34. Lyle Cherry Orchard and Other Adventures

December 5, 2017 / margaretquilts / Leave a comment

Lyle Cherry Orchard Trail, Washington 12/3/2017 (#57)

What joy to step with boots on the trail again today, – a bright blue sky, bitter wind, December-low-angle light sparkling on the water day -in the eastern Columbia River Gorge. Trail of dirt and stone and oak leaf duff winding up alternately through golden grasslands and black cliffs of the Missoula flood scoured columnar Columbia Plateau basalts. White caps on the river, bare oak branches, luminous grey clouds to the west raining on the Cascade crest, with only the eastern flank of Mt Hood visible in the clouds if you know where to look. Sounds of wind and ravens and the occasional train. Deep memories of where the yellow bells, purple grass widows, golden stars (and poison oak!) will be come spring….

Approach trail

Views from the Convict Road:

East view

West view

Views from the lower plateau:

Along the trail to the upper tier:

Views from our high point:

The way down:

And looking back up from the Convict Road to where we were:

Some details:

We hiked about 3.5 miles, 1000 feet today. We turned back at the cliff high point where the trail heads inland then farther east toward the remnants of the old cherry orchard.

We saw a beautiful interplay of sun and clouds while driving back west.

West view from the Hood River bridge into the gorge

LOOKBACK:

Spring wildflowers:

Yellow Bells on the lower trail, March 2017

Gold stars along the upper switchbacks, March 2017

Grass widows at the upper viewpoint, March 2017

Fall colors:

Poison Oak, October 2016

Orange oak leaves, October 2016

CRAFTING

I distracted myself this week by sewing all the clamshells together on my Atmospheric River quilt.

Each clamshell is 17.5″wide; quilt is 87.5″ square.

I began knitting on Emily’s green scarf.

Other Adventures this week were less pleasant, including a horizontal trip in an MRI machine, several blood draws and waiting rooms, as well as scheduling a surgery date in January to remove something that a doctor discovered by chance while looking for something else. What luck, really – if all goes as planned the long term prognosis is great and there will be no lasting harm. Still it is an unexpected and unasked for journey. So after the emotional trauma of this week, it was with great joy that I ventured on to a dirt and stone trail today in the blue sky, bitter wind, golden hills, and black cliffs of the eastern gorge.

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33. Sun and Rain at Steigerwald National Wildlife Refuge, WA, Thanksgiving weekend

November 28, 2017 / margaretquilts / Leave a comment

Our Thanksgiving drama: Emily home from Oberlin for the long weekend, Sean here, but covering college basketball games at the PK80 tournament at the Rose Garden, Brian also here and working, but not on Thanksgiving. Good friends to join us for dinner. I baked the pies in the morning, the casseroles in the early afternoon and started the oven to roast the 9 pound turkey at 3 pm. I rinsed the brine and trussed the bird – and the oven was only at 170 degrees. Ten minutes later, only 175 degrees. Eventually realized the oven is never going to get to 500 – it gradually rose to 300 degrees, hot enough to reheat the casseroles, but something is wrong! Our neighbors generously allowed us to use their oven when their turkey was done, so we were able to eat about 2 hours later than planned – another Thanksgiving dinner that couldn’t be beat (thank you Arlo Guthrie), with plenty of leftovers for the next day. The silver lining was that Sean was home from work by the time dinner was ready.

Steigerwald Lake and Columbia River Dike 11/26/2017 (#56)

Post-Thanksgiving time/sun window Sunday morning after other family members delivered to airport/work. We drove about 25 minutes to the trailhead near Washougal, Washington.

Bright sun and clouds at the start of the trail.

Clouds closing in from the west. Tundra Swans in the lake beyond the closed art trail gate.

Noisy Canada geese in the distance as a bald eagle flies above them then alights in a tree above the first bridge. We also saw a smaller hawk rustling up the geese.

