Kaleberg Archive for Keyword: flowers, Page: 3

05/25/19 - Hurricane Hill - To The Summit We went back to Hurricane Hill again, and this time we made it to the summit. The trail is still closed every other week and never open on Wednesdays, so it if you want to enjoy it, check the Olympic National Park website. Be prepared to walk maybe ten minutes from one of the two picnic area parking lots to trailhead proper. The road there is closed. On the plus side, there are bathrooms at both parking areas. The alpine flowers were spectacular. There would be waves of sweet scent from the phlox as we walked by. All of the snow on the trail has melted, but there is still snow in the shade and on north faces. There isn't much more to say. Enjoy the pictures.	One of the many views of the Olympic Mountains
A view from the summit	As the season progresses, this snow on the north face melts and fills a little lake, now visible as a few blue spots.
Another view	And yet another
Still another view, follow that strip of white down ...	... and at its base, the snow melts and forms a stream.
It's hard to know where to look.	Patchy snow in a bowl below the trail
Glacier lilies	More glacer lilies
An arty view	Sweet smelling western wallflower
We looked these flowers up once, but forgot what they are.	Phlox
More phlox	Even more phlox
Paintbrush	Yarrow

Keywords: flowers, hurricane hill

05/06/19 - To the Altair Bridge We've been slowly reclaiming the Elwha, hiking farther along now disused section of Olympic Hot Springs Road. This time we made it all the way to the Altair Bridge, sort of a breakthrough for us. The bridge is still there. It's just farther away. It was great seeing the view of the Elwha from the bridge again, and we're hoping to go farther, perhaps to dam site overlook. Meanwhile, we'll enjoy the river and the flowers.	Along the detour
Paintbrush	Flowers
An orchid	Mahonia
Trilliums	More flowers
The view of the Elwha from the Altair Bridge	The view in the other direction
Skunk cabbage	One of the Elwha's new branches
A view of the old Elwha campground	Another orchid
Tiarella	More flowers
Forest	Dogwood

Keywords: elwha, flowers, spring

04/15/19 - Spring Flowers on the Elwha Detour We finally followed the Elwha detour from where it leaves Olympic Hot Springs Road about a half mile past Madison Falls to where it rejoins the road past the old Elwha campground. It's a 250 foot or so climb, but it goes through forest, and the forest is full of columbines, trilliums and other spring flowers. The detour trail heads up past a work area at the end of the service road and then heads higher to a junction with the Cascade Rock trail. There are glimpses of the Elwha along the way as it follows the ridge past the washout. After the junction the trail goes down a bit, then up a bit, then slowly descends behind the old campground. There is a sturdy tributary of the Elwha running between the trail and the collapsed campground pavilion. The trail lets out a bit past the washout but before the ranger station and work area. It took us about 45 minutes from Madison Falls, so it would be another 15 or 20 minutes to the Altair bridge. We didn't make it that far, at least not this time.	A perfect place for columbines
Columbines	and more
and more	and even more

Other spring flowers	The trail ahead
One of the many trilliums	and a pair, overlapping,
and another	and yet more
Skunk cabbage, a sure sign of spring	The old campground pavilion across the new Elwha channel
More of the trail	We forget what this is called
Mysterious rock overhangs and mysterious caves	A glimpse of the high country

Keywords: elwha, flowers, spring, trillium

03/29/19 - Cherry Blossoms at UW Spring is here or at least in Seattle. We made a quick day trip to Seattle to check out the cherry blossoms at the University of Washington. They were in full bloom, and the quad had the air of a festival with hundreds of people out admiring the flowers, taking pictures and celebrating the arrival of spring. We joined in and took lots of pictures.	Cherry blossoms - We're not going to have a lot of captions here.
	Califlory - flowers growing out of the tree trunk







A sign of thanks	A magnolia tree joining the fun.

Keywords: flowers, seattle, spring

01/10/19 - Flowers in Bloom

It’s awfully early, but we saw some salmonberry flowers, and it’s barely the middle of January. These usually bloom in early February.

