Coyote Wall, WA (18-49)

November 7, 2018 / margaretquilts / Leave a comment

As we drove toward Hood River to cross the bridge to the Washington side of the gorge, we noticed fire burning high on the slopes above White Salmon. We realized it must be a controlled/slash burn, not a wildfire, thankfully.

Little Moab and Old Ranch Road Trails, November 3, 2018 (#60)

We walked up Coyote Wall about half way on an overcast day.

Walking along Old Highway 8 to the trail up Coyote Wall.

First view to the east – a different perspective on the fruit orchards east of Mosier from our Catherine Creek hike last week.

Approaching one of the viewpoints over Coyote Wall on the Little Moab Trail.

Looking over the wall and up. The sky is a bit smoky from the fire above White Salmon, just over the hill.

We begin to see the shoulders of Mt Hood under clouds to the south.

Junction of Little Moab and Old Ranch Road trails. We are headed up.

Lunchtime view to the east

Lunchtime view to the south

Lunchtime view up Coyote Wall

We decided to head down, as the wind was picking up and blowing more smoke toward us. 4.3 miles, 1000 feet for the day.

Looking back up to where we had been on Coyote Wall from the trail head.

Lookback:

Comparing fall and spring views:

View to the east, October 2018

April 2017

View toward Mt Hood, October 2018

April 2017

Knitting

I am blocking the Ivy Cardigan, and I finished another round dishcloth.

Neighborhood

The fall colors have been a pleasure to walk through – my camera can’t quite catch them and yet I try.

A Crisp Fall Day at Catherine Creek, WA (18-48)

November 1, 2018 / margaretquilts / Leave a comment

Catherine Creek Arch Trail, October 27, 2018 (#59)

We walked a loop above the arch and part way up Tracy Hill, then dropped down into the oak and big leaf maple-lined canyon in front of the arch. Windless day, river like glass, slanting sun through the clouds enhancing the fall colors.

First stop near the trail head – looking across the Columbia River to the fruit orchards east of Mosier, Oregon.

Our path along the far side of the canyon.

Walking upward toward Tracy Hill.

Looking over dry flower heads back to the river.

Lunch view from the knob just north of the arch.

Lunch view to the eastern gorge, Rowena Plateau and Memaloose Island.

From our high point on Tracy Hill the lowest shoulders of Mt Hood can be seen under the clouds.

Heading down to Catherine Creek.

Orange oak trees, yellow big leaf maple trees.

The pinnacles of Catherine Creek.

We walk by the Arch….

And continue our way back to the trail head, feeling refreshed, before heading back to the rest of our rainy weekend in Portland. 3 miles, 600 feet.

On our way to the hike today, we stopped at the Women’s Forum Viewpoint on the Historical Columbia River Highway to look at the view of Vista House, Beacon Rock and beyond.

Knitting

The back and one and a half front panels of the Ivy Cardigan.

Fall Colors at Home

Owl Point and Hoyt Arboretum, OR (18-45)

October 17, 2018October 17, 2018 / margaretquilts / Leave a comment

Owl and Alki Points and the Rockpile from Vista Ridge October 12, 2018

This was our first hike on the Owl Point trail, which follows the northern edge of Vista Ridge and leads to views of the north side of Mt Hood and the Clear Branch valley below. Much of the lower elevation landscape was burned by the Dollar Lake Fire in 2011.

The first views from the 0.3 mile trail junction display the luminous seed heads of abundant fireweed at the edge of the burn zone.

Pearly everlasting and fireweed

The trail leads along the ridge, mostly through forest with a few viewpoint and meadow openings.

A meadow

Fungus along the trail

Beargrass and huckleberry

The first major viewpoint along the trail is called The Rockpile:

Approaching The Rockpile

Dan at The Rockpile

We went on a short way to Owl Point where we had lunch and signed in at the trail register.

Owl Point

Dan at Owl Point

The next views are a panorama from northeast to south:

Upper Hood RIver valley in the distance

Laurance Lake

Continuing south – Clear Branch Valley

Lower flanks of Mt Hood and the Dollar Lake burn

Mt Hood

Leaving Owl Point:

Finally we went on to Alki Point which let us look north into Washington on this brilliant blue day.

Alki Point – first Mt Rainier (behind Mt Defiance) and Mt Adams come into view.

Farther out on the point, we can also see Mt St Helens.

On our return, we stopped at the 0.8 mile overlook with a better sun angle. The one yellow tree, possibly a larch, stood out in front of The Pinnacle in the grey foothills leading up to the mountain.

Barrett Spur in front of Mt Hood

Coe Glacier close up

We enjoyed this trail for great views of Mt Hood from a new aspect.