On to the second bridge as the sun dims and the clouds close in — a few wind gusts, a squall, large fat raindrops spatter us and cast rings in the lake. Three ducks in a row swim away. Other hikers heading back to the trail head. By the time we get our hoods up, lenses wiped, the rain has lessened to sprinkle, drizzle, mist. We are prepared for this.

We continue on to the dike and walk east above the Columbia River, Vista House on the horizon through a shroud of clouds closing in. We walk all the way to the closed gate, though I believe the land beyond is soon to be added to the conserved space. Wind blowing east with the clouds, and the wave caps give the illusion of the river flowing upstream…

Vista House across the Columbia River

Returning the same way, and the rain returns.

Back to the trailhead, with a few more photo stops. Light has changed again. Time to get inside, get dry.

White tundra swans in the far lake

We walked about 4 miles round trip.

LOOKBACK:

The Steigerwald is a close-in go-to place for us – the light is always spectacular, there is often a resident bald eagle, we often see waterfowl – heron, duck, geese, swans, and on a clear day, the top of Mt Hood is on view.

March 2015

August 2015

March 2016

Vista House, March 2015

Vista House and Mt Hood, August 2015

Ice on the lake, December 2016

Flying geese:

March 2016

CRAFTING:

Our Thanksgiving tableau includes one of Emily’s glove turkeys and several knitted pumpkins.

Woven apple pie crust.

New yarn for a green scarf for Emily

There is a medical issue to be dealt with, so I am adding some words of wisdom for the days ahead:

30. Coyote Wall, WA

November 8, 2017 / margaretquilts / Leave a comment

Little Moab trail on a misty day. Nov 6, 2017 (#53)

Monday was supposed to be clear in the eastern gorge after a rainy weekend, but the clouds did not move out until afternoon. Fortunately, the misting rain at the Coyote Wall trailhead dried up about the time we got our boots on. We walked the old road section, admiring the remains of fall colors, then wound our way up the cliffs of the Little Moab trail.

Dried flower seed heads in the grass,

lichen and moss on the rocks,

fog on the top of the wall,

all the views across the windless glassy Columbia River to the Mosier/Lyle/Rowena viewpoints.

‘Twas a good hike at Coyote Wall, with only a few other hikers and bikers sprinkled through our day.

4.6 miles/1300’

LOOKBACK:

We have hiked here many times – to see the first grass widows in February,

February 2015

the brilliant balsamroot in April,

April 2017

the autumnal colors of fall, as we saw today, and snow in winter:

December 2015

I am hoping someday the trail below the wall will reopen to hikers – it would be a lovely loop.

Knitting, spinning, quilting:

I have spun more singles and plied, skeined and washed my first practice yarn.

I cast on a Sonic Six hat with the tubular 1×1 rib cast on in Total Eclipse yarn and am enjoying knitting the slip stitch pattern.

I finished the fourth of the blue and purple washcloths.

I have sewn the first two rows of the Atmospheric River clamshell quilt – so far, so good.

27. Cape Horn Loop, Columbia River Gorge, Washington

October 18, 2017October 23, 2017 / margaretquilts / 1 Comment

Cape Horn Loop October 14, 2017 (#50 – hikes in 2017)

On a beautiful fall day, after several days of rain, we went with friends to the Cape Horn trail just east of Washougal, WA. This view shows the massive cliffs of Cape Horn from Angel’s Rest on the Oregon side of the river. Our trail will follow the road down to the lower green fields, then traverse west along the lower cliffs before heading back up hill to the top of the mountain.

October 2014 Cape Horn viewed from Angel’s Rest

Fog draped the summit when we arrived, so we chose to hike clockwise around the loop, our first views being the highway 14 viaduct above us as we completed the road walk.

From the road, the trail then enters the forest, and emerges onto the open mossy scree slopes above the cliffs adjacent to the waterfall (which was at very low flow).

We reached the lowest part of the trail above the Columbia River, and could look east to see Cigar Rock.

