Kaleberg Archive for Keyword: trillium, Page: 1

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06/14/22 - Little River to the Healing Pools We weren't up to a longer walk, but we wanted to get back to the Little River Trail, so we only took the trail up for a ways. Most of the trilliums were gone, but the mock Solomon's seal was out and smelled wonderful. There was also tiarella and a surprise, Pacific dogwood, a whole patch of it along the trail.	Mock Solomon's seal
Tiarella	Mushrooms
A few trilliums still white	Some older trilliums turning pink
One of the passages	Pacific dogwood
More of the Pacific dogwood patch	A big trillium
A very lush trail now	The river
Another view of the river	The trail
Rushing waters	Fallen logs over the river
Early for Halloween	A warning?
Mock Solomon's seal	One of those pretty and probably toxic mushrooms

Keywords: halloween, little river, trillium

06/12/22 - Spruce Railroad Trail with Woodpecker The Spruce Railroad Trail isn't the forested foot trail we remember. It's more of a road, flat and wide, with most of the shrubs and many of the old trees removed. Still, it offers wonderful views of the lake, and many rewards if one keeps one's eyes open.	Some trilliums
Still some forest	The road: the right hand side has a softer surface for horses and others whose feet get sore on hard surfaces.
The lake, beautiful as ever	Paintbrush
Cedums	A rock garden
More rock garden	Yet more, in the sun
Still more	and a closeup
The trail again	A double trillium
A woodpecker	Another view
This guy wasn't shy	On yet another tree

Keywords: spruce railroad, trillium

04/30/22 - Little River Trail - To The Waterfall We've been hiking along the Little River Trail for years now, but we never went much beyond the second foot bridge. We walked out along the trail for about an hour, then turned around and headed back. This time, we kept going for another half hour and got to see the waterfall. We're probably going to do this again as soon as we can. The trail along the river was beautiful. The trilliums are out in force and other flowers - little violets, violet orchids, colt's foot - were coming out as well. There were columbines in bloom along the trail as our reward for going on. They like open rocky surfaces. The river was flowing briskly, but not at full flood. After we crossed the second foot bridge, we headed upward along the valley wall with glimpses of the river below. We heard the falls before we saw them. Then we saw a bit of white water through the brush. Then we saw the waterfall. We found a side path that let us get a better view of the falls. It was in rough shape, but passable. The photographs don't really do the falls justice. There are actually two falls where the river seems to divide and rejoin, and it's hard to fit them into a single picture. The photographs don't capture the roar of the water either. Now we have a new goal, and, perhaps, some day we might head farther. The trail ends all the way up on Hurricane Ridge where it meets with the Hurricane Hill Trail. It's pretty snowy up there with seven feet of snow up on the ridge and trail leading up the north face. We are unlikely to ever follow the trail that far, but it's nice to know we can keep going and going, at least until our feet start to give out.	One of many trilliums
Another of many trilliums	Yet another of many trilliums
A stone wall	The trail
A columbine	More columbines
The trail along the valley wall	More of the trail
The falls far below us	More of the falls
More of the trail	Stone and moss
At our feet	Good grief, even more trilliums
A view of the river	Along a nurse log
Ferns and trilliums	A few last trilliums

Keywords: flowers, little river, trillium, waterfall

04/02/22 - Elwha to Altair - Spring Is Here We were absolutely exhausted but really wanted to take another good hike before the rainy days come, so we headed out from the Madison Falls parking lot and followed the trail. It's a good winter trail, but it's an even better spring trail. We hadn't gone very far before our first trillium, and then came the columbines. Trilliums like sloping ground, usually near water, so they'll grow on hillsides above streams. Columbines like a sunny spot on crumbling rocky soil, and there are only a few places like that on this trail. That's where we found them. We headed on past other signs of spring. Skunk cabbage filled the boggy fields further up towards the bridge. There were currant blossoms, and there were a lot of new leaves and leaf buds. Even the larger trees were showing touches of green. Columbine season is short, so we'll have to come back soon, but we'll be back again and again as the season progresses. It's a pretty good summer trail too.	Our first trillium on the trail
Yellow violets	More yellow violets
One of the columbines	Another columbine
Another trillium	Some little white flowers that we see every year and never bother to look up in the wildflower book
The Elwha	Another view of the Elwha
Fern forest	The skunk cabbage bog
The Elwha from the Altair bridge	Wild currant
A touch of green in the trees	Most of the snow melted
Yet another trillium	Yet another columbine
A columbine in its place	The mules are back!

