Two wildlife refuges, Indian Heaven, and trying to keep up with fall colors, Sept-Oct 2019

October 13, 2019October 30, 2019 / margaretquilts

It has been a busy couple of weeks – a quilt show, a fiber festival, hikes at two wildlife refuges and Indian Heaven Wilderness. Meanwhile, the Mac hard drive is off at the Genius repair shop. I am learning blog work-arounds via iPad.

Friday, September 27 – I attended the Northwest Quilt Expo, admired all the quilts and photographed many. This vintage Tile Friendship Quilt (circa 1900, maker unknown) from the Latimer Quilt Museum, was very interesting. Seemingly random shapes are appliquéd to a plain background, each signed by a different maker in true Friendship Quilt style. It looks very modern, but it is old and entirely hand stitched!

I bought a few fat eighths to add to a batik quilt in my mental UFO list.

Sunday, September 29 -I visited the Oregon Flock and Fiber Festival in Canby, Oregon, just long enough to buy a lighter weight spindle and more fiber to practice drop spinning.

Then we went to the Tualatin River National Wildlife Refuge, our first visit there, and walked around the perimeter. Not many birds have arrived yet, but there are great overlooks and a nice winter trail for future visits. (Hike#44, 3.6 miles)

Great Blue Heron

Hawthorne berries

Looking across the refuge – soon this will be flooded with water and birds.

Great Blue Heron on the return trail.

Saturday, October 5 – We went to the Ridgefield National Wildlife Refuge in Washington during their season closing bird fest. We walked the Kiwa Trail and part of the newly opened Carty Lake trail, and also went inside the Chinook Plankhouse to look around. (Hike#45, 3.2 miles)

Turtles

Sand Hill Cranes

Sand Hill Cranes in flight.

Great Horned Owl

Carty Lake

Chinook plank house

Inside the plankhouse.

Chinook Salmon trap

Sunday, October 6 – We joined friends for a hike in Indian Heaven Wilderness – from the East Crater trailhead to Junction and Lemei Lakes. Late fall colors, thawed mushrooms and blueberries, very pretty. (Hike#46, 8.8 miles, 1000 feet)

East Crater beyond one of many small lakes along the trail.

Junction Lake

Lemei Rock

Lemei Lake

Neighborhood walks – Meanwhile, in Northeast Portland, the days grow shorter, the light angles lower, the leaves more colorful.

Katsura trees

Sumac

Neighborhood witches hunting…

More witches…

Ash trees reflected in nearby windows.

Rain chain shadows

Knitting – I am making progress on my Meris cardigan….

Return to Mirror Lake and beyond…

September 18, 2019 / margaretquilts / Leave a comment

9/12/2019 Mirror Lake and Tom Dick and Harry Mountain, Mt Hood, Oregon

Our first time on the rerouted trail to Mirror Lake – the trail is slightly longer than before, but not as steep, and crosses several small streams on new bridges.

Mirror Lake was popular on this not quite fall day.

Tom Dick and Harry Mountain beyond Mirror Lake.

Mt Hood reflected in Mirror lake.

We continued to the top of Tom Dick and Harry Mountain, and enjoyed clear views of the Cascades north and south while eating our lunch.

Mt Hood and Mirror Lake from Tom Dick and Harry summit.

Mt Jefferson to the south.

Panorama – St Helens, Rainier and Adams to the left of Mt Hood.

Late summer glaciers of Mt Hood.

Mt Hood in view on the descent.

There were a few scrappy wildflower blooms hanging on to their petals, and tinges of autumn on the vine maples and huckleberries.

Fireweed

spirea

lupine

mushroom

yarrow

penstemon

pearly everlasting

bunch berries

pinedrops

paintbrush

water parsnip

vine maples

arnica

toilet roll

aster

thimble berry

huckle berry

mountain ash

Hike #43, 7.4 miles, 1600 feet.

Knitting

I pulled this sweater yarn out of the hibernating pile, measured and swatched a bit, and recast on….we’ll see how it goes.

Back to the sky/some sewing

September 5, 2019 / margaretquilts / 1 Comment

8/31/2019 Cloud Cap/Timberline Trail High Point

We returned with friends to this same trail near Cooper Spur on Mt Hood that we hiked in July. Fewer flowers, less snow, still the sky, the swirling cloud cap, the views afar, the plans formulating to complete the Timberline Trail loop someday. Hike #42, 6 miles, 1650 feet.

Once attaining the crest of the East Eliot Moraine, the Washington Cascade Peaks are on view to the north,

and Mt Hood is ahead to the west.

Low growing buckwheat, lupine and yarrow.

Later in the day, clouds forming on the mountain, knotweed in the foreground showing fall colors already.

