December 2024

January 3, 2025 / margaretquilts / Leave a comment

We returned from our California/Thanksgiving road trip on the first of December, with the Winter Solstice, Christmas, Hanukkah and home repair to look forward to. In the neighborhood, some folks went all in on their decor – a few of my favorites:

Rudolph and friends

Giant ornaments

All the snow people

We had a stretch of cold, clear days, one of which was an appointment at OHSU for me – all well, for the moment, and I got a great 7th floor view of Portland.

Tram, Downtown Portland

Willamette River, Mt St Helens

And, during that clear weather stretch, the roofing crew we hired put a new roof on our very steep roof.

New plywood

Tar paper

Shingles

Hiking

I went on two hikes – one out to Catherine Creek, WA, on a foggy day, and one to Powell Butte, in Portland.

December 10th – Catherine Creek, WA –

We stopped at the Starvation Creek Rest Area on our drive. The sun was out, and we could see the frosted trees at the top of Wind Mountain.

Wind Mountain from Starvation Creek

Clouds were sitting on the hills at Catherine Creek. We walked up Sunflower Hill through the recent controlled burn zone, then back down along Rowland Wall. The sun never came out here…

Walking up Sunflower Hill toward the burn zone.

Green coming up through the blackened soil.

Springtime view of that same slope – 2023

Walking down Rowland wall

The leaning tree and Rowland Lake

Fields of Mosier beyond

Golden grass of winter

December 19th – Powell Butte – We could see Mt Hood, Mt St Helens, and a few deer.

We watched the lenticular cloud forming over Mt Hood

Mt Hood

Mt St Helens had already donned her own cloud cloak

A few deer in the forest

And a sentiment from the Bard…

Knitting

I finished my Christmas gift knitting, and then made a new cowl after Christmas.

Socks, mitts, hat

More socks

Lancelot Cowl

Winter Solstice

The sun was out. I walked through the neighborhood looking at shadows and puddle mirrors in the low bright light.

Christmas

Christmas arrived, a little quieter this year, with no out of town company. We celebrated with local family and our usual trappings – tree, gifts, cookies, tamales…

Cookie baking

Cookies and grapefruits

Tamales

Gifts from the Paris Olympics and Dollywood

Gifts from Dollywood

Iceland ornament, with puffins!

Cozy fireplace

2024 Christmas Tree

Hanukkah

The first night was Christmas evening this year. The next day, we went with friends to the old Hollywood Theatre, not too far from us in Portland, to see the new Bob Dylan biopic – which we thoroughly enjoyed. I grew up listening to that music as a child, because my older sister played it non stop on the record player in our shared room.

First night

Hollywood Theater, Sandy Boulevard

New Years’ Eve

Another sunny day. I walked through the neighborhood, thinking about choices for next year as I passed some of my favorite shadows and cracks, and found some new shadows and reflections…

We lit the seventh night candles at sunset, than enjoyed a phone call with our son, who had just gotten engaged to his partner – a splendid, cheerful moment to end the year!

Seventh night

New Year’s Eve in Philadelphia

November 2024 in Portland…

December 5, 2024 / margaretquilts / Leave a comment

Everything so tense before the election, then a blurred time of surreal disbelief afterward…meanwhile, we had a late, very colorful fall, with Mother Nature screaming, “Look at me!”, which I did on neighborhood walks and one hike. At the end of the month we took a road trip to California for Thanksgiving – see next post.

Knitting and Home Improvement

I attended the Sacred Sheep Fiber Festival on November 2nd, with my knitting friends. We saw the sheep, and I bought some vintage buttons for my Icelandic vest, and a mini skein for a future project. I have several gift knitting projects on the go – more about that next month.

One of the sheep

New buttons and mini skein

Finished Iceland vest – Calidez by Jenjoyce, made with Allafosslopi yarn

We are still in home repair/declutter mode. I reorganized some of my bookshelves, and I am particularly happy with this shelf dedicated to Jane Austen.

