September 2016October 2016 November 2016

10/29 - Halloween Party

We held our first Halloween Party in nearly a decade and decided to serve some old favorites and a couple of new dishes. Lenore, our Halloween spider, was mistress of ceremonies in her web, and she presided over an appropriately spooky meal. We made our devil burgers with Parker House rolls, buffalo sliders and little red pepper devil horns and a batch of sausage mummies wrapped in strips of puff pastry. Black squid ink pasta with black trumpet of death mushrooms was a surprise favorite. Those tentacles on the table are emerging from our black kale salad.

UPDATE - We had 197 trick or treaters on the big night. That’s a new record for us.


Lenore presiding

Black kale salad

Sausage mummies and black pasta

Devil burgers

Appropriately lit

Keywords: halloween


10/22 - First Snow on Hurricane Hill

Hurricane Hill was windy and cold, and the first snow has fallen. Obstruction Point Road is already closed, and it looks like we are having an early winter. The Hurricane Hill Trail started below the snow line, but we could see a lot more snow on the Olympic Mountains and snow on Mount Angeles early on. As we neared the summit, we saw the first snow by the trail. There wasn’t all that much snow, but this part of the mountain faces south. We could see a lot more snow on the north face, and the little seasonal lake has reformed after having dried out this summer.

The wintry air and clouds played tricks with the light. There were bands of crepuscular light as the sun shone through gaps in the clouds. There was even a bit of a light column glowing brightly with the sunlight reflected and concentrated by ice crystals. There wasn’t much of a view as we made our ascent, but at the summit the clouds blew past, so we had great views on our walk down. We often tell people to take the trail even when visibility is limited as things are likely to change. We were well rewarded for taking our own advice, but by the time we returned to our car, the clouds had started to close in again.


A last bit of color

Mountains and sky

The summit and the first snow

Crepuscular light

Mount Angeles snow

The north face

Snow on the trail - Doesn’t that look like winter?

Almost like autumn again

Autumn color

More shafts of light

A light column

Keywords: hurricane hill, obstruction point, winter


10/20 - Barnes Point and Marymere Falls

The big wind storm seems to have spared Port Angeles and the immediate vicinity, but outside of the rain shadow of the Olympic Mountains there was wind to spare. We checked out Marymere Falls and found plenty of windfall. Trees had fallen across the trail, but we made our way to the roaring falls. We had planned to head up Barnes Creek a bit, but the wind fall and brush were too much for us. Instead we went back the long way passing by the lodge. We followed the river down to the lake proper, then cut back inland.

Some fallen trees

Some more fallen trees

Autumn color

Barnes Creek

Marymere Falls

More color - This has been a great year.

The creek again

Emerald forest

More of the creek

Even more water

Down by the lake

Keywords: barnes creek, marymere falls, port angeles. autumn


10/18 - Dungeness Dike

The recent rains have filled the local rivers. We took a walk along the Dungeness River near Towne Road and were impressed with the flow. The river usually looks rather peaceful, but this time the water was high and running strong.

One of the little side channels

Another view

Yet another view

The wide river

A little whirlpool

Autumn color and a dramatic sky

A heron by the road side

A hawk in a tree

More autumn color and sky

Keywords: dungeness


10/12 - Second Beach

With the Elwha Valley trails and the Spruce Railroad Trail closed we’ve been getting back to the west coast beaches. We had explored Rialto Beach and made our way to the coast at Third Beach, so this time we checked out Second Beach, which is probably our favorite. The day was bright, and the tide was low, so we made our way through the forest, down the bluff and then south along the beach to the sea cave and tide pools. It was an easy, relaxing walk, though we were both tired on the climb back.

The view to the north with the Hole in the Wall

Our first look at the beach

Sea stacks - Second Beach has a lot of them

Another view of the sea stacks

A sea stack reflected

Anemones - the green ovals - but no star fish

Another sea stack reflected

The driftwood where the trail meets the beach

The treasure tree, nicely fed

Forest trail …

… and more forest trail

Keywords: beaches, second beach, trails


10/05 - Late Season Hurricane Hill

The Hurricane Hill trail may only be open for another few weeks, so we’ve been heading up there to enjoy the autumn colors. They aren’t as spectacular as the brilliant red of the Fields of Mars out at Obstruction Point, but they nicely mark the season.

The last rose

More snow in the mountains

Fading colors

The side spur

Fields of gold

Another late fall view

Yet another field

Still some red below

Autumn colors

Where the red and orange come from

Late season yarrow

Keywords: autumn, hurricane hill


September 2016October 2016 November 2016