Eastward view toward Beacon Rock, Phoca Rock; fog topped cliffs

We continued across the cliffs, and opted for the westernmost loop that leads onto a promontory above the western entrance to the train tunnel that cuts through the cliff beneath us.

From here, the trail heads upward through various switchback sections, with spurs to the Oak and Waterfall viewpoints, then through the trail tunnel under highway 14, and finally up to the Nancy Russell Overlook, where plenty of other hikers were resting.

We saw two giant baguettes being transported by barge (or was it sawdust)?

There is a distinct sandbar in the river channel below glinting in the sun.

Next, the traverse along property boundaries to the actual highest point – Pioneer viewpoint. By this time the fog had evaporated.

View to the east upriver from Pioneer Point

View to west from Pioneer Point, including Hwy 14 viaduct

From there it is all downhill, down the steep switchbacks to the trailhead. We were a bit early for the fall color display, and saw only one flower, a penstemon, whereas in the spring the trail is lined by hanging gardens of wildflowers.

The last penstemon

It was a lovely day for a hike. On a side note, the turftoe plate I was using in my right boot seemed to delay the onset of pain in my arthritic big toe for a couple of miles, and I hope this tool will allow me to continue with longer hikes.

Total for the day: 7.5 miles, 1350 feet.

Look back:

We have hiked this trail several times – though we have only completed the full loop a couple of times because the lower cliff area is closed from February to July for peregrine falcon nesting. In 2014, when we hiked the lower loop, we saw a train exit the tunnel beneath us.

The most striking comparison is the new view of burned up Angel’s Rest, almost directly across from Cape Horn on the Oregon side of the river. Green in the past, it is now brown.

Angel’s Rest 2014

Angel’s Rest 2017

Crafting:

I have knit two more tortillas and a square purple wash cloth, as well as mended four pairs of hand knit socks in time for winter.

I have been planning my giant clam shell quilt, but have not yet made a satisfactory template. More on that later.

25. Early Fall in the Gifford Pinchot

October 4, 2017October 9, 2017 / margaretquilts / Leave a comment

September 30, 2017 Rainy weekend predicted; possible dry window Saturday to the east of Portland; Indian Heaven still closed from the Crater Fire; windy along the Columbia River. We decided to try some short hikes in the Gifford Pinchot National Forest between Mt Adams and Indian Heaven, near Trout Lake, WA.

Our first drive through the Columbia River Gorge since the fire: Good photos are posted in official feeds elsewhere. I was pleased to see how much is not burned. That said, it was sobering to see the extent of the burn: blackened trees on the skyline, blackened forest floors down to the highway in some places, blackened trunks on still green trees. I felt great appreciation for the fire fighting, for the massive cleanup that has already occurred, and for the challenge ahead. We will be back someday but not soon.

Through the passenger window of a moving car: Blackened trees on the skyline; slash piles below.

We got a glimpse of Mt Adams and an intense, wide rainbow just as we entered Trout Lake.

Mt Adams from Trout Lake

Rainbow, Trout Lake, WA

Steamboat Mountain (#48)

This short hike (1.5 miles, 400′) is touted by Scott Cook in his Curious Gorge book to have some of the best views of the Cascades and a relatively easy trail. The weather was not in our favor, though. When we parked at the trailhead/quarry, we could just see the top of Steamboat Mountain from the base.

Steamboat Mtn from the trailhead

As we hiked up the well graded trail through red huckleberry the clouds closed in.

From the rocky top, I could just make out our Suburu parked at the base, but no mountains, no views.

Looking down at our Suburu (center of photo) from the top

We ate our lunch, hiked down. We were reminded that we are now in hunting season, as people were firing guns just on the other side of the quarry.

Langfield Falls

Driving back south toward Trout Lake, we visited Langfield Falls, just east of Tire Junction. There is a short trail down to the waterfall viewpoint, and another user trail along the creek above the falls. A spatter of rain, a lovely waterfall.

