords: flowers, lake angeles, spruce railroad

01/25/05 - Winter Blossoms

Here are two winter blossoms.

The flowers on the right are hellebores. They usually bloom in January, so they make a pleasant surprise, especially when the ground is covered with snow. They don't just bloom in the Northwest, a few years ago we noticed them blooming in Madison Square Park in New York City.

One of the foremost hellebore nurseries is located on the Olympic Peninsula. Heronswood Nursery is not far from the car ferry in Kingston, and they have a wonderful winter garden full of hellebores and other winter blooming plants.

The flowers on the left, enlarged a bit in this photograph, are rosemary. That's right, the familiar herb. Rosemary is a tough plant with its resinous leaves, and it blooms in the winter, even when there is snow on the ground.

Unfortunately, rosemary doesn't make a great floral display. It tends to lose its leaves, though you can save them and use them in cooking. The biggest downside is that it smells like good cooking, so it tends to encourage any craving for pasta with red sauce.

Keywords: flowers, winter, new york city

08/29/04 - Blue Grouse at Hurricane Hill

The blue grouse are all over Hurricane Hill lately. If you want to tell the boys from the girls, check out the lady on the left and the lad on the right. He's the one with the golden eye and yellow feet.

The best spotting is towards the final third of the ascent with its "hanging gardens". There are just a few flowers left, but the high mountain foliage is starting to turn, and the grasses are in seed. Bring a rain coat in case a cloud drifts by, but it is not too late to enjoy the high country.

Keywords: birds, flowers, high country, hurricane hill, grouse

08/15/04 - Blue Grouse Chicks

We were up at Hurricane Ridge today. The temperature was in the 80s, but the air was dry. Most of the flowers have passed. There was one bunch of lupines, but the rest were harebells, yarrow and a few other late season bloomers.

We did see a number of blue grouse (or is it grice)? We even got a picture of a grouse and chick. You have to look carefully to spot them. They hide easily in the grass.

We thought we had seen a marmot, but it was just an ochre rock.

As for the snow. There is still a bit, sort of southwest of the Hurricane Hill summit. Don't expect to do much skiing.

The hike is still well worth taking. The plants are still green and loaded with seed pods including the white fluffy ones, the pea pods on the lupines, and the brown prickly ones.

Keywords: birds, high country, flowers, hurricane hill, hurricane ridge, grouse

08/03/04 - Salmon Off A Truck

Yesterday, we took a hike along the Elwha River Trail. We didn't get really far, but we did get to our favorite overlook between the two canyons on the route to Lilian Camp. This might not have been much of a hike by some people's standards, but we were tired enough after two and a half hours on the trail and an overall climb of about 950 feet.

Needless to say, by we were hungry on the drive home, so we planned to drop by the Safeway and get ourselves the fixings for a steak hash. We turned down Lincoln and there we saw our answer, right in the Rite Aid / Goodwill parking lot.

The Rite Aid and the Goodwill thrift shop share a huge parking lot, and often there will be someone in a van or pickup truck selling stuff at the far end. Sometimes they are selling firewood. Others sell flowers or fruit, today, there was a group selling salmon.

"SALMON", the sign screamed at us. We slammed on the brakes and turned in.

"What kind of salmon do you have?", we asked.

The blue and green light of the Elwha River Trail is something special. It's like an Impressionist painting.

We decided to experiment with our Sebsoft Impressionist special effect for iMovie. Click on the picture above for the Quicktime movie.

"We've got some silvers and also some king."

"King salmon, we'll take some of that."

"We caught them yesterday out near Neah Bay."

The next thing you know we were poking around in the ice chest on the back of the truck and breathing in the salty scent of the sea. Fresh fish doesn't smell like fish. It smells like the sea.

"Wow, that's a big one", we remarked pointing at what seemed the Moby Dick of salmon.

"That's the one everybody is asking what it weighs."

"Let's find out."

It weighed in at 13 1/2 pounds. It was quite a fish. We paid up and raced home. Safeway could wait.

While the grill heated up we took the last three of Nash Huber's nectarines we had on the counter, all eight of our Shiro plums from our dwarf trees, a few of our pie cherries, two medium onions, chopped, a whole bunch of Nash's coriander, some salt, some pepper and a couple of teaspoons a five spice powder, and we stuffed them into the boned fish. (We removed the spine and most of the bones ourself. It's hard to bone a fish on the back of a truck).

We wrapped the fish in aluminum foil and popped it on a hot fire. We were worried that the fire might be too hot, but the fish could take it. The skin and flesh merged to form a sort of crackling layer which was absolutely scrumptious.

We flipped the fish over after 25 minutes. It was quite a struggle. It weighed at least ten pounds without the head and tail, but we did it. The fire was cooler now, so we let the fish cook another 40 minutes. It was perfectly done. Even the onions in the middle were cooked. It was amazingly good. There is nothing quite like fresh salmon and a tart fruit based stuffing.

We had it with New Zealand spinach from the Farmer's Market, but that's another story.