Huckleberry foliage

5.4 miles. 800 feet. (#56)

Hoyt Arboretum October 14, 2018

We also took a three mile wander with our son along trails in Hoyt Arboretum in the west hills of Portland to see the fall colors. (#57)

Aralia with birds eating the berries:

Sassafras

CRAFTING

I finished the Fiore Washcloth.

Steigerwald Lake, WA (18-44)

October 10, 2018 / margaretquilts / Leave a comment

Steigerwald National Wildlife Refuge 10-7-2018

Rainy weekend. We were too early for the migrating birds, but saw foggy cliffs across the Columbia River, a few waterbirds and reflections in Gibbons Creek and Redtail Lake, late season flowers, berries and a few fall colors. (hike#55) 4.4 miles

Late lupine, berries, fog on the cliffs across the river.

I always appreciate the welcoming path entrance.

Teasel, blackberry

Water birds on Gibbons Creek

Evening Primrose

Chicory

Fuzzy lettuce lines the path

Views of Vancouver Point and Reed Island from the dike path.

The door to the art trail is closed for winter nesting season. Time for the birds to come home.

Fish ladder

We walked to the end of the refuge.

Sand bars between Reed Island and the Washington shore.

Vista House under the fog on the Oregon cliffs.

On our return walk we saw a few more birds.

Snowy egret across the channel

We learned from a trail steward that the refuge is planning to breach the dikes to the Columbia River to reestablish the natural flood plains and wildlife habitat, beginning sometime next year.

Knitting

I finished another round dish cloth.

I started knitting a Fiore washcloth. I learned the picot cast on, and I am relearning stranded knitting and catching floats for this project.

Garden

Zinnias and peppers

Sumac

NE Portland changing colors. View from a walk up Alameda Ridge.

Cloud Cap and Timberline Trail, Mt Hood, Oregon (18-37)

September 5, 2018 / margaretquilts / 1 Comment

Eliot East Moraine and Timberline Trail High Point 8/31/18 (Hike#46)

We have hiked here a few times. This is our first time taking the Eliot East Moraine trail along the crest of the moraine.

Once up the steep sandy ascent to the crest of the moraine, there is a fabulous view to the Eliot Glacier, and the glacial valley below, the entire way to the Cloud Cap Shelter.

Mt Hood and the Eliot Glacier

Looking east to the high desert

I enjoy zooming in on the textures, crevasses, and steep edges of the Eliot Glacier and the rocky exposed top of Mt Hood in late summer.

The moraine trail joins the Timberline Trail near Cloud Cap Shelter:

Approaching Cloud Cap Shelter.

Cloud Cap Shelter; Cooper Spur and Mt Hood beyond.

After visiting the Cloud Cap Shelter we continued south on the Timberline trail, up and down the wrinkles of the mountains’ flank, to the 7300’ high point of the trail. Clouds intermittently floated across the top of Mt Hood. We could see the faraway peaks of Mt Adams, Rainier and Jefferson above the blanket of clouds in the distance.

The only snowfield we crossed this year.

North view to Mts Rainier and Adams

South view to Mt Jefferson, Lamberson Butte and the Timberline Trail continuing south.

By the time we retraced our steps north, the clouds had diminished.

Cloud Cap Shelter again.

The high desert beyond the clouds

We saw a marmot on the Eliot Moraine, and a blue bird on the Timberline Trail.

marmot

blue bird on the rock, Mt Adams beyond

Not many flowers.

Tiny lupine

Aster

Pink monkeyflower

yarrow

buckwheat

goldenweed

The rusty, red and yellow fall hues are beginning to color the vegetation on the rocky alpine slopes.

6 miles, 1600 feet.

Lookback:

I like to review my photos from previous hikes to compare conditions. There was a lot more snow during our hike a month earlier last year.

Mt Hood from Timberline trail, August 31, 2018

Mt Hood from Timberline trail, July 28, 2017

And a lot more flowers, and a better view of the distant mountains last year.

August 31, 2018

July 28, 2017 – lupine, Mt St Helens, Rainier and Adams

CRAFTING

I cast on another round washcloth, and I have been swatching the Song yarn, trying decide what to make with it.

We walked through the Art In The Pearl street fair on Labor Day and admired the beautiful artwork. This piece, by artist Kathy Ross, I found especially inspiring.

Kathy Ross, artist, Art in the Pearl, Portland, Oregon, September 2018

Smoky week in Portland / Return to Vista Ridge (18-35)

August 21, 2018 / margaretquilts / 1 Comment

Northward view from the Timberline Trail on Mt Hood. Mt St Helens, Mt Rainier and Mt Adams float above the gray smoke layer.

