June 7, 2025 I enjoy rural drives, so I combined getting clay and glaze in Seattle and Tacoma with seeing early summer in the Cascades... First, a minimalist portrait of Sprague Lake Washington from the public access.
The drive down the Yakima River Canyon near Ellensburg was very enjoyable.
It's also on the BNSF route, as most rivers were in the west...
Driving by myself I took some unaimed shots out the window. I enjoy the result as the window hole frames the canyon..
This one appeals to my own esthetics, including the light artifacts and the leaning tree....
I
ended up staying at Pleasant Vally NFS Campground on Washington Highway
410. There were a lot of these flowers which we don't have in
Idaho--vanilla leaf...
This was the view down the river from the campground.
I spotted several spotted sandpipers...
native columbine
young stag deer along a nature walk When
I got to the camping checkin, the sign said any location without a
reserved sign was available. It didn't explain that you'd need to
check the reserve signs closely to see how soon they were reserved.
There were only a couple campers this night in a 20 space
campground. It also didn't mention senior America the Beautiful
passholders get half off, which I had to verify with the camp host
since on the card it says "MAY" get a discount, not SHALL.
I
think this is a male dusky or sooty grouse. It was perched on the
concrete barrier along the highway at dawn, and on the empty road I was
able to back up and take several pictures of it without disturbing it,
from a dozen feet away...
Being an early riser, I had time to visit the Nisqually NWR refuge south of Tacoma. Bewick's wren...
Nearby a few woodducks were more relaxed than when I see them on Spirit Lake. This is the lovely male... This is the view across the estuary at low tide, with the Olympic mountains in the background.
A common yellow throat warbler, in song...
June 8 A rednecked grebe was only about 30 feet away and calm early this morning...
June 17th At sunset last night a rednecked grebe looked good on the mill pond... June 24 We
took a hike up Blacktail Mountain, and managed to take a wrong turn.
This tree was across the road, and we brought no bow saw, but by
propping up the 50 foot long tree with a broken branch, we eased by and
came to the right road. The next issue was finding the
trailhead. We
totally missed it coming from the east (where our car is now pointed in
this photo). When we gave up and turned around looking for it, we
saw it going towards the east. The red surveyor's tape was the
only thing visible the other way. That tape was mostly helpful on
the trail at questionable places also... It
was a hard hike--only 1.8 miles but 1200 feet of elevation gain, about
the height of the Empire State Building... But what a view--this
one of most of Priest Lake, looking south...
This
was carved at the top, usually I tend to ignore these things but it
happened to detail his stay at the fire watch from nearly the
day's date (June 24th to Sept. 1936). He had plenty of time to
craft it.
The
fire tower was remove, but this cairn was erected and the compass tool
used to triangulate fire locations is propped on the top. This shows the north end of Priest Lake, and the line to the left is the thorofare connecting it to Upper Priest Lake
This is the view to the west, or possible north. A lot of beautiful woodlands...
This
view lower, on the way back down, shows a lovely mountain meadow with
beargrass and lupines blooming, and Priest Lake behind it.
June 26
I'm
thinking the same grebe that was checking out the water smart weed
earlier this month is now nesting there. And I thought water
smart weed was good for nothing...
The cherries are ripening and loaded this year...
Last
winter I made a compost bin from 3 pallets tied together in a
triangular shape. This week I had the idea to use the same shape
for tomato cages. There are 3 ladder shapes (with an extra
triangular brace for stability) wired togethe in the tomato row.
If we have a strong wind they will be in danger, but it's been
pretty mild so far this summer.. To the right of the
tomato row are two rows of broccoli, and a row with romaine, cabbage
and potatoes. To the left of the tomatoes the corn is very short,
since the first date apparently didn't germinate. Beyond that is a row
of garlic and zucchini... This is the main garden, which
also has 4 thick rows of raspberries.
We have a bed in the shape of the state of Idaho. Strawberries fill most of the southern part of the state...
This is looking up the panhandle, with the eponymous potatoes, volunteer suflowers, peas, green beans, and carrots.
June 27 With
the grebes nesting so close, I will be following what happens avidly.
It's a very busy place on the edge of a popular park... The monogamous parents take turns sitting on the nest as well as raising the chicks together....
Books read
LA Requiem by Robert Crais is a good tough noire detective story... I'm rereading the series...
