North Fork Sauk River Road Adventure

The falls empty into the river

A drive up the Mountain Loop Highway last Sunday focused on my destination- the North Fork Sauk River Road. It had been many years since I had been in this area so I wanted to check it out. My first stop was the North Fork Falls. The hike down was short, a bit steep, and a bit slick.

The falls

 

The falls were rushing and no one was around. The sun was out and the temperature was quite cold. I had left the lowland fog to explore.

 

Along the way I stopped by a silent beaver pond. It may have been quiet during the day but I could tell from the beaver sticks there were times when the beavers were actively chewing away at the surrounding vegetation.

 

 

Mountain views along the Mountain Loop Scenic Byway on  a sunny autumn day.



Monte Cristo lake

Once again the only birds were varied thrushes and a few chickadees and wrens. Not to worry, I am open to anything and nothing because something is always happening.

I completed the entire loop with very few vehicles seen. The most interesting was the giant RV fallen off the road. Bummer for the tow bill on that mess!

Icicle Creek Autumn

 

 

 

 

Two weeks too late I decided to go up to Icicle Creek out of Leavenworth to explore and look for some fall color. There was definitely an abundance of yellow left however most of the trees had lost their leaves and the larch were past their prime. A few were still a lovely bright yellow.

 

Wandering along the Icicle Gorge trail I was stopped by the silence of falling larch needles. They fell so silently I was reminded of snow falling softly on a winter day.

Fallen larch needles on the trail

Fruiting mushrooms were everywhere. There were far too many to photograph and I couldn't identify most of them. Unfortunately, my field guides are somewhere in my storage unit. The most impressive one is about the size of two dinner plates! I have seen dinner plate sized mushrooms but this one was enormous! There were several others closer to the size of a typical dinner plate in the same area.

 

 

 

The streams were also picturesque. Clear and clean like the air surrounding them.

Roadside stream

Icicle Creek
 

I pulled over in a dispersed camping area to do some writing and wandering and found what appears to be a bear track. Funny how finding one makes you look over your shoulder even though it was a bit old.

Bear track

I'm enjoying my weekend mountain wanderings inhaling the fresh crisp air, walking around streams and through the forest, listening to the rush of waters, and hoping for a sign of wildlife. Refreshed I return home.

 



A Cascades kind of day

I have been dealing with a traumatic change in my life; unable to write. Today I pulled myself up and out for a trip to the Cascades. I had a full tank of gas, peanut butter, crackers, an apple, and water, what more do you need?! I checked the map and decided to head up the Beckler River Road and wander along the Rapid River Road in the Mount Baker-Snoqualmie National Forest.

Leaves rained down along all the valleys I drove through. In many areas along Index-Galena Road were so covered with leaves you could barley make out the road.

My main stop along the Rapid River Road was Meadow Creek at milepost 4. Noisy rushing stream that allowed me to disappear in the rush. 

Meadow Creek

mossy boulders and old growth stump and log

It felt good to finally get out and soak up some autumn scent, bird calls, cascades and rushing streams, and falling colored leaves. I was pretty much alone the whole day. There weren't many folks out on this cold clear day.

 

I decided to drive up and over Jack's Pass to the North Fork Skykomish River valley. The road is washed out between milepost 6.4 and 6.9. the only way to access the upper end is via the Beckler River Road. I stopped along the way reveling in the views, taking a quick photo here and there, and just being outside.

A mountain on fire with Autumn colors


At the end of the road I wandered the riverbank overwhelmed by the scent of decaying flesh. The pink salmon (AKA humpies) had washed up on shore making their final act of love nourishing the wildlife and soil.

male and female pinks

The view from milepost 6.9 is pretty spectacular. Someday the road will be repaired and the road moved above the flooding but until then the wildlife get a break from cars and people.

It's amazing how refreshing a day in the outdoors can be. I didn't go for a big hike or to focus on photography. I didn't go to watch anything in particular or kill anything. I simply went to "be". May you find the time and the ability to get out and soak up some nature and healing for yourself.

Autumn Around the Corner

asters and viburnum berries

Although the forecast is for sun and 80s for the next few days, Autumn is around the corner here. in the Pacific Northwest. This year I'm ready. The time of change and going within is the path. I am excited for the storms and the winds, the cold and the gray.

 

The changing colors belie the season of cool crisp mornings, spider webs across every piece of vegetation, warm sunny days, colors beyond green, gray, and brown. A walk in the woods gives voice to a few bird calls, no song at this time of year. The migrants have left or are leaving and the residents are getting ready for a tougher season or two. On a recent walk at Camano Island State Park I found a coyote howling in the wood.