Jane Austen shelf

November 7, Catherine Creek Arch Loop, WA

Once again walking this oft repeated hike, visiting familiar views.

Mt Hood to the west

Eastern view along the Columbia River to Oregon

Passing our ent friend

Ent

Rock spires, fall colors

The arch

The road

Big leaf maple

From the trailhead, we could see the controlled burn swath on Sunflower Hill – and that it is already greening up. Hopefully, native species recovery is occurring there!

View from the trailhead up Sunflower Hill

Closer view

Zooming closer to see the green

Neighborhood color

Our transplanted blueberry bush

The day after the election, this invasive, poisonous pokeweed bush, and lingering demonwraith caught my eye.

But fall colors were late and glorious this year, all through the neighborhood, saying, “Look now! We will be gone tomorrow!”

I felt punched in the gut by the election outcome, that we did not finally elect our first woman president, and now have to face a term of inanity. However, I have my own survival/resistance plan, which includes inspiring my children, who were also gutted by the outcome. I saw the the “Ozymandias” poem shared around on the internet, one of many examples of past overtopping failures, and eventual recoveries and progress. History repeats, but it is painful to be living through the regression, when we could be doing so much better for the people and the planet. I appreciate the lingering yard signs in my neighborhood even more. We are in this together.

Not really, but sort of.

Same.

October 2024 chronology…

November 14, 2024 / margaretquilts / Leave a comment

In the interest of keeping up, I’m posting a brief chronology of what I did in October after our visit to Mt Rainier during the first week.

Hikes and other adventures:

Portland Art Museum – Our son visited from Philadelphia, and we visited the Beatles photography exhibit during his stay…

I got my first glimpse of the extensive remodel of the Portland Airport.

Portland Art Museum – we all like the Beatles, and my husband and I are just old enough to remember the early 60’s.

Most of the photographs were taken by the Beatles during their early 60’s American tours.

Beatlemania from the inside of the car…

October 10 – Our son joined us on a hike from the East Crater Trailhead, Indian Heaven Wilderness, WA.

East Crater

Junction Lake

Small lake along the Old Cascade Crest trail

Frozen bog

October 16 – We went up to the Hoyt Arboretum in Forest Park to see the Japanese Maple, but it was still mostly green.

Vine maples changing

Japanese maple still green

October 18 – We hiked with friends in the eastern gorge, Lyle Cherry Orchard Trail, and could see over to the Catherine Creek area, where a controlled burn had spread to nearby forest.

Convict Road viewpoint

Lyle overlook, smoke from the Top of the World fire

Closer view of the fire

Wide view looking west

October 24 – Back in the eastern Washington gorge the next week, for one of those perfect fall hikes at the Labyrinth trail – colors blazing, views forever.

Rowland Lake, near the trailhead. A late bunch of poppies; destination ponderosa on the skyline.

Mt Hood on view

Hello to the trail guardian oak tree

Creek almost dry, but a few ponds in the stream bed

Oak leaves

Oak grove

Lunch view

Ponderosa near our destination…

From which we can see over to the controlled-burn area above Catherine Creek.

Going down past the ridgeline oak tree

A glorious day!

October 29 – We went back up to the Hoyt Arboretum, to see the maple tree now in nearly full color.

Meanwhile – Neighborhood walks…

Sunflower

Sumac

Shadow

Joan of Arc

GrantPark

Sumac and tupelo

Neighborhood Halloween –

Ghosts

Witches

Spider

Peanuts

Bushes with eyes

Neighborhood Hope – I am writing this in November, but we did have hope in October…all through the neighborhood.

Crafting – was mostly knitting, but also, near daily prep and painting over numerous patches in the walls from plumbing repairs.

Icelandic vest – just needs buttons

New gift hat started

Gift socks finished

Donation hat finished

Painting in progress

And I carved my Halloween pumpkin with inspiration from my kitchen sock monkey.

September 2024 Hiking – two views of Hamilton Mountain, WA

October 5, 2024September 29, 2024 / margaretquilts / Leave a comment

We like to look at where we’ve been, we like to look at where we’re going…

And we could do that from both trails this month – we looked up at Hamilton Mountain, first from the Columbia River level, then from half way up the mountain.