August 16, 2018

I mailed the baby and Welcome Blanket quilts while breathing wildfire smoke. While feeling a papery dry sand feeling in my mouth. While watching the blood red sun set though the haze.

Today there is an orange sky at noon. It is too hot to go outside, and there is an ashy taste on my tongue.

It’s wildfire season.

Smoke is disseminated through the atmosphere blotting out the sun, the views, and the cool air we are supposed to get from the ocean.

If this keeps up, if global temperatures continue to rise, will we find out what it was like to be the dinosaurs when they died?

It was supposed to be a meteor, but there were also Deccan flood basalts, and/or a climate change with wild fires – all valid hypotheses and maybe all had a combined role…

Meanwhile, oppressive haze and heat keep me indoors instead of outside where I could be walking, hiking or gardening.

The air feels dusty and my lungs feel the burn –

It reminds me of the San Fernando Valley of my youth, before cars had smog devices, when we could hardly ever see the Santa Monica Mountains, or the San Gabriel Mountains, but on really bad days we couldn’t even see the Mission Hills.

Now we have fire season. Our beautiful forests burn and the smoke infiltrates our adjacent valleys, so even though we are not in the burn zone, we must breathe the smoke or alter our activities to avoid breathing outside. This is the second August in a row that has been the season of burning, of wildfires, of dreading the views of the torched landscape, not to mention the threat to lives and livelihood of those that live closer to or in the forest. Of knowing that the beautiful places that we hike into for recreation and healing are changed beyond recognition, and though they may return to green someday, they will not be a comforting place to go for years….

Return to Vista Ridge 8/17/18 (Hike # 44)

Speaking of burn zones – this is our sixth year hiking up Vista Ridge on Mt Hood. Today the regional smoke and heat have decreased enough to allow us to go for a hike.

Pearly everlasting and fireweed along the Vista Ridge trail.

Once again through the burn zone with fireweed and pearly everlasting, huckleberries, goldenrod and berries of Sitka mountain ash.

Stka Mountain Ash

Fireweed

Pearly everlasting

Goldenrod and fireweed

Once again through the meadows along the Timberline Trail, this time to the west, toward Ladd Creek.

Mt Hood from the Timberline Trail near Wyeast Basin

Close up of Coe and Ladd Glaciers

Meadows along the trail

Paintbrush

Partridgefoot

Pasque flower

Monkey flower

By the time we reached the Ladd crossing it was too late in the day, too deep to cross without wading.

We stopped there for lunch then retraced our steps, back to the Wyeast basin with far reaching views of snow capped peaks floating above the smoke shroud that covers the Washington landscape.

Clear Branch Creek in Wyeast Basin. Mts Rainier and Adams beyond.

Back down through fireweed in the burn zone, we say ‘Hi’ to a few ghost trees again, nibble the huckleberries, and make our way to the trailhead.

My legs were feeling it today – I am getting back into shape, but still have a ways to go to recover my fitness. Photo note – many of the photos in this post were taken by my husband – I only had my cell phone with me.

8 miles/1600 feet

Knitting

I finished the Cornwall socks!

Lan Su Chinese Garden, Portland, OR (18-33)

August 15, 2018 / margaretquilts / Leave a comment

August 6, 2018

One last garden visit with my sister: We spent a morning strolling through this peaceful setting, a haven of tranquility surrounded by bustling Old Town in the heart of Portland. The Lan Su Garden, modeled after 16th century Suzhou-style Chinese gardens, was assembled by Chinese artisans in China and reassembled in Portland in 2000.

The entrance garden sets the tone –

We walked through the portal to the lily ponds beyond.

Blooming water lilies and colorful koi are visually captivating.

Paths through the garden wend through outdoor rooms and intricately carved and ornamented buildings.

bonsai

Calligraphy studio

An art exhibit displayed exotic and ordinary biota fashioned from clay.

In another room, we drew fortune sticks, and then found our numbered fortunes in a drawer.

My hard working teacher sister had number 6. I am lucky to be her sister, and lucky about many other things, so I felt good about pulling number 38.

Another path leads by a waterfall grotto and views of a different kind of blooming lotus:

The paths are made of patterned stone – each stone carefully placed. Some remind me of quilting patterns.

Windows are also patterned beautifully.

We stopped in the tea room for some delicious iced tea and almond cookies.

Tea room

View from the tea room, city rooftops beyond the garden

Back in the entrance way for a parting view, including the dragon fish on the roof.

Afterward, we paid a short visit to nearby Powell’s City of Books – she found a title she was looking for, and I saw this beautifully covered collection of science and math books.