Langfield Falls

Natural Bridge

Back to Trout Lake, then west about 5 miles, is the Natural Bridge area- a collapsed lava tube with bridges in places of incomplete collapse. A friend from the Portland Hikers Facebook group had tipped us off to brilliant fall color here, and we found this to be true – even if we were early for the full show. The inner collapsed tube is overgrown with vine maples that blazed in gradation through the spectrum from bright green, to yellow green, yellow, yellow orange, orange, red orange and red: the analogous colors from half the color wheel on view. We wandered around for a while, and Dan set up his tripod as we waited for sunbreaks to illuminate the scene.

One of the Natural Bridges

Dan with tripod

22. Mt St Helens Boundary Trail

September 13, 2017September 24, 2017 / margaretquilts / Leave a comment

Eagle Creek fire update as of 9/11/17: 34000 acres, 7% contained.

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USFS Incident Map

Boundary Trail toward Harry’s Ridge 9/10/2017 (#45)

The skies are alternating blue and cloudy today. Unsure of any firesafe place east of us, we opted to drive north to Johnston Ridge, Mt St Helens National Monument. Clouds that were floating at mountain level when we arrived late morning evaporated during the day.

Mt St Helens

We hiked the Boundary Trail toward Harry’s Ridge.

Coldwater Peak, north of the Boundary Trail

Toutle River, pumice plain

The trail that used to go along a steep, cliffy slope to the grand viewpoint at Devil’s Elbow is now closed. The new alternate route cuts over the ridge, and has a view to Spirit Lake from the pass at the top of the cutoff. We stopped there for lunch.

Lunch stop at the top of the new cut off trail, with view to Spirit Lake

I decided it was too hot to continue, so hiked slowly back to the observatory. Dan went on to Harry’s Ridge then met me back at the observatory later. I had the chance to watch the excellent 16 minute film that simulates the eruption and illustrates the forces of nature during the 1980 eruption.

View while hiking back toward Johnston Observatory

Looking east from the observatory toward Mt Adams

Mt Adams

There are straggling summer flowers in bloom – lupine of both large and dwarf varieties, penstemon, paintbrush, yarrow, an abundant yellow composite, and equally abundant white pearly everlasting gilding the slopes, and standing out strongly in contrast to the early reds of fall.

Pearly everlasting

lupine

Red fall foliage

Lupine

penstemon

We stopped at Coldwater Lake to walk the boardwalk trail that illustrates the Birth of the Lake. It was peaceful and beautiful there, with excellent views of Minnie Peak and Mt St. Helens. It is pleasant to walk through shady foliage after spending time in the blast zone. My total mileage for the day was about 5 miles/800 feet.

Coldwater Lake

Coldwater Lake, Mt. St Helens

Coldwater Lake, Minnie Peak

LOOKBACK:

Boundary Trail to Harry’s Ridge – we have hiked this trail in several seasons, with different views of the mountain:

June 2016

September 2017

Inner crater dome close up June 2016

September 2017

Coldwater Lake:

In March of 2015, a low snow year, we walked the 12 mile loop around Coldwater Lake. The foliage was mostly dormant and brown. We had views of the mountain, walked by the abandoned logging machinery destroyed by the blast, got some closer views of Minnie Peak.

March 2015 Minnie Peak and old logging machinery on Coldwater Ridge

March 2015 Minnie Peak

March 2015

September 2017 Mt St Helens and Coldwater Lake

In Spring of 2017 we were in the area hiking the Hummocks trail, and we visited the Science and Learning Center, which gave us a snowy view of the boardwalk that we walked on today.

February 2017 Looking down on Coldwater Lake

18. Late Summer on Mt Adams, Stagman Ridge Trail

August 24, 2017November 9, 2017 / margaretquilts / Leave a comment

Stagman Ridge, Mt. Adams, Washington 8/20/2017 (#42)

Looking for a hike that avoided wildfire smoke and eclipse traffic, we headed to the west side of Mt. Adams, north of Trout Lake, WA. This was our first time hiking this trail. We like to hike in Bird Creek Meadows this time of year, but that area is closed due to the massive Cougar Creek Fire of 2015. The area around Stagman Ridge was also recently burned, by the Cascade Creek Fire of 2012. The trail traverses through burned forest, with occasional forays into unburned terrain. The silver lining is mountain views through the ghost trees.