September 16th – Strawberry (or Hamilton) Island, North Bonneville, WA

We have been out here before once, on a foggy day when a herd of elk emerged from the mist. Today, it is a good place for a flat walk with no danger of falling (hand healing protocol). We saw some birds, crossed a dry channel to an island in the Columbia River, and had a good view of the mountains on both sides of the river (2.5 miles, 100 feet).

Totem at the Trailhead

Trailhead map

Our Gaia track for the day

View of Hamilton Mountain from the west end of Strawberry Island

A selection of fall foliage, flowers and berries:

Hawthorne

Blackberries

Wild Carrot

Tansy

Blackberry leaves

We circled around the to the south and saw that the channel between Strawberry Island and Ives Island had mostly dried up, with a pond in the middle. As we walked down to investigate, we noticed two egrets along the shore.

South side of Strawberry Island, two egrets in the channel

Egrets

They flew up, and then to the west side of the channel slough,

and joined two Great Blue herons there.

Herons and egret

Heron and egret

It was a beautiful view down to Beacon Rock.

We then walked eastward, crossing the dry river channel over to Ives Island.

East end of the slough

View back to Beacon Rock

And a wide panorama view from Beacon Rock to Hamilton Mountain.

Micro-mudcracks on the rocks at the bottom of the channel.

Our return took us over the high point of Strawberry Island, where conveniently placed benches provide a nice place to admire the views in all directions.

Up to the high point

South – Columbia River and Oregon

East – Bonneville Dam

North – noting the shoulder of Hamilton Mountain (Little Hamilton Mountain), where our next hike would take us.

September 23rd – Little Hamilton Mountain, Beacon Rock State Park, WA

My husband’s hand is sufficiently healed, and he has the surgeon’s okay to hold a hiking pole. We need to get some elevation in our legs, so we will see how far up Hamilton Mountain we can go. I think about half way, and I am right. Without the hanging cliff gardens of spring wild flowers, I lost my “up” legs about half way. It is a steep trail and a good work out. Also, the views from Little Hamilton Mountain are better than the tree-obstructed views at the top, though we won’t see Mt Adams from here. It was a good day, a little warm, so I appreciated the tree cover on the way down (4.2 miles, 1355 feet).

View to the top of Hamilton Mountain from the power line cut on the trail.

Rodney Falls and Pool of the Winds, about a mile up the trail.

Downstream from the falls.

The next section is shady and steep!

No flowers, just reddening poison oak…

Looking up at the cliffs we must climb…

We made it to the viewpoint at Little Hamilton Mountain, in time for lunch and a good look around.

Western view

Mt Hood to the south

Looking down on Strawberry Island, where we hiked last week.

Zooming in on the benches at the top of Strawberry Island.

Eastward view toward Bonneville Dam

And Hamilton Mountain looming behind us – another 1000 feet up, but not today.

We rested in the shade for a bit at the falls on the way down.

Hardy Creek and falls

We have plans for more adventures next month, and hope to finish the year strong, after this time off for my husband’s hand surgery.

May 2024 Hiking, wildflower season…

June 4, 2024 / margaretquilts / Leave a comment

We went on five hikes in May. Though most were repeat hikes, we return for good reason – to see the wildflowers. And we found a new trail with mountain lady slippers in bloom!

May 2, Stacker Butte, WA – We hiked along the road above Dalles Mountain Ranch to the top of Stacker Butte on a foggy day – the clouds lifted and did not rain on us. All the wildflowers were out! (5 miles, 1000 feet)

Looking up from the trailhead…

Paintbrush, lupine, and balsamroot

Daggerpod, desert parsley, large head clover, and buckwheat

Looking toward the crest and some of the many cell towers at the top

Paintbrush, phlox, and all the rest

Lunch view from the top, looking north. Clouds blocked our view of Mt Adams; bight yellow wildflowers painting the slopes above Swale Canyon.