Crafting:

I have turned the heel on my second Cornwall sock and so am racing toward the toe and contemplating what to knit next…

My daughter returned to college in Ohio, leaving me one of her latest creations as a parting gift.

James, the sock monkey

Once again no hike this week – we were trying for Burnt Lake on Friday, but it was sooo hot, and the air still smoky, and many dominoes fell out of place so we abandoned that trip. It might be a good fall hike.

One of the new bowls I bought for my birthday.

Weldon Wagon Road (18-12)

March 27, 2018March 27, 2018 / margaretquilts / Leave a comment

Weldon Wagon Road trail 3-25-2018 (#12)

Early flowers were out along this trail through the oak woodlands and open slopes in southwest Washington above the White Salmon River near Husum. This was my most elevation gained so far as I recover (4.5 miles/1300 foot rise), and I felt good. Progress!

Lower trail through oak woodlands

Views to the open slopes ahead.

A seat with a view at the halfway point

Last spring, the exposed upper slopes were a bright green and yellow balsam root meadow. Today we saw just one plant blooming along the trail,

and otherwise, the meadows and woodlands were still waking up, sprinkled with grass widows, buttercups, a few prairie stars, toothwort, yellow bells, blue eyed Mary, and Columbia Desert Parsley.

hound’s tongue

lupine foliage

blue-eyed Mary

yellow bells

grass widows and buttercups

yellow parsley

Columbia Desert Parsley

buttercups

Heading down in the afternoon

LOOKBACK: to May 2017 when the balsam root was in bloom-

May 2017

Knitting

Another scrappy tortilla washcloth for the 2018 stack:

I reknit the toes of the socks I finished last week so that the stripes would match.

The reknit toes

Elgol Cross Stitch update

I have been filling in the foreground with shadows and light – mostly pinks:

Cross stitch depicting the view from Elgol on the Isle of Skye.

Blooming in the garden

Tulips opening

Euphorbia

Shadows on a neighborhood stair

Spring creeping in…. (18-10)

March 12, 2018March 12, 2018 / margaretquilts / Leave a comment

Powell Butte Nature Park March 10, 2018 (#9)

Rainy week, sun on the weekend, warming trend. On Friday we hiked up this volcanic butte from the 148th Avenue trailhead. Excellent signage at the top explains the history and function of the butte as the main storage reservoirs of the entire Portland water system.

Water distribution schematic

Display of pipes that deliver our water, framing Silver Star Mountain

Cloudy skies so the Cascade peaks were not in view, but the sun was shining to the north on Silver Star Mountain and friends in Washington.

Silver Star Mountain

Old orchard on the top of Powell Butte

Crows in the orchard

We circled back through Douglas fir and cedar forests. A few early wildflowers were spotted.

Cedar forest

Toothwort

Indian plum

The Elderberry Trail stairs allow a quick descent.

A good close in walk, about 4.2 miles/500 feet.

Quilting:

The Jane Austen quilt is all done except the label and some good photos – hopefully by next week.

In my garden:

hyacinths

Late season snow (18-8)

February 27, 2018 / margaretquilts / 1 Comment

More Snow in Portland 2/26/2018

Intermittent snow and rain all week. I went for several long walks in the neighborhood but no hiking adventures.

Quilting Progress:

Stitch in the ditch on the Jane Austen replica quilt. I have finished the center sashing with an off-white 50 wt thread, and am working on the outside diamonds using the same diamond pattern and a navy 50 wt thread. I still haven’t decided what quilting design to use for the center medallion. And I am contemplating the binding choices. I would like to finish this quilt before we (hopefully) see the real Jane Austen quilt in England later this year.

Knitting Finish!

Bound off the Girl in the Neurosurgery Ward shawl (Girl From The Grocery Store by Joji Locatelli), and posted it as a Ravellenics WIPs Dancing project (Ravelry username knitwish).

And another win!

I won a copy of Margaret Goes Modern, a collection of quilting short stories, from the author, Frances O’Roark Dowell! Frances is one of my favorite quilting podcasters and a great storyteller. In her podcast, The Off Kilter Quilt, Frances speaks about her quilts in progress, her writing projects (she is a successful children/young adult author, recently branching into quilt-inspired adult fiction), and her adventures in parenting and other life adventures. I listen to many knitting and quilting podcasts, preferring the homegrown variety where the podcaster shares a bit of their own life, complaints or noncomplaints about the weather, jobs, traffic, etc, along with their creative endeavors. From these podcasts I feel I get some “real” news about life in other parts of the world from the point of view of someone living there. I am looking forward to reading this book!