Salmonberry flowers

Keywords: flowers, port angeles, weather

07/08/18 - Klahane Ridge - Flowers It's still early in the season on Klahane Ridge. The lupines are back. The phlox is passing. Here are some pictures.	Western wallflower
Lupines	Not sure, but it's pretty neat
This is likely a chipping sparrow.	Paintbrush
Toad lily or chocolate lily, take your pick.	Bloodwort
Shooting stars	Bog orchid and friends
Just a bog orchid	Cow parsnip, ox parsley?

Keywords: flowers, klahane ridge

06/30/18 - Obstruction Point - Flora and Fauna The drive to Obstruction Point has its hairy moments along with its spectacular scenery. In the forested areas, where one cannot see the mountains, the forest floor is covered with avalanche lilies this time of year. In the fields as one approaches the point, there are marmots out foraging.	One of the marmots with glacier lilies
Glacier lilies up close	Early flowers
More blossoms	A little bird by the trail side
Phlox	Avalanche lilies
Glacier lilies	A view from the road
Another marmot	Pasque flowers

Keywords: marmots, obstruction point, flowers

05/27/18 - 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

05/20/18 - 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

03/21/18 - Cherry Blossom Special We had been following the action on the webcam. The buds were starting to open. It was too much to resist. We Kalebergs just had to be in the quad where it happens, so we headed into Seattle, up to the University of Washington and onto the quad where the cherry trees were at peak blossom. These were big old trees, gnarly and dark with a cloud of pale pink flowers about them. The quad was full of people there to enjoy the blossoms and the late start of spring.	Cherry blossoms
More cherry blossoms and admirers	Admirers and cherry blossoms
An old gnarled branch	More CBs
CBs	Dark bark
Another branch	More CBs
Did we mention cherry blossoms?	I guess we did mention cherry blossoms.

Keywords: flowers, seattle, spring

02/26/18 - Winter Garden at the Seattle Arboretum We've been having a bit of winter weather. Even in Seattle, there was snow on the ground, and the temperature seemed to be stuck on much too cold. So, we dropped by the Joseph A. Witt Winter Garden in the Arboretum. Here, there was snow on the ground, but there were also flowers in bloom. There were all sorts of witch hazel, some scentless, some spicy, some sweet, and there were hellebores and a few hardy cherry blossoms. We're sure that spring is out lurking somewhere, but until winter ends, we'll make the best of it.	Cherry blossoms
A rhododendron	A snowy scene

WItch hazel	Another witch hazel
Brightly colored grasses	Cyclamen in the snow
Azaleas	At least the pond wasn't frozen.

Keywords: flowers, seattle, spring, weather, winter

08/20/17 - Hurricane Hill as Summer Passes The summer is passing. More gold and brown are creeping into the colors of the high country. We hiked the Hurricane Hill Trail again and saw a bit of drama, two young marmots were attacked by a hawk. They were unharmed, but one tends to thing that these things are just staged for nature documentaries. Not true. We also ran into the team planning to rebuild the trail. The Hurricane Hill Trail is heavily used in season, and it has been showing signs of wear. We're hoping they don't have to close the trail for too long. We've been having a lot of trail and road closures lately.	Summer colors
Still plenty of green	Mountains in late summer
Another view	The view to the north
Clouds add drama.	A silky sky
Late summer flowers	The season
Yet another view	The trail planning team at work

Keywords: flowers, high country, hurricane hill, marmots, summer

07/31/17 - Obstruction Point We made another visit to Obstruction Point to see how the season has been progressing. The snows have continued to melt and more flowers have come into bloom.	Flowers and mountains - That's why we come out here.
A view down	Lupines
More lupines	The trail as it goes
More flowers	The less shy of two birds
A seasonal lake	Another seasonal lake aforming
Even more flowers	Another seasonal alpine lake