Long view to the east, with wind turbines.

And looking south, back to the river, The Dalles, and Dalles Mountain Ranch.

Lupine and balsamroot

One of many meadow larks, singing.

There is a famous rusted out jalopy near Dalles Mountain Ranch – often seen in flower-filled photographs this time of year. The short trail usually has lots of visitors, but there were none today, so we visited for the first (and likely the last) time, and took our share of photographs.

May 8, Weldon Wagon Road, WA – We took the usual hike up through the forest to the open slopes painted yellow with balsamroot and desert parsley (4.7 miles, 1200 feet).

The open slopes, and Mt Hood

Along the trail

Fern leaf parsley

Bare stem biscuitroot/parsley

May 14, Tom McCall Point, OR – Again, our usual hike to the top, on an almost too warm day, with some later season blooms near the top (4 miles, 1000 feet).

Our objective – Tom McCall Point from Rowena Crest trailhead; Mt Hood peeking up on the right.

Looking back at Rowena Crest, the Columbia River and Mt Adams.

Penstemon, balsamroot, paintbrush and Mt Hood.

Looking toward Lyle Cherry Orchard from the top, and a distant yellow canola? field. We’ve never noticed that before.

Another view down river, with Mt Adams.

Blue flax

Clarkia

Whitestem frasera

And another pass through parsley alley on the return.

May 20, Cape Horn, WA – Our daughter joined us for this hike through the tall larkspur-lined trail – a seasonal treat! (3.3 miles, 600 feet)

Much of the trail looks like this – shady forest and tall larkspur, this time of year.

Larkspur

We walked all the way down to the waterfall viewpoint.

View up the Columbia River to Beacon Rock from the Waterfall Overlook.

A few other wildflowers seen today…

Red columbine, blue-eyed Mary, purple iris, white thimbleberry

Fringecup and larkspur

Honeysuckle

And more larkspur!

May 30, Lady Slipper Trail, Brooks Memorial State Park, WA – This was a new trail for us, about a two hour drive from Portland, in the Simcoe Mountains north of Goldendale, WA. We had heard that the Lady Slipper Trail here was a place one can see the elusive mountain lady slipper orchids. The plants are rare and endangered, so locations are not publicized. The park ranger told us approximately where to look.

Lupine in the picnic area, about 2600 feet elevation.

After lunch in the picnic area, we slowly hiked along the Lady Slipper Loop, looking carefully. We eventually found one patch of about a dozen blooming plants! (1.5 miles, 200 feet)

Mountain lady slippers near the trail

Another few clumps in a nearby clearing

Closer view

The other cheek

With forest beyond

Very pretty!

And we could see Mt Hood in the distance on the return trail.

After our hike, we stopped at the Maryhill Art Museum, as described in the previous post, before driving home. We have certainly seen our share of the wildflowers in May!

May 2024…

May 31, 2024 / margaretquilts / 1 Comment

May was a busy month, with a visit from our daughter being the best part. We also planted our garden, and went on several hikes (next post). I cut out some new quilt block pieces and knit on several projects.

Sewing – Emily taught us to make her famous sock monkeys, and we got a good start. We will finish during her next visit.

Emily’s Sock Monkey

Other monkeys, in progress

Knitting – I finished a shawl and one sock, and started another scarf.

Modified Chloris Shawl

One sock done, one started.

Garter and Lace Scarf made from the Linello yarn I bought in Innsbruk last summer

Quilting – Friends All Around – I cut patches for quilt blocks from the leftover Transparency Quilt fabric.

Tentative patch placement – Modern Quilt Studio – Friends All Around blocks

Garden – We planted tomatoes, basil, cucumbers, marigolds, a few other flowers….

Neighborhood Rainbow – So many things blooming in our neighborhood! I collected a rainbow on my walk one day…

Art Experiences – Emily and I visited our friend Claire’s latest exhibit in a downtown hotel. I love her ability to capture the beauty I see all the time in our favorite natural places.

Paintings by Claire Christy-Tirado

Coyote Wall

View from Timberline

We also saw this nautilus when walking around downtown.