My hiking companions resting near the Timberline Trail high point.

And, almost back to the trailhead, high desert beyond.

Lookback: A couple of photos comparing snow levels with mid-July:

View up the Eliot today, 8/31/2019.

View up the Eliot seven weeks ago, July 12, 2019

View to the south, toward Lamberson Butte and the Timberline Trail crossings, today.

Similar view seven weeks ago.

Some sewing

Two pairs of sleep shorts.

And a random Portlandia street art scene:

Late summer Gentians at Chinidere Mountain, Oregon

August 29, 2019August 26, 2019 / margaretquilts / Leave a comment

8/23/2019 Chinidere Mountain hike

The trail leads down to Wahtum Lake,

Chinidere Mountain, our destination, on the skyline.

Endemic cutleaf bugbane blooming along the lake trail.

After crossing the log bridge at the lake outlet, our trail leads steeply up hill, eventually reaching the top of Chinidere Mountain, with views of five Cascade volcanoes.

Mt Hood to the south,

and Mt Jefferson on the horizon just to the right.

Mt St Helens, Mt Rainier, and Mt Adams to the north.

The burned drainage of Eagle Creek, with Mt St Helens on the far right.

Wahtum Lake below us to the east.

I was pleased to find many patches of Explorer’s gentian blooming along the trail and at the top of the mountain.

Explorer’s gentian

Previous hikes here earlier in the season had a different suite of flowers. Today we saw the later season flowers and berries:

Other new and notable flowers:

Fringed grass of Parnassas

hare bell

Scouler’s bluebell

cutleaf bugbane

angelica

Berries of late summer:

Sitka mountain ash

Devil’s Club

fungus?

thimbleberry

juniper berry

pinesap

solomon seal

salmon berry

Huckleberries!

We found plenty of ripe huckleberries to supplement our lunch. We saw a few north and south bound PCT through-hikers, but not many other people on the trail today. It was a fairly perfect late summer hike.

Hike #41, 5 miles, 1200 feet

Spinning

I finished plying the last of my Tour de Fleece yarn. I am planning to try Easter Egg dye on this yarn – stay tuned for updates.

Signs of Fall in the neighborhood

Finally some knitting! And two new hikes…

August 24, 2019August 24, 2019 / margaretquilts / Leave a comment

Flyway Twist Shawl

This shawl has been delivered to it’s recipient, so I am happy to share the pictures! The solid yarn is Malabrigo Sock in the Reflecting Pool colorway. The real star of the show is the Fully Spun colorful gradient called ‘Voices in My Head’. It was fascinating to knit with the gradient, watching the colors emerge and play against the teal backdrop. The brioche section in the middle adds variety to both the look and the knitting experience. The pattern is by Veera Valimaki, and is easily obtained on Ravelry.

Salmon River Trail 8/12/2019

We hiked with friends on a flat easy trail where we could enjoy a shady beautiful setting with lots of time to chat. This was my first time hiking this trail, near Welches on Mt Hood, and I can see why it is often recommended.

Salmon River from the trail.

Hike #39 – 4 miles/200 feet

Cheater hike on the Timberline Trail, Mt Hood Meadows 8/15/2019

I would like to walk all of the 40 mile Timberline Trail around Mt Hood. This is a section I hadn’t done yet. We rode the Mt Hood Meadows chair lift up 700 feet of elevation (thus, cheating) then began walking north along the trail, as far as Clark Creek. Beautiful flowers, creek crossings and wildflower meadows along the way.

Our cheating enabler – the Stadium Lift

Looking back as we silently rise – Mt Jefferson and a hint of the Sisters.

Aster and goldenrod meadows along the Timberline Trail.

Several small, easily crossed creeks along the trail.

We eventually reached views of ‘Pea Gravel Ridge’, a glacial moraine just beyond Clark Creek.

Pea Gravel Ridge

Downstream view of a branch of Clark Creek.

Upstream view toward a waterfall on Clark Creek.

Mt Hood, summer view

Glaciers

We then retraced our steps and walked south along the Timberline Trail until it began to descend through the woods to the White River crossing – we’ll save that for another day. We passed through beautiful meadows, under ever-present ski infrastructure and views of the mountain. We walked the mile and a half and 700 feet down to the trailhead instead of going back to the chairlift, so we only ‘cheated’ one way.

Clark Creek

Asters, paintbrush, goldenrod, false hellebore, with ski lift.

Mt Jefferson, and a very hazy view of the Three Sisters from the trail.

Tall cotton grass, aptly named, in this moist meadow.

The Timberline Trail continues down through the forest to White River, but we turned back.

GPS track (with some wandering points). Hike #40, 6 miles/1000 feet.

