Easton 6-13-11

The friend who made me the mason bee house has a some property in Easton and has been inviting us over to see it for awhile now. Yesterday was finally the day, and we combined the trip to include a nice hike. On our side of the mountains, it was gray and rainy.

On the east side of the mountains, it wasn't much better at first. The pups didn't mind. We took a trail that headed up that steep hill to the left along the ridge line, then into the trees. The hill part wasn't much fun, but some people think that if you're having too much fun, you're not getting a good workout. You'd think as a short person, I would like a lofty perspective, but I'm pretty happy on the down low. Oh, I still go up the hills, of course. I just don't like them. They make me sweaty.

Since it hasn't been a very warm spring overall, I was surprised to see so many wild flowers already in bloom. I know that the flowers bloom no matter the weather, so perhaps the relative dreariness of this spring made it seem earlier than it is.
Here is a beautiful Western Trillium.

Gray as it was, there was an occasional view through the trees.

These brilliant shrubs were everywhere, but oddly they didn't seem familiar to us. The Big Guy guessed it was a type of berry bush, and he was right. It's a Red Flowered Currant, although the berries of this variety aren't palatable. One thing I will say about the gray -- it sure makes the flowers seem so much more vivid.

Lake Kachess in the distance. The pronunciation of this varies, even among the natives. We say "kuh-CHEECE." Now try Keechelus.

It definitely seemed early for the Indian Paintbrush.

My guys leading the way.

The sun made some breakthroughs about halfway through the hike, dappling the roaring stream
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I have flipped through my wildflower book four times trying to find this flower. I've Googled. What is this??

Sweaty and Zuli.

Looking down the hillside to the stream. Vertigo!

A little Douglas Squirrel hiding from the pups.

Red or Sitka Columbine.

Pretty but deceptive. Otter got too close one time, and his life flashed before my eyes. Darn those water dogs.

Fairyslipper orchid! So delicate and pretty.

A big old Western Toad. Don' t let anyone tell you that toads don't like water. This fatty was first spotted in a big mud puddle having a soak.

Star Flowered Solomon Plume. A pretty fancy name for a rather plain-looking flower. I'm not feeling the "plume" part. Sometimes I wish I could re-name things. I might call this Tiny Twinkles.

There's black-tailed deer in the meadow. There's black-tailed deer in the meadow. The grass is as high as an elephant's eye, and it looks like it's climbin' clear up to the sky. Oh, what a beautiful mooooooooooornin!

Vanilla Leaf. Why vanilla? I wish I had known this while we were out there. Apparently, the crushed leaves smell of vanilla. I will crush the next one I see. I have to.

Lost On Tiger Mountain

Today we had planned to go to a matinee with some free movie tickets we've had for a long, long time. However, The Big Guy sent Zuli in to wake me up using the pounce-and-slurp method, and he followed close behind saying, "Get up! Get up! It's a beautiful sunny day and the dogs want to go for a hike on south Tiger!" He sweetened the deal by adding, "I'm going to go make oatmeal for us now! We'll go to the movie tonight." Thus, the plans were set, the oatmeal was eaten, and we set off on this clear, cold day.

The photos that will accompany this post today were not taken by me or anyone I know. If they were taken by you or anyone you know, please let me know and I will give proper credit. The reason will become clear as the tale unfolds.

There aren't really any tigers on Tiger Mountain, but tigers are cool-looking, and since I was stealing photos anyhow, I thought I'd include a cool tiger picture.

This actually is a photo from Tiger Mountain. There is also really snow on the ground right now, but not quite this much. Do you all see Bigfoot in this picture? I think I do. We did not see Bigfoot today, though.

Otter was very excited to go on a hike. All that running has really gotten him in shape!

This is a picture of Mt. Rainier from atop Tiger Mountain. It was a view very similar to this -- although much, much sunnier -- that prompted The Big Guy to say, "Hey, gimme the camera and I'll shield it from the sun so you can get a pic of the mountain." I reached for the camera in my belt pouch and came up empty. "You still have it," I said. But I was wrong. I had put in back in the pouch on the trail up after The Big Guy took a picture of the dogs and me. I even remembered not tucking the strap back in all the way, thinking that I should do that, and feeling a branch catch on the strap but not realizing it had pulled the camera out of the pouch. Undaunted, we turned around and retraced our steps, certain we would spot it on the way back.It looks like this. Or looked like this. Well, it still does, I'm sure.

The ground looked like this. You'd think it wouldn't be hard to spot. You'd be wrong. We didn't find it. My pretty pink camera was gone for good.

Zuzu was inconsolable. She really loved that camera.

Echo Lake, trail revisited

The last time we were here click to see it was very hot out. Today, it was very cold. And drizzly. You can tell by the fact that there are no other cars in the parking lot. That makes us bad-ass, doesn't it?

New Boonie hat, new windbreaker pullover, and spanky-new boots. More on them in a minute.

Our goal was not to get to the lake today -- not really enough daylight this time of year, as evidenced by the blurriness of this photo. The point of this journey was not to arrive.

What I loved about this hike the first time, I still found delightful -- many wonderful bridges spanning the river.

An homage to my new Lowa boots. Coincidentally, the first time I wore my last pair of new boots was on this hike and I took a pic of them on this bridge. Go click the link in the first sentence if you don't believe me. I really loved my other boots, but turns out my feet were soaked earlier this week on a hike, and when you pay as much for good waterproof boots as you would for a pair of Jimmy Choo's, wet feet are not acceptable. Thus my buttery Vasques were returned for a trade on these. The first hike in new boots is usually a little rough, but I completely forgot I had new boots on my very dry, snuggly feet. Piggie paradise.

The water was much clearer this time.

If you zoom in on this, you can see Zuli poking her head through the bridge. Nothing spectacular about that, I just thought it was cute.

Perspective.

The winner. Not much is pretty on day like today, but this sure was.

Somewhere in the picture is a group of five Canada geese who are going to be sorry if they don't fly a little further south soon.

The Amazing Flying Zuli! The humans used the rocks.