May 30th – We took a short hike at Brooks Memorial State Park outside of Goldendale, WA, then stopped to see the latest exhibit at Maryhill Museum.

The setting…

View from the museum plaza looking …east,

South,

And west.

I was particularly interested in seeing their new exhibit, a collection of historic and new paintings and photographs, arranged in geographic order from east to west along the Columbia River. I’ve shared a few of my favorites below.

The most impressive piece was a four panel journey along the Columbia River – beautiful!

And random extras – We were served by a “robot” waiter in a Burmese Restaurant.

Robot waiter

A lovely Mother’s Day card…

April 2024, hiking, etc…

May 16, 2024May 15, 2024 / margaretquilts / 2 Comments

April is prime wildflower season in the eastern Columbia River Gorge. Before and after our road trip to California in the middle of the month, we hiked some of our favorite wildflower trails.

April 2nd – Tom McCall Preserve/Rowena Crest, OR – We walked the lower section of Tom McCall Preserve, and then a loop on Rowena Plateau, on a day when the balsamroot were just opening, and unusual clouds were reflected in the Columbia River.

Looking back at the Rowena Crest viewpoint

Popcorn flowers in the meadow

Glacier lilies

Balsamroot just starting to bloom at the lower elevations

Fresh balsamroot

Parsley alley, with purple Columbia desert parsley

and fern leaf parsley

Over on Rowena Plateau…

Clouds reflected in the glassy Columbia River

And in the pond on the plateau

April 5th – Memaloose Hills, OR – My childhood friend Susan visited for the first time since the pandemic. We took her to see the balsamroot in the Memaloose Hills, on a slightly rainy and windy day.

Walking up the southside of Chatfield Hill with freshly blooming balsamroot.

More flowers of the day…

Shooting stars and balsamroot

Death camas

Blue-eyed Mary, chocolate lily

Big leaf maple

Buttercups, balsamroot

And we stopped to show her Multnomah Falls on the way home…

Multnomah Falls

April 22nd – Dalles Mountain Ranch, WA – We hiked the Upper Loop near the ranch through these famous blooming fields…

Balsamroot and lupine, Dalles Mountain Ranch

Balsamroot

One tree to rule them all!

Phlox, Mt Hood

April 22nd – Catherine Creek, WA – And we heard that the Lewisia had begun blooming at Catherine Creek, so we made a short side trip up to the Fairy Ponds on our way home.

Bitterroot on basalt

Camas

Swales of camas and orchards of Mosier

Bitterroot

April 30th – Mosier Plateau, OR – A short hike on a slightly rainy day.

Mosier Plateau, and the S curve of Coyote Wall across the Columbia River

Meanwhile, in Portland …

Dogwood and camus were blooming in the neighborhood….

Dogwood

Giant camas

I took my friend to Powell’s Books, where the small art gallery had a display of book art….

I finished knitting a cowl, and made progress on my travel socks…

Ebb and Flow Cowl, pattern by Michele Bernstein; Barrett Wool Company Evenfall yarn

Travelling sock

And in the spirit Keeping Portland Weird, someone in my neighborhood has gone full Mad Hatter’s Tea Party with their yard decor…I love it!

Meme of the month…

March 2024 at home

April 24, 2024 / margaretquilts / Leave a comment

What we did in March besides our east coast trip:

In the neighborhood – We returned from the east coast in time to see cherry trees in bloom, and our neighborhood St Patrick’s Day parade:

Cherry trees at the St Patrick’s Day parade

Windflowers

Hyacinths

Tulip buds

By the end of the month, the cherry blooms had fallen, tulips were in full bloom, and the crabapple was just starting to bloom!

Crabapple

Tulips

Cherry blossom snow

Hikes – My one hike, on March 19, was to Lyle Cherry Orchard, Washington, on a beautiful, windless day. The balsamroot were just beginning to bloom:

View from the first tier up the cliffs – the Convict Road, back to the Columbia River. Columbia Desert Parsley in bloom.