Keywords: elwha, trails, fish, movies, flowers, nash huber, salmon

The High Country at Obstruction Point - Lupines

07/29/04 - Obstruction Point Open for the Season

The road to Obstruction Point has been open for some time now, but we finally made it up there ourselves. If you don't know Obstruction Point, it is in the high country about 7 or 8 miles down an unpaved from Hurricane Ridge. The road has some scary moments, but the real terror is the left turn you take getting onto it or off of it, since most of the folks on the main road are gawking at the view from Hurricane Ridge.

As you can see, the fields are FULL of wildflowers. Most of what you see in the picture to the left are lupines and dirty sock plant with some pink paintbrush for emphasis. Most paintbrush is orange, but you often see the pink variant up in the high country.

There were quite a few people up there at the end of the road. We were walking on the trail and rather openly admiring the scenery when two hikers walked by and, in passing, reminded us, "Don't forget to vote!"

Keywords: high country, obstruction point, flowers, hurricane ridge

07/09/04 - Stuffed Salmon, CostCo Style

We were at the CostCo which was having their summer time fish market selling whole wild sockeye salmon among other goodies. We had to have a fish. The garrulous fishman got us a fish, and a recipe to cook it with.

He told us to filet the fish and then stuff it with chunks of peaches, chunks of walla walla sweet onions, fresh coriander and lavender. We had a five pound fish, so we used three nectarines, a whole sweet onion, several big fists full of coriander, two or three lavender flowers from our plantation, a half teaspoon of salt and a half teaspoon of pepper. We substituted nectarines for peaches since we found better nectarines at the store.

We slammed the fish shut around the stuffing and wrapped the filet in aluminum foil. When the fire was hot and ready on the grill we gave it about 15 to 20 minutes on each side. With a five pound fish, we'll recommend the higher number to get it cooked through for a total cooking time of 40 minutes.

The fish was delicious. The filling was basically a classical Caribean salsa, like one of our favorites made with mango, red onion and coriander, but this one had a true Northwest flavor, so it was perfect for salmon. Next time, we'll go for even more coriander.

Sorry about the lack of photos, but we were so hungry that we dined before getting out our camera.

Keywords: food, fish, flowers, salmon, recipe

06/27/04 - The Hamper

We always liked those old fashioned nature documentaries with their portentious announcers. We were up at Hurricane Hill today, and the dirty sock plant (Polygonum bistortoides) is in bloom. This plant is noted for its hearty aroma. The scent hasn't really ramped up yet, but as we passed this field (shown at the right), we could almost hear the ominous bass voice, "... a field so full of dirty sock plant, it is known as 'the hamper'".

On a more pleasant olfactory note, the bog orchid (Platanthera leucostachys) is also in bloom near the start of the Switchback Trail to Klahane Ridge. This plant has a sweet, almost honeyish smell. We had noticed this scent on our last hike up the Switchback Trail, but had been unable to find its source. This time our search bore fruit, and good smelling fruit at that.

In any event, we should point out that the alpine wild flower season is nearing its peak of diversity. The yarrow is ready to open, the phlox and glacier lilies are passing. The season started early this year, and the true floral glory of the high meadows is upon us.

We will provide appropriate aromatic HTML as soon as a few more browsers start supporting SE-CSS (scent enabled CSS). We apologize for the inconvenience, or maybe not.

Bog Orchids

Keywords: flowers, high country, hurricane hill, klahane ridge

06/04/04 - Klahane Ridge Opening

The Switchback Trail to Klahane Ridge is open. We were up there earlier today and are pleased to report that it looks like a really good wildflower season. Already, there are avalanche lilies, violets, some yarrow and lots of greenery just waiting to blossom. We even saw the local marmot at the top of the ridge. This is a clearly auspicious sign. Those of us in on the secret know that sighting a marmot at Klahane Ridge at the start of the season means that we will have a sunny summer in the high country of Olympic National Park.

Keywords: klahane ridge, flowers, spring, high country

06/03/04 - The Snows Are Melting

The snows are melting! The wildflower season is upon us!

We had heard that Hurricane Hill Road was open. In the winter, this is the cross country skiing trail that runs from the Hurricane Ridge Visitors' Center to the Hurricane Hill Trailhead. It sometimes doesn't melt out until July, but this year it was open in early May, despite 374" of snow on the Ridge. We tried driving up last week, but it was foggy and rainy and a bit unprepossessing.

Today was sunny, and you could see well into the mountains, so off we drove. Most of the snow is already melted and the wildflowers are already coming out. They were vacuuming out the parking lot at the Hurricane Hill Trailhead when we arrived for our hike. The trail was open, with just a few snowy patches. There were no glacier lilies or dirty sock plant yet, but the lupines, phlox, Indian paintbrush, and a host of other flowers were in bloom.

Don't way for July, the alpine flower season has already started at Hurricane Ridge.

Keywords: hurricane hill, spring, high country, flowers, hurricane ridge, winter

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