Brad Sondahl's blog

Brad's Blog

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August 8
Life is continuing too fast for frequent bloggish reflection...
I took a potter's holiday on Monday, which is like a postman's holiday, where all the work you would have done had you worked is waiting for you when you return...
We went up Trestle Creek Road camping, which is about an hour northwest of Spirit Lake, national forest mountains... On Sunday afternoon we arrived in time for a 3 mile round trip hike to Gem Lake

We saw people leaving (including a group of around 6 where the dogs outnumbered the people--most hikers we met had dogs...), since it was around 4 pm, but enjoyed experiencing the lake by ourselves.
Then we drove to the trailhead for Moose Lake and a potential 9 mile loop hike. We were thrilled to find an empty campsite there (it's the only one official site) with picnic table and room for two-three tents... So we enjoyed our own private Idaho that evening as well... The next morning we decided to hike to Moose Lake, and only met one couple coming out from camping overnight on a side lake... So we got private time at Moose Lake:

It was a larger alpine lake than Gem Lake (no moose). The hike in was about 2 miles, although there was conflicting mileage on signs...

Along the trail I got this artistic glimpse of some alpine firs...

At the lake this pika was chewing a bit of greenery... On the way down I was whistling, thought it sounded cool, so I recorded it on video
After returning to the car we drove to Char Falls, which we'd first visited last year. The road in was very rough, which proved an issue later...

Here's a short video of the falls:
It hasn't rained for months, so the falls was smaller than during the spring runoff, but lovely and approachable if you are able to climb down a steep trail to access it.
Above the main falls are a series of small cataracts over the bedrock. Here's one with Butters in it for a sense of proportion (and because it's Butters)

Leaving the falls we blew a tire on the rocky road, which led to a few tense moments, as the spare was under inflated and the car has a few age issues, but we had a portable inflator and made it home on the donut spare by supper time... (like all the other places we visited, we were the only people there, which meant a long walk if the spare blew as well)
On the way home we could see the 800 acre so-called Cougar fire up a different valley from where we were driving out, and smoke from Washington fires is making Spirit Lake less enjoyable than usual for August once again this year... So far we're fortunate to have no fires really near, but everywhere is tinder dry...

August16
The days continue-- hot, dry, and smoky. And work and the garden continue, although the cherry harvest is done... I did take a day off Saturday for my annual bluegrass festival--Bluewaters (link is to my photos and videos)

August 19

This artistic photo is the result of leaving my camera in "illustration" mode after taking some photos at the bluegrass festival.
The mouse is looking for scraps by a flower petal on our back porch...
Then there was this one of a deer...

Aug. 24
Today was the first time in ages that the predicted high was as low as 72, so I looked forward to a walk up into the hills. This morning was also clear, without smoke, which hasn't happened in a month also, but it smoked up in the afternoon...
We went for the walk onto the ridge anyway--Butters and I...

Here's a nuthatch on a dead tree...

This is the typical distant view which if it were fog would be sort of dreamy and pleasant...

Here are a couple female wood ducks in the lilies on the Mill Pond...

books read

This Book is Full of Spiders by David Wong. Rescuing the world from alien invasion is seldom as fun as this...

Body Inc by Alan Dean Foster. Slow pace, more a suspense novel with SF elements...