Last of the grass widows under the cliff.

Looking up to our destination…

We saw the first blooming balsam root of the year on our way up.

Looking west on the way down – lots of balsam root starting to bloom on the lower slope.

Balsamroot

Quilting – I finally began to practice sewing with my new Juki machine. I made several sets of potholders out of fabric scraps. They make great gifts for people we were or will be visiting in our travels.

For east coast family,

Portland Airport Carpet fabric on the back…

For California people, fronts,

and backs.

This set for us.

Knitting – I didn’t complete anything this month, but I made time to block the Anthology Throw that I finished earlier this year, and it is very pretty in its final dimensions…

Blocked Anthology Throw, pattern by Curious Handmade.

I picked out some yarn for a scrappy cowl.

Leftover Malabrigo Rios, for a Herringbone Cowl (Purl Soho)

I purchased a new tote bag from the Rose City Yarn Crawl – I love the graphic of my favorite California poppies (more on that next month) as well as Portland roses, and the St John’s Bridge.

Rose City Yarn Crawl tote bag

Shadow of the month…

February, 2024…

March 4, 2024March 4, 2024 / margaretquilts / Leave a comment

I’m trying something new here. My desktop computer is temporarily unavailable to me, along with most of my photo library. This month I will try to create my post using only my iPad, and the photos on my phone…

Around the neighborhood…

My monthly collection of shadows and cracks…

Wildlife in the neighborhood…

Street art, Northwest Portland

Hiking…

I only managed two hikes this month…have I mentioned it has been particularly cold and rainy this year? One urban hike, with friends, and one out in the Columbia River Gorge, at Catherine Creek.

February 4, West Hills Long Walk – It was almost seven miles, and 900 feet elevation, all on pavement, sometimes on busy roads, sometimes across one of several cemeteries that are on the tops of the West Hills. Our friends who live in the neighborhood guided us, as this is their regular walking area. Not my favorite kind of walking, because of the traffic and the pavement, and it turned out to aggravate my hip bursitis, which I am still feeling, darn it! But we did enjoy the time with our friends, and the views across the city.

February 12, Bitterroot Trail at Catherine Creek – We walked about 4 miles, on both the lower and upper trails, looking for grass widows, and we found them. We also saw a few salt and pepper parsleys, and lots of water everywhere. This is my one phone picture of the fairy pools. There are a few purple grass widows in the foreground – though the exposure, looking toward the midday sun, is not ideal.

Fairy pools at Catherine Creek, Washington

Quilting – I finished the top of my Modern Quilt Studio Transparency Quilt – Mystery Quilt. I also made the back, and it is now in my queue for quilting.

These mystery blocks were transformed into…

I am improv piecing the back for my Lodge Quilt, which I made from the Modern Quilt Studio summer mystery quiltalong, using the leftovers from that top. I enjoy the process of improv piecing so much more than the extremely precise sewing and point matching required for the Transparency quilt, but both techniques have their place.

Knitting – I finished a few items – hats for the Puddletown Knitters Guild Service Project, the Mystery Shawl for The Rose City Yarn Crawl Mystery Knitalong, and the most recent pair of socks, and I started a new pair of socks for some upcoming travel knitting…

Six “Warm One” hats for donation, made of Knit Picks Mighty Stitch, held double.

Plumbing!… In December we had a leaky pipe that created a small flood in our basement – we found it and had it fixed before too much damage was done, but it prompted us to replace the 92 year old pipes that run through most of our house. We are currently experiencing the dust and noise created by cutting through plaster and tile – very efficiently, but still not pleasant. Then there will be the patching and painting. Meanwhile, we get a peek inside the walls of our house, which has very good bones…

While preparing for the plumbing work, I took down this twenty year old dragon from the laundry room wall to keep it out of the dust zone.

Quilts in the News….

I did not attend the Quilt Con show in North Carolina. I enjoyed looking at the images on Instagram, and was moved to tears by their Best in Show quilt. The artist, a teacher, crowd sourced the items shown from other teachers, and created this piece. (Images from Instagram)

Split image of front and back of the quilt.