New or notable flowers:

buckwheat

salsify?

wintergreen

gentian

goldenrod

mariposa lily

tall cotton grass

lupine, paintbrush, aster

pearly everlasting

Revisiting haunted trees on Vista Ridge, and winning the Tour de Fleece

July 31, 2019 / margaretquilts / Leave a comment

Vista Ridge to Wy’East Basin on Mt Hood, July 25, 2019

We like to hike Vista Ridge on the north side of Mt Hood at least once a year. I posted previous reports from 2017 in June before full snow melt, 2017 in August, and 2018 in August.

Today was hot going through the burned trees, but I found a few old and new ghost friends along the way:

This poor fellow has been felled by trail keepers.

Eventually we made it to the blooming alpine meadows of Wy’East basin.

Barrett Spur and Mt Hood

Looking north toward Mts Rainier and Adams

After lunch we continued hiking above the basin to a remnant snowfield, and a view over to the other side of the mountain.

Snow surface covered with debris

Looking over the lip of the moraine to Mt Hood and MacNeil Point.

View north from our high point – Wy’East Basin, Dollar Lake Fire scar, Washington Cascade peaks.

Hike #33, 7.7 miles, 1700 feet.

Flowers of note:

pinesap

First fireweed beginning to bloom

Pearly everlasting

White rhododendron

shooting stars, paintbrush, cinquefoil, glacier lilies

knotweed?

white heather

saxifrage

valerian

magenta paintbrush

Fleabane just beginning to bloom.

Pasque flowers – an all-time favorite!

Tour de Fleece Podium

I finished spinning, plying and setting the brown fiber:

Fiber, spindle, and a day’s handful of fluff.

Each spool has the single ply spun in one day

Two ply yarn on the spindle.

All of the yarn on the niddy noddy, plied and tied into one long strand with four knots.

After washing, drying.

64 yard skein

I have made headway on this white fluff:

I spun while cheering on the superhuman athletes who propel themselves on bicycles for 21 days! So many ways to win in Le Tour de France – jerseys, stages, sprints, mountain tops, combatitiveness, even a red lantern for the last place finisher, and I feel I have won too, by spindling every day. I am looking forward to adding more spinning to my crafting time.

A trail carved out of the edge of the sky….

July 21, 2019September 5, 2019 / margaretquilts / 1 Comment

7/12/2019 – East Glacier Trail and Timberline Trail, beyond Cloud Cap on Mt Hood, OR

Walking above Cloud Cap on a blue sky day, the same hike we did last year in August.

Beyond the ridgeline of the Eliot East moraine, Mt Hood rises another 5000 feet.

Mt St Helens, Mt Rainier and Mt Adams on view to the north.

We walked up the crest of the moraine another 1000 feet.

Close-ups of the glaciers from our lunch stop:

Continuing south beyond Cooper Spur shelter, to the trail high point::

Cooper Spur Shelter

meltwater

Cascade peaks to the south: Broken Top, the Three Sisters, Mts Washington and Jefferson.

As we headed back, clouds began collecting and spinning around the peak, 4000 feet above us.

Another glacier closeup.

It almost seemed like I could step up into the sky….

northbound

A few flowers for the day…

orange and blue butterflies

arnica, Jacob’s ladder

sandwort, lupine

aster, sandwort

buckwheat

dwarf lupine, buckwheat, and ?

buckwheat

mushroom?

Dwarf alpine flowers and trees, butterflies, rocks, glaciers, meltwater creeks, sublimity. Hike #31, 6 miles, 1650 feet.

Driving down the many switchbacks through the burn zone – white on white.

beargrass, burned forest, clouds

Mt Adams beyond

Saddle Mountain, Oregon, June 10, 2019

June 15, 2019 / margaretquilts / 1 Comment

We have been up this trail many times.The profusion of wildflowers this time of year is always a draw. A combination of shadowy forest and rocky open slopes over 1600 feet of elevation change creates a myriad of habitats and bloom times. We saw at least 66 different types of blooming flowers. I’ve detailed our 2017 hike here. Some standout views for today:

Shady forest

View to the top

The knob

First view of the ocean beyond the knob

Steep chicken wire lined rocky trail up the cliffs

The saddle

Bistort, Mt Rainier

Flowers all the way to the top

View to Mt Rainier, Mt St Helens and Mt Adams from the summit

View to Astoria from the summit

Looking back to the sea and the summit on the return hike

Notable flowers:

nodding onion, arnica

vanilla leaf

saxifrage

mallow

Hooker fairy bells

Olympic onions

ble eyed grass

anemone

tufted saxifrage on a cliff

tufted saxifrage

Columbian lewisia

prairie smoke

This was hike #27 for 2019, 6.8 miles, 1900 feet.