In many burned places the underlayer is green, topped by a pink swath of fireweed. Pearly everlasting and golden rod are abundant at lower elevations.

Pearly everlasting, fireweed, goldenrod

fireweed

pearly everlasting

golden rod

Higher up, the last of the asters, lupine and licorice root were hanging on in shady areas.

aster

lupine

penstemon

licorice root

thistle

orange agerosis

dwarf bramble

aster

corn lily

The open meadow at about mile 3 was green but past bloom – most likely thanks to the intense two week heat wave of early August. I would like to return when this meadow is in full bloom – with the open view of Mt Adams to the east – it is a lovely spot.

Glacier close up

We continued on past the meadow to the Graveyard trail junction, then crossed the small creek and headed west toward Lookingglass Lake. Riparian flowers lined the creek crossings.

gentian

second creek

paintbrush

cinquefoil

first creek

We decided the crossing of Cascade Creek looked difficult so we turned back after a rest at the water with great views of the mountain.

On the way down, we noticed the distance views of Mt St Helens, Mt Hood and west toward Indian Heaven.

Mt St Helens

Mt Hood

There were plenty of huckleberries for the picking. Berries, flower seedheads and tints of red foliage in the huckleberry and vine maple foreshadow the coming of fall.

fairy bells

huckleberry

spirea

corn lily

Cascade Mountain ash

bitter cherry

columbine seed heads

mountain ash

huckleberry

thimble berry

A few other items of interest along the way:

lichen and roots

ghost tree

My first time seeing pine drops

Our hike was approximately 9 miles with 1500 feet elevation gain, and the flower count was 34, with 5 berries.

gps track

34 flowers/5 berries

Mementos from my Peruvian travelers:

Knitting:

two more tortillas for the collection

And of course, the Eclipse, which I watched at 99% in my front yard:

12. Ridgefield Wildlife Refuge

July 11, 2017July 11, 2017 / margaretquilts / Leave a comment

Kiwa Trail 7/4/2017 (#36)

Field view, Mt. St. Helens in the distance

Trailhead

Shaded wetlands

Wooded path

We celebrated 4th of July with a midday stroll along the Kiwa Trail at Ridgefield National Wildlife Refuge, Washington. The one and a half mile loop trail crosses through treed areas, open fields and wetlands.

WIldflower/weed lined paths

Dan on a wetland bridge

teasel

Birders love this trail – we were surrounded by much birdsong and glimpsed a few, including redwing blackbird sentinels. The trail is closed during winter nesting season, and I can easily imagine the fields full of swans and geese. Today was warm and dry with only a few clouds, so not much wildlife viewing. We appreciated the vistas, the quiet, the ambient sounds, and the splash of color from the midsummer wildflowers.

Sounds:

bullfrog – a deep bass mooing,
birds – higher pitched tweets, warbles, pips and chirps,
train – periodic horn blast and thrum of wheels on rails,
breeze in trees – intermittent light percussive ruffling,
country band – occaisional wafts from the Ridgefield 4th of July celebration, less than a mile away as the crow flies,

Critters: tree frog, turtle, butterfly, redwing blackbird, other birds.

turtle

tree frog

I noticed wapato plants with acute triangular leaves and three petaled white flowers growing in one of the wetlands. The bright green leaves reflect the sunlight in an array of pointed spaceships, ready for takeoff, and also shadowed transparency with interesting intersecting shapes in the bright sunlight.

The wapato blooms are bright white with three petals.

Other blooming wildflowers/weeds were mostly dry season holdovers – many noted for growing in disturbed areas. The refuge is a reclaimed pastureland, after all.