I think the IPad format worked, though a bit time consuming having to learn the new touch prompts. One of the many things I am upgrading this month.

Hiking, January 2024

February 5, 2024 / margaretquilts / Leave a comment

Two hikes in January – it was mostly too cold, wet, icy to hit the trails this month.

First Day Hike – January 1 – Columbia River Gorge and Powell Butte

The skies were blue and the sun was out! We could see the mountain as we drove east out of Portland!

But in the Gorge, the east winds were strong and cold, and fog banks covered many of the slopes. We turned around and drove back to town on the Historic Highway, stopping for views at Vista House. The winds were so strong I could barely open the car door!

Looking east – white caps on the river!

Looking west…

And Vista House.

We stopped again for a quick view from Women’s Forum/Chanticleer Overlook…

Looking back at Vista House, the Columbia River, Beacon Rock…

And then we drove to Powell Butte in east Portland, where hiking trails lead up the sides and around the top of this volcanic butte. It is also the location of an enormous covered reservoir, a main stop in the Portland water system. Lots of other people were there on this sunny first day, so that we had to hike up from the north parking lot on 148th Avenue because the upper lots were all full. But we persisted, and were rewarded, finally, with a chance to stretch our legs a bit on this beautiful day. It was a lot less windy here!

We could see Mt Hood beyond reservoir infrastructure as we reached the top.

The museum at the top utilizes pipes as part of an exhibit that explains the water system

Pipe as embedded surface art.

We made a loop to the high point on top, with better views of Mt Hood,

and Mt St Helens.

Eventually, we returned down the Blackberry Stairs to our car, after a 3.5 mile hike.

Thus we began the New Year as we mean to go on, with weekly hikes. Nature got a little bit the better of us in this regard…there was snow, ice, and below freezing temperatures for a week, and then a fair amount of rain. But I did get out for one more hike in January – to see the eagles!

January 23 – Balfour-Klickitat Natural Area, and Coyote Wall, WA

There was a lot of snow all through the Gorge, and more than I expected in the eastern Gorge. It was quite beautiful, and not as cold as it had been. We drove over the Hood River Bridge to Washington…

Looking east from the bridge

The views across the Columbia River from the Chamberlain Lake Rest Area on Hwy 14 were sparklinging in the sunlight!

We reached The Balfour-Klickitat Natural Area, just west of Lyle, and found that the parking area had not been plowed. We parked just below, on Hwy 14, and walked up along the Klickitat River on a snowshoe trail. We wore microspikes on our boots to assist our grip on the six inches of snow.

Looking back across the Columbia River from near the parking area.

Walking along the Klickitat River Trail

Klickitat River

A perennial stream enters the Klickitat River on the west side of this little lake.

We reached the overlook to the lake where bald eagles congregate this time of year, and there they were! We counted about 25 different eagles over the course of our observations.

The white plumage of bald eagle pops out against the gray tree branches across the lake.

Closer view

Another one

We noticed these two on our side of the lake…

Zooming in…

The more we scanned the landscape, the more we saw, though the brown juvenile birds are harder to see. Then we noticed a snag in the distance that was covered in birds!

Distant snag, circled in blue

Zooming in. Birds were coming and going. There are also three perched in the trees to the left of the snag.

Nine eagles perched on the snag in this view.

There were also ducks down on the lake, and flying about…

Ducks

Eventually the fog started rolling in, so we returned to our car.

Fog

Goodbye to the eagles for this year.

It is always a treat to see them before they return to Canada.

We drove back west on Hwy 8, planning to walk at Catherine Creek, if possible, but it was completely fogged in. We sat in the car, eating our lunch and hoping the fog would move on, but no luck.

Lunch view at the Catherine Creek Trailhead.

We continued west to the Coyote Wall Trailhead, once again parking near Hwy 14, because the parking area was not plowed. We walked under the cliffs, and along Look Lake to the frozen waterfall, and then turned back, as the fog was beginning to settle here, too.