Kachess Ridge

 

I went east looking for sun and climbed Kachess Ridge.  This time I was successful.  The initial hike is steep but it was pleasant walking through the trees with the dappled light.  The  trail runs along Silver Creek and has a cool breeze and is shaded beneath the trees.

 

The trail leveled off and was a pleasant 3/4 mile walk through a hanging valley and then I ran into the snow.  Not wishing to spend another hike mucking through the snow, I headed straight up the ridge and broke out of the trees into a series of meadows. I don’t recommend this unless you know elevation and how far above you a ridge is.  I always have my trusty altimeter.

I kept going until I topped out on a shoulder overlooking Easton

 

 

  The ridge was covered with flowers and succulents

A short nap in the sun and then a pleasant downhill walk along silver creek

 

 

Photos of Kachess Ridge

Rattlesnake Ledge

 

Hope springs eternal about the sun shine, but not wanting to drive a long distance just to have my hopes dashed, I went to Rattlesnake Ledge out of North Bend for a hike.  The irony of course being that North Bend gets 60 more days of rain a year than Seattle.

Rattlesnake Ledge is actually three ledges, each about two hundred feet higher than the previous that over look Rattlesnake Lake.  The first ledge looks out over Chester Morse Lake, which is the source of Seattle’s water supply.  It is a natural lake formed by a glacier  moraine that has dammed the valley.  If you are a biologist, the fish stock in the lake have been isolated for 13,000 years and have evolved into a unique species, assuming you believe in evolution. Otherwise they were created on October 23, 4004 BC when God created the world and made it look older to test our faith.   Chester Morse Lake is off in the distance.  Rattlesnake Lake is at the foot of the cliffs.  The Cedar River flows north out of the Lake and passes with in two thousand feet of Rattlesnake Lake before veering off to the right towards Maple Valley and its rendezvous with Lake Washington at the Renton Airport. Rattlesnake Lake has no outlets and does not flow into the Cedar, which is probably why it is open to the public and their many dogs.

 

 

The hike is through second growth northwest jungle. All along the trail the plants were sprouting new spring growth.  If there is every a war of plants against the animals, the plants are winning it here.

 

But it was an enjoyable hike, I didn’t get wet I can identify, moss, lichen, ferns, and dogwood flowers even without by taxonomy book.

Photos of Rattlesnake Ledge

Ingalls Creek

 

I was lured to the east side of the mountains by the promise of sunshine, but it was a false promise.  The sky was clear as I went into Cle Elem, but soon turned gray as I headed north over Blewit Pass. But I didn’t actually get rained on, so that was a victory.  The area is interesting geologically.  The North Cascades were formed by mini continents scraped off of the Pacific plate as it submerged beneath the continental crust.  Most of the sea stacks out on the coast were actually formed in Hawaii and have made the slow trip north over many millions of years riding on the spreading sea floor.  So if you want to go to really old Hawaii, but can’t afford the airfare, go out to Neah Bay, look at the rocks off of the coast and eat Indian fry bread with the Macaws.  It’s a lot better than poi. Anyway, as the continents collide with each other magma flows up between them forming granite plugs called plutons.  So Ingalls creek is formed along the fault line of one of these mini continent collisions.  It is about sixteen miles long.  The north side of the valley is granite and the south side is dirt and rock.

 

But that is all from Ingalls Lake.  I started at the end of the valley walking up the relatively flat Ingalls Creek looking for wild flowers.

This is the second week I’ve gone looking for wild flowers.  After last week where I came home and compared my pictures to the ones in the 150 common wild flowers of the North Cascades, I found I was on a hike filled with uncommon flowers.  So this week, I took the book, but didn’t have much better luck.  Makes you kind of wonder about the accuracy of eye witnesses at crime scenes. The hike started of with what looked like the common garden iris

but I was soon able to identify trillium and Indian Paintbrush.  I particularly liked the bright Indian Paintbrush on this otherwise gloomy day.

 

Flowers on hike

LT Murray

 

Tiring of the rain,I headed east for sunshine and flowers.  The LT Murray reserve is at exit 101 on your way to Ellensburg.  It is famous for its bugling elk and flowers.  I saw one elk, but he didn’t have a bugle. The arrowhead balsam root is a little past its prime and it is about three weeks early for the extensive lupine displays, but I like the open hill sides of eastern Washington.  You can wander where you will.  I ran into hail, sunshine, wind and thunderstorms, but it didn’t snow on me.

There were still plenty of flowers, though it will be incredible about the middle of June.

 

The hail was interesting.  I was going down a scree slope when it started hailing.  It bounced off of the rocks and continued bouncing  down the hill.  It was like being in the worlds largest Pachinko machine.

Then I realized that hail stones are formed in thunderstorms along with lightening, high winds and other undesirable things to experience while hiking.  I quickly headed back to my car thinking the whole time that may be I would get some of those nice carbon fiber hiking poles instead of carrying around aluminum lightening rods disguised as hiking poles.

LT Murray Photos

Humpback Creek

 

I went hiking along Humpback Creek with the intention of taking pictures.  It was a sunny day and taking pictures of creeks requires a lot of time laying on the ground and pre-visualizing the picture.  To some it might might look like I was taking a nap, but it is an important part of the picture taking process.  And of course you might have to remain seated until the sun is just right.

Actually, I had to bushwhack along large sections of the creek to find a good spot that didn’t have five or six large trees fallen across it.  Now I know why professional photographers take their pictures in State Parks.  Somebody else cleans out all of those trees.

 

But the sun was shinning and it was warm in the shade.  Here are the rest of the pictures

Humpback Creek Photos

Olallie Lake

Spring is climbing higher up the mountain side, but it is still winter at 3600 feet. Last week I ran into snow at 2800 feet, so things are getting better.

Below is a picture of a bird that I loved for his audacity.  He/She, how do you tell with a bird in the bush, roosted in a tree where I was eating my lunch.  The bird watched me eat  my sandwich and then when I took out a Hersey Bar, it flew down and tried to knock it out of my hand. Actually it succeeded, but I was quicker on the up take than the bird was.

 

I walked along the outlet stream taking pictures and was fascinated by the ice breaking up and flowing out along the stream.  Since, I was fascinated, you get to see lots of pictures.

 

Well, actually, I only posted two, but you can see the other ten if you are ever at my house and ask.

Olallie Lake Photos

Talapus Lake

 

I went up to Talapus Lake with the intent of taking pictures of water falls at slow shutter speeds to make the water look lacy.  The first thing I learned was that modern digital cameras with their ISO equivalent 200 film speed are hard toset to a slow shutter speed.  I was surprised to learn that it is difficult even in the dark forest on a cloudy day.  I still managed to get a few

 

I had not planned in hiking in the snow, but I hit snow as soon as I stepped out of my car, but you know, the trail is the trail.  I’ve noticed lately, with alarming frequency, that the universe is not lining up to my hiking plans.

But the hike was a pleasant stroll through the trees and the lake was beautiful. The sun came out which didn’t help the slow shutter speed problem, but was a tremendous boost to the spirits.

My other goal is to someday take a good icicle picture, but that also requires water to be in a clearing, the sun to be just right and the ability to get close without endangering life and limb. And I’m still having trouble getting the universe to align to my wishes.

 

Talapus Lake Pictures