Keywords: elwha, spring, trillium

04/01/22 - Little River Trail - Return of the Trilliums The Little River Trail is a great trail this time of year. The high country is still covered with snow, but the lower reaches of the Little River Trail are in great shape and, already, there are signs of spring. In particular, the trilliums are out. There are just a few trilliums in bloom, and a few more popping up and getting ready, but over the next few weeks this trail will be lined with them.	Our first trillium of 2022
The forest trail	Little River
Still early spring	Sunlight breaks through
Another view of the river	Down close
More flowers	A blurry photo of our first yellow violet - We have Sasquatch photos that are sharper.
An old log and a new fern	More trilliums
The bridge where we turned around	The ground
Trail maintenance - quite a fallen tree	Little River again
One of the many rapids	Even more trilliums
Another view	And another

Keywords: Olittle river, spring, trillium

05/10/21 - Cape Perpetua and Heceta Head We drove down to Cape Perpetua just south of Yachats and climbed the St. Perpetua Trail for a fantastic view of the coast. There is a road to the summit, but we much preferred hiking. The trail started from the visitor center, followed a stream, then started ascending with a long series of switchbacks. It was a wonderful trail with trilliums, irises and other flowers in bloom. As we neared the summit, we started getting the views of the Pacific Ocean and the rocky coast. We drove a bit farther south and explored Heceta Head with its beach and lighthouse nestled in the crags. There were roses in bloom, and the rocks were covered with gulls and cormorants. Dinner was takeout from Ona's: excellent burgers and fries and a fried calamari appetizer. We had considered dining at Ona's, but their "outdoor" dining terrace was almost a greenhouse. It was much more fun dining in our room with its wide open view of the sea.	A bit of the St. Perpetua Trail
The little stream	An aging trillium
Our first bit of a view	A better view
An iris	More flowers
No tiarella	A peephole view
Looking down	A showy iris
Heceta Beach	Another view of the beach
Cormorants	Seagulls
A rose by the sea	A view south
The ocean at play	Another look

Keywords: flowers, oregon, trails, trillium

04/13/21 - Up The Elwha To Altair We've been getting out more thanks to the warming weather and our COVID vaccinations. We've been wandering up Olympic Hot Springs Road along the Elwha starting at Madison Falls where the road closes to traffic and up to the Altair Bridge. There's a detour through the hills behind the old Elwha Campground which was washed out along with the road. All along the way we've been spotting signs of spring. Already, the columbines and trilliums are coming out, and the skunk cabbage is nearing its peak. The river is still calm before the spring melt, but with ten plus feet of snow at Hurricane Ridge, we expect an impressive flow when the melting begins in earnest. We'll keep coming back to see how things progress.	A columbine bud
A columbine flower	Another columbine
Trilliums	Another trillium
The Elwha	Fiddleheads
Ferns, also known as grown up fiddleheads	Skunk cabbage
The view from the Altair Bridge	A swamp marigold blossom

Keywords: elwha, spring, trillium, weather

06/22/19 - Little River Trail We've been regulars on the Little River Trail. We've following spring into summer. The trail is more hidden as the deciduous trees have leafed out and the trilliums have vanished, replaced by Pacific dogwood.	The trail
Plant life	More plant life
The river	Another view of the river, hidden by green
A trillium gone to seed	A salmonberry
Pacific dogwood	Even more plant life
Another bit of trail	And yet another

Keywords: little river, spring, summer, trillium

06/04/19 - The Last Trilliums We've been building up our climbing by working our way up the Lake Angeles Trail. So far, we've managed to get up about 1150 feet out of about 2380, less than halfway. The trilliums along this part of the trail are passing. They've turned from white to pink or they already have seed pods. Meanwhile, the Pacific dogwood is coming out, and its petals have been turning from green to white. Progress climbing has been slow, but the trail has its rewards however far we climb.	Across the little creek about 700' above the parking lot
One of the many trilliums now turning pink	A white trillium
This may be the trillium vale	Another trillium, for luck
Tiarella	Second growth forest and sunlight
Pacific dogwood	And another cluster

Keywords: lake angeles, trillium

05/28/19 - Little River Trail The last time we wandered along the Little River Trail, the trail was lined with trilliums. They were all over the place. This time, the trilliums were passing, but the false Solomon's seal, tiarella, Pacific dog wood and others were taking up the slack. We pushed past our last stopping point and made our way to a log bridge over the river. We crossed and continued for perhaps a few hundred feet. There was another log bridge heading back over the river. We aren't sure what this is about. There also seems to be a trail that doesn't cross the river twice, so one day we'll try it.	The trail through the forest
The Little RIver	Trilliums senescent
Mahonia	A last white trillium
One of the log bridges	False Solomon's seal with a wonderful scent
The Little River again	Where we stopped to refresh our feet
Devil's claw	Another very green bit of the trail
An older trillium and others	Pacific dogwood
A fern wall	Woodruff - It probably escaped from someone's garden, but it smells good.
Tiarella	More Pacific dogwood
Indian pipes	A bit more of the trail

Keywords: little river, trillium

05/19/19 - Again, to the Altair Bridge We have been turning this into a regular walk, starting at Madison Falls and heading, by way of the detour, to the Altair Bridge over the Elwha. The columbines are gone and the trilliums and dogwood almost past, but the tiarella is now in bloom as are other late spring blossoms. As usual, we stopped to soak our feet in the river. A bit later, we had to step to the side of the trail to let a mule team get by. The park service people and animals were heading out to do trail work. The mules were new to the area and a bit skittish. We did our best to keep them calm. The river is still pretty high, so the park service might just be waiting for it to go down, but we're guessing that they won't be setting up the temporary bridges the way they did last year. Despite this, we'll be back in a week or two to follow the spring progression and we'll let you know the latest.	The Elwha as seen from the Altair Bridge
Another view of the Elwha	Yet another view
The river is so high that the river branch that cut the road has flooded. The gap may grow.	The forest detour
Tiarella	Elderberry flower buds
Another tiarella	Stinky bob on an old maple tree
A mushroom	The Elwha from the bank
An entire forest growing on a tree	A fading trillium
Paintbrush	More tiarella
More of the forest trail	Across the river, lupines in bloom

Keywords: elwha, spring, trillium

04/27/19 - Little River Trail and Trilliums We headed up Black Diamond Road recently and took the Little River Trail for a ways. It's a wonderful forest trail, and right now it is at peak trillium. They are everywhere along the trail, brightening the rich greens and dark browns of the forest. The trail starts with a descent to a bridge over the river, but for a fair way it is just gentle up and down and pretty easy going. There are ferns and salal and, here and there, some rather large trees. The trail follows the river, and eventually runs along it. We even stopped to soak our feet for a bit. The water was icy. The real treat was peak trillium. The forest floor seemed to be lined with them, and they were all in full white bloom. Some were alone, and some were in clusters. We'd walk along and remark that we hadn't seen a trillium in a bit, and, as if in response to our concern, there would be another series of them. This isn't a heavily used trail, but it is a pretty one, and it's in great shape for hiking. And, if we haven't already mentioned it a few times, there are lots of trilliums.	A stretch of the trail
A trillium	Another stretch of the trail
A trillium cluster	Yet another trillium
The Little River	Another cluster of trilliums
More of the trail	We soaked our feet at that little massage waterfall
A trillium almost in bloom	A close cluster - Maybe we need to invent a term for these.
Mushrooms	The trail again
The river again	More mushrooms
The trail is easy going.	Did we mention trillium clusters?
Twisted trees by the trail	The trail through the forest

Keywords: trillium, little river

04/25/19 - Lake Angeles Trail and Trilliums We've been getting back into shape, and that means climbing the Lake Angeles Trail. It's a great training trail in that it heads up steeply for 2400', but even shorter climbs offer a wonderful forest hike. To our surprise, the first trilliums were in bloom, mainly along the lower reaches of the trail. We didn't make it much past the foot bridge over the stream about 720' above the trail head, but we heard reports from other hikers that the lake was accessible. That gives us something to work towards, though it may be a while.	One of the trilliums
Lingering snow	The foot bridge
More snow in the shadows	The trail
Dramatic lighting on the trail	Another look along the way
Second growth forest	Another trillium
Yet another	and yet another

Keywords: lake angeles, trillium

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

04/09/19 - First Trillium of the Season

It has been a long hard winter. The signs of spring have been late in coming, but yesterday, while walking down to the Dungeness Spit, we saw our first trillium of the year. It may be coming slowly, but spring is on its way.

Keywords: dungeness spit, spring, trillium

06/26/18 - Little River Trail With so many roads in the park blocked by road work, we've been checking out some new trails. This time it was the Little River Trail. It starts near where Black Diamond Road meets Little River Road. As usual in 2018, Black Diamond Road was being repaved, but the delays were short. We only hiked out for an hour, but it was nice walking on a soft surface and being in the forest again. The first part of the trail was second growth, but there were more old trees and more first growth as we made our way up the trail. The trilliums were past bloom, but the Pacific dogwood was out. The trail heads all the way up to Hurricane Ridge, but we stopped well before the serious climbing began. We turned around at the second crossing, so we have a lot left to explore. It's nice to have a new trail, and one that isn't a challenge to get to.	A typical stretch of trail
The trail follows the water	Epiphytes
More river	Pacific dogwood
A little more river	The bridge where we turned back
Some cascades	Another look at the river
A more Little River	A rather large trillium, past bloom

Keywords: trails, trillium, little river

05/17/18 - 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

05/07/18 - 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

04/28/18 - Trilliums on the Lake Angeles Trail Between winter conditions and road repairs, we haven't been hiking the Lake Angeles Trail lately. We finally made our way back, and were pleasantly rewarded. The trail is as beautiful as ever, the trilliums were starting to bloom, and aside from some gravel stretches, the road wasn't much of a problem.	The little stream, one view
A trillium	Another trillium, just getting ready to bloom
Yet another trillium	Another view of the little stream

Keywords: lake angeles, trillium, spring

04/26/18 - Spring Comes to the West Elwha We took a walk west of the Elwha River and saw definite signs of springs. There were trilliums in bloom and columbines in profusion. Spring is here.	One of the many trilliums
Water crossing the trail	More trilliums
Old forest, signs of moisture	Another trillium
A columbine	More columbines
The boardwalk	More flowers
The Elwha River coming ...	... and going

Keywords: elwha, spring, trillium

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