Wahkeena-Multnomah Loop After the Fire – A Glorious Wildflower Explosion Amidst the Blackened Trees…

June 13, 2019June 24, 2019 / margaretquilts / 1 Comment

June 6, 2019 – Wahkeena-Multnomah Falls Loop

This area was burned by the Eagle Creek Fire of September 2017. The trails above the waterfalls were closed for over a year, then have been reopened and closed periodically since fall 2018. Instability along the trail, falling trees and sliding slopes have been valiantly repaired by our intrepid trail keepers. The trails were open today. We hiked up Wahkeena Creek and down Multnomah Creek. Much of the understory removed by fire has returned as lush greenery. It was a beautiful hike on a beautiful day, and there were sooo many flowers!!! Of course, by the time we circled back around to Multnomah Falls there were also sooo many people, but most don’t go above the Benson Bridge. I enjoyed my first foray back onto these trails. (Hike #26 for 2019, 5 miles, 1600 feet)

Wahkeena Trail

Approaching Multnomah Falls from the parking area.

Wahkeena Falls

We started by climbing past Wahkeena Falls, and up several hanging garden switchbacks to Lemmons Viewpoint:

Tiger lily blooming near the viewpoint.

View across the Columbia River

View upriver to Beacon Rock

The trail continues up Wahkeena Creek beyond Fairy Falls and onto the ridge between the drainages:

Fairy Falls

Millions of candy flowers line the burned forest floor.

The next section of trail, along the upper ridgecrest, has always felt very special to me – a quiet flat trail in the deep forest, high on a steep ridge above the river – immensely peaceful and idyllic. My first time through after the fire was trepidatious, but the trail retains it’s magical quality. Despite the scorched trees and more open view, the feeling of peace remains. These trees will all come down at someday. Today I marvel at the explosion of flowers the extra sunlight has nurtured.

A couple of comparisons from a June 2014 Hike:

2019

2014

2019

View downslope to the river.

From here, the trail crosses a couple of flowery drainages before heading down to Multnomah Creek:

Larkspur ahead!

Arnica and columbine

Arnica, bleeding heart

Columbine, iris, bleeding heart

Multnomah Creek

The trail passes several waterfalls along Multnomah Creek:

New sign, burned sign

Multnomah Creek

Flower lined trail

Monkey and candy flowers

Ecola Falls

Wiesendanger Falls

Dutchman Falls

A side spur leads out to the viewpoint at the top of Multnomah Falls (where the crowds of people begin):

The top of falls viewpoint

Looking straight down the falls

View of the parking area, river and beyond

A dozen or so paved switchbacks lead down to the trailhead. Lots of people and flowers along the way:

Rebuilt rock wall along the trail

Burned trail post

Approaching the Benson Bridge

Looking down to the view plaza from the bridge

Multnomah Falls from the view plaza

Looking back from the approach area

Burned trees along the ridgeline

Trailmap

More flowers:

corydalis

nine bark

paintbrush

vetch

littleleaf candy flower

fireweed

pea

geranium

yarrow

mock orange

Oregon sunshine

fringe cup

lupine

Eastern Columbia River Gorge Wildflowers, April 25, 2019

April 30, 2019 / margaretquilts / Leave a comment

1) Memaloose Hills

A favorite wildflower hike, we found a perfect day – not windy, balsam root fully blooming, lupine and paintbrush just beginning to open. Splendid!

Balsam root, lupine, paintbrush and yellow parsley near the trailhead.

Oak woodlands

Lower meadow with buttercups and balsam root.

Emerging from the woods to the yellow slope of Chatfield Hill.

Mt Hood to the southwest.

More flowery slopes to the east.

Mt Adams to the north near the top of the hill.

So many flowers!

Mt Adams, the river, the northern Memaloose Hill with fewer flowers.

Columbia River to the west.

Mt Hood and Mt Adams bookend this panoramic view from the top.

Back to the lower meadow, Tom McCall Point in the distance.

Last peek at Mt Adams.

Many other flowers among the showy balsam root!

chocolate lily

Oregon Grape

fiddle neck

bicolored lupine

larkspur

man root

saxifrage

false dandelion

blue eyed Mary

buttercup, shooting star

chocolate lily

bitter cherry

ballhead waterleaf

popcorn flower, buttercups

balsamroot

bighead clover

the garden on top

death camas

serviceberry

orobanche

lupine

and a bird

2) Lower Tom McCall trail at Rowena Crest

We just had time to walk the lower mile through one of my favorite trail sections, desert parsley alley. The upper Tom McCall trail will be in full bloom soon.