Keywords: flowers, obstruction point

07/20/17 - Klahane Ridge Again Our three favorite high country trails are the Hurricane Hill Trail, the Lilian Ridge Trail out of Obstruction Point and the Klahane Ridge Trail via the Switchback Trail. This season, the last of those of three keeps calling us back. We've been watching the flowers, with more and more lupines appearing as the phlox starts to fade. We've been watching the mountain goats, carefully, as there seem to be a lot of them. There were over a dozen on our descent. We didn't stop for photos. We wanted to keep an eye on them and be ready to react. We made it up past the ridge overlook and followed the trail leading to Lake Angeles. The "rooms", areas carpeted with alpine flowers and divided by crags, were a trip back to early in the season. Only a few flowers had blossomed, though we expect more when we answer the call of Klahane Ridge again.	A view from the ascent
As we approached the ridge	A mountain goat and her kid
Another view of them	A view of the Olympic Mountains
One of the alpine "rooms"	The end of our hike, lingering snow
Phlox, probably at its peak - It's a pity there isn't HTML to capture the scent.	Lupines, a great year
Blood wort	Bog orchid

Keywords: flowers, high country, klahane ridge, mountain goats, trails

07/12/17 - Obstruction Point All of Obstruction Point Road is now open, so we drove out to the end and took a little stroll. The air was high and thin. There was still a little snow to deal with on the trail, but otherwise the going was easy. The fields and hillsides are full of flowers. The distant mountains are covered with snow, but it is melting and the seasonal alpine lakes are forming. It was a magnificent hike, one we hope to repeat soon.	Melting snow on the trail
There were lots of lupines this year.	Mountains in the distance

Glacier lilies	More flowers
One of the alpine lakes	Even more flowers
Spring is here.	An avalanche across the way

Keywords: flowers, obstruction point

07/05/17 - Goat Patrol - Klahane Ridge Edition After two failed attempts, we made it up to Klahane Ridge, and even a bit beyond. Just about all of the snow has melted, and the wildflowers are out in force. The view from the ridge was spectacular. We continued on the trail a bit to check out the alpine gardens. There, the snow was still melting, and we turned around when walking in the snow became a problem. On the way up to the ridge, we saw a mountain goat with a kid. We thought this was a great mountain goat sighting, but on our way there were at least a dozen mountain goats grazing on the trail. We made a bit of noise and they moved aside rather nonchalantly. None of them seemed particularly agitated which was good given that they have rather sharp looking antlers.	Mother and child
From the distance	High country
Flowers	Mountains with rocks in the foreground
More flowers	The view north with a Mount Baker visible - Click the image for a better view.
Mountain goats on our way down	The trail
More mountain goats	More mountains

Keywords: flowers, klahane ridge, mountain goats

06/19/17 - Hurricane Hill - Critters We've been getting up to Hurricane Hill to watch the snow melt, enjoy the views, gawk at the flowers and do some wildlife spotting. Hurricane Hill is great place for seeing all sorts of animals: marmots, bears, hares, deer and even mountain goats. Well, we didn't see any mountain goats this time, but we saw just about everything else.	The scene
A black bear ...	... from a safe distance
One of the marmots, not Marmot Rock	Melting snow
More snow on the north face	Another marmot
Yet another marmot	A snowshoe hare
Phlox	The lupines are back; we missed them last year.

Keywords: animals, flowers, hurricane hill, marmots

06/15/17 - Lake Angeles Trail The Lake Angeles Trail is great for a workout. It's only a ten minute drive from town, so it's often our fallback for exercise when we don't have a lot of time. On our last trip we got to experience the season with trilliums both ready to open and already with pods having bloomed some time ago. The Pacific dogwood was like this too, with both slightly green early flowers as well as white ones in full bloom.	The bridge on the Lake Angeles Trail
White water	Water under the bridge
Early Pacific dogwood	Pacific dogwood in full bloom
An early trillium	A late season trillium
More water	And even more water

Keywords: flowers, lake angeles, trillium

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