When I wander the woods with nowhere in particular to go I find the most interesting things. The beach was flowering. Late summer, early Autumn finds asters and gumweed blooming, last chances for the bees and butterflies still lingering.

 

Moving through the days moment by moment brings stillness and wonder, if only we would slow down.

“Fall has always been my favorite season. The time when everything bursts with its last beauty, as if nature had been saving up all year for the grand finale.”
― Lauren DeStefano, Wither

Last amphibian Monitoring Day

Our last day monitoring for amphibians found us searching plant leaves in the mitigation area. This proved to be quite successful! It's interesting that we found no egg masses of the pacific chorus frogs although we found a couple of tadpoles at this site. There are wetlands beyond the county mitigation area and a small seasonal streams flows through the site. Neighbors have heard the frogs croaking. The only egg masses we found here were rough-skinned newt and long-toed salamanders.  I didn't take the photos in this post as I forgot my camera. These were taken with our county camera by a co-worker.

 

 

This one has gold stripes. Beautiful coloration.

We found most of the frogs on thimbleberry leaves. They were also on red alder leaves, pacific ninebark, and willow. I think I'm missing a couple of other leaves we found them on. The lesson here is that August is a great time to get out and search leaves for Pacific chorus frogs (tree frogs) near wetlands, wet areas, and streams. My co-workers have found 9 or more on leaves in other areas.

Hanging in the shade of a thimbleberry leaf

Check it out- he's gold!

Frogs symbolize birth and rebirth, cleansing, transformation, renewal, ancient mysteries, and good luck. After finding so many (20) in our monitoring area, I feel renewed!

Birding at Malheur National Wildlife Refuge

sunset from my campsite

Memorial Day weekend found me traveling to the high desert of southeast Oregon. Malheur NWR is  186,500 acres in size,  was designated in 1908, and is full of heavily managed wetlands. The wetlands comprise 120,000 of those acres. Around 320 species of birds and 55 species of mammals have been seen on the refuge. Most birders eventually visit the refuge due to its rare and unique migrants that drop in to the islands of trees along riparian areas and at the refuge headquarters. It's 30 miles south of Burns and in the middle of nowhere in many ways. Check it out and plan a stay at the field station or take a class.

I started out getting stuck on Snoqualmie Pass taking a half-hour to go 3 miles. I never did figure out why. It allowed for taking in the waterfalls flowing down the mountainsides and the raven foraging along the road. As i came close to Ellensburg (where i stayed the night) the full moon was hug and wondrous in its pinkness! As it rose it lit up the sky and me. Gorgeous! I'm not much at getting decent photos of it though.

My stay at the refuge was fairly cool with lots of thunderstorms. There was enough time between showers to walk around and look for critters and take photos. I spent most of the time driving the Center Patrol Road and other roads very very slowly. I got a variety of good photos which I haven't processed yet. The lighting was incredibly challenging.

Red-winged blackbirds and yellow-headed blackbirds were ubiquitous throughout the refuge.









Heavy clouds interspersed with clear skies made for some amazing sunsets. Birding was good! I found the field of bobolinks and with patience even got a few great shots. They have a tinkly song which they sing as they fly up and drop back down into the grassy fields disappearing from sight. I watched as a northern harrier dive-bombed a large nesting colony of cliff swallows as they emerged from under a small bridge. I marveled at the speed of a prairie falcon relentlessly diving on a small colony of ground squirrels. I attempted to follow it with my camera but only got blurry photos. It was also not successful in its endeavors.

bobolink

 Cedar waxwings invaded the flowering hawthorn tree at the refuge headquarters eating the flowers. This provided a beautiful study in color.

There was a nest of burrowing owls just outside the refuge that could be seen from the road. Their burrow was in the middle of a grazed field. If you look closely at the second photo you can see two owls.









American avocets were some of my favorites to watch. They were pairing up and as the photos show mating and dancing. Right after they spend a few seconds mating they do a little dance. I also watched as all the pairs regularly argued about their foraging space.

The calliope and black-chinned hummingbirds were busy at the feeders set out at headquarters. Between chasing each other and taking a second or two to feed they were in constant movement. The headquarters is a well-known area to bird because for some reason lots of unusual migrants drop into the trees. I never did find the great horned owl but there were probably 10 male western tanagers at the orange halves set out for feeding. What brilliance against a green background!

 I have more photos than I can post so here so I'll be looking into to creating a flickr page in order to share more- after they have been processed a bit.  In the meantime, enjoy this sampling.

black-tailed jackrabbit

western tanager